Anyone looking for comforting words regarding this province’s economic situation from Minister of Finance Joe Ceci in Canmore last week, likely went home disappointed.
Ceci was at Cornerstone Theatre last Thursday (April 21), for a breakfast presentation hosted by the Bow Valley Builders and Developers Association.
While our Bow Valley seems to have been relatively insulated from the kind of layoffs other communities have been witness to – generally those with a large number of oilfield-related jobs – everybody is aware of the situation caused by yet another oil price crash.
The Bow Valley is lucky in respect to job losses as tourism shows little sign of cooling off. In fact, the tourism industry, from all appearances, looks to be gaining strength.
Still, it’s not like valley citizens are unaware of the negative effects tanking oil prices have had in this province and in Canada. They just haven’t hit as hard here; yet.
Clearly, the latest bust in our boom and bust oil price cycle has hit hard and we feel there are some valuable insights that can be gained.
First, of course, is that this is not the first time this situation has occurred. Alberta, in fact, during the past 40-plus years of Conservative governments, has ridden several boom and bust rollercoasters.
This province has gone from one boasting of its economic clout and flaunting it, to crying the blues when the situation has gone pear shaped. From being flush with jobs and oil revenue and wealth all around to doom and gloom; it’s not new.
If anything, the current situation reinforces the fact that Alberta in particular, and Canada in general, needs to get off the rollercoaster by creating an economic situation that relies much less on the oil and gas industry as our major source of wealth. What’s needed is a financial package that has more flexibility to it to give us a buffer.
The current NDP government has obviously recognized this as it looking to create alternative energy sources to reduce our reliance on oil and gas.
Secondly, the NDP has decided, love it or hate it, that wide-swath cuts to programs and services – such as those made during Klein era governments – aren’t the way to go. Klein governments did reduce the province’s debt by slashing, but some would argue if our health and education systems ever really recovered.
Those who questioned Ceci about highly paid provincial employees being an economic problem will simply have to wait until contracts expire and they can be renewed under new bargaining agreeents.
Thirdly, we feel it’s worth pointing out that the current crisis over the oil price crash is not the NDP’s doing. Things were spiraling downward when the NDP took power after decades of Conservative rule. Those blaming the NDP for our current economic situation are obviously lashing out despite the reality of the situation.
Finally, we would point out that the NDP has written a slight tax cut for small businesses into its budget. Many would argue that small businesses, those which tend to be managed to close tolerances, are the lifeblood of the economy, rather than monster oil and gas operations.
We realize many citizens are waiting for the NDP to stumble, mess up, or otherwise cause a disaster economically, but we would encourage everyone to give them some time before ultimately branding them a success or not.
