Alberta, having been under a conservative government for the past 44 years, has recently had a change in government - to the NDP! While the conservatives denied climate change and promoted the oil industry and tar sands, the NDP want high business tax and want to remove the tar sands. Being an oil-producing province, a very significant amount of jobs in Alberta rely on the oil industry. Since the NDP victory, oil stocks have plummeted. Discuss. Tell me what you think.
Oil is bound to rebound (1-2yr Max) .. If they tax the businesses too hard, the diversification of business strength will slow and they'll go right back to taxing oil... But all in the meantime, social programs will be invested so atleast when oil comes back, it'll be a slightly better province to live in...
High business tax is relative. They are only proposing 12%. The PC Klein government was at 14%. All they want is for taxes to be a little more progressive, and to start thinking about cleaner energy. There is a lot of fear mongering about the NDP that is putting everything they say under a biased microscope.
I am personally happy conservatives are gone. I am pretty anti-conservative, I must say. With Cons gone, Canada can once again become the progressive nation it used to be. NDP will extend health care, education, and actually care for the environment. Though their non-corporate policies may hurt the economy (at least in the short run). Not to mention how conservatives tried to force women to show their face at public ceremonies.... Thereby preventing Muslim women from attending said ceremonies.... Or Bill C-51 which could allow Harper to persecute political opponents. And also how they sold Canada out to China with the free-trade deal (it allows China to sue Canadian Government if Canadian environment protection gets in the way of Chinese business) That's not to say NDP are bad in some ways. Higher taxes could cause a shock to the system. How will they encourage employment if they restrict businesses so much? Another thing I don't like about NDP is how radical they are in general. While I do like some ideas (such as banning junk food ads which can cut childhood obesity by 50%) some ideas aren't the best, such as getting rid of the Senate. If not for the Senate, stupid bills like that patriotic public ceremony bill could actually pass.
Tax sand oil production is incredibly expensive. Alberta has more oil than Saudi Arabia, but unless you got a 100 USD oil price, no use of even trying to take it out. Tar sand oil production is incredibly damaging to the environment. You're not just drilling a hole here, you're stripping the entire land and filtering the oil out of it. Unless it is really needed, it should be avoided. Alberta is a rich province. They can stand being taxed a bit more.
By the way, the tar sands are all in the northern part of the province, near McMurray. All the oil south of Edmonton is just regular drilling I believe.
Your opening statement contains lies. The ndp have proposed raising the business tax from 10% to 12 % on only the extremely wealthy corporations. E.g. 2% And they want to use the oilsands as a supply of upgraded refined oil, You obviously never read their platform
I love what NDP leader said about keystone pipeline: it is USA domestic problem. Finally Alberta's oil no longer needs that pipeline to hit the market. NDP leaders are smart enough to know that energy sector of Alberta is the province's engine and will not kill the project.