Odd Article

Okay, we all know Ralph Klein can be blunt. So this isn't a surprise:

CALGARY — Alberta Premier Ralph Klein says the rest of Canada can forget about getting an extra slice of the province's energy windfall.

Klein dismissed a poll that suggested Canadians outside his oil-rich province want a share of the wealth being generated by soaring energy prices.

The situation is no different now than it was in the boom of 1980, he said.

"The rest of Canada was saying the same thing then: 'Give me, give me, give me,' " the premier said Friday.

"Then the price of oil went down and the rest of Canada was wringing their hands in glee saying, 'You deserved it.' "

And we were right. And perhaps he's right now - Alberta may find itself overburdened with tar-sands oil that is too expensive to sell once oil goes back to $20/barrel.

Ahem. I think I just heard to flapping of pork wings.

Now, I actually don't think that the feds should interfere in Alberta's energy simply to benefit Canada's drivers. If you're a fed up driver and you want to stick it to Alberta, then simply start using your car less. Below $40/barrel, tar-sands oil is only marginally profitable.

Long term, start voting for parties that actually want to reduce our dependence on oil. Vote for more public transit, and better fuel efficiency standards.

All that said, this little paragraph stunned me:

Many outside the province don't realize Alberta's cities, schools and hospitals are mired in debt amassed over the belt-tightening years of the early 1990s, when Klein took steps to eliminate the province's debt.

At first, I could have sworn this wasn't an English sentence. After all, how can Alberta be debt-free if Alberta has amassed massive debt? And then I got it, and the scales fell from my eyes:

Klein, and the people who vote for him, are full of shit.

It's so simple - all the talk of Klein's good fiscal policies, all of the snide remarks from Albertans about how proud they are for their debt-free province, it's all crap. All Klein seems to have managed is the same shuck and jive Harris managed in Ontario: Offload provincial spending on to the cities, force them to raise taxes and cut services, and proudly declare the deficit gone.

I'd love to see some numbers on how much net debt Klein has actually managed to eliminate.