MLA report December 6

Hello Chestermere! First of all I need to give a huge shout out to my friends Pat and Janine for making dozens of sugar cookies and tubs of icing for the Chestermere Community Christmas Party. I am honoured to be surrounded by such amazing people in our community and along with some fantastic volunteers the kidlets were able to have some messy and tasty Christmas fun by coating their own cookies with many artistic layers of sprinkles. Thank you to Vicki Klinger for organizing such a wonderful event, the sponsors, and to the many volunteers from the CRCA and the community who helped!
As I write this, oil is flirting with record lows. Not all oil, just Alberta’s, due to our lack of export pipelines to tidewater. Did you know that our Premier openly opposed the Northern Gateway pipeline, and only started to really push for Trans Mountain when she realized her Carbon Tax plan that has Albertans paying for the privilege of creating our beautiful natural resources did not persuade her buddy Mr. Trudeau to actually follow through and ensure the pipeline was built. NDP Government members have actively protested pipelines, helped to write books to condemn and end the energy industry, and did not fight for the Northern Gateway, KeyStone XL, Energy East or the Trans Mountain pipelines. Premier Notley was anti-pipeline until the money started to run out. I find it very interesting that the companies that stood on the stage with our Premier to support the Carbon Tax (which of course they don’t pay) such as Suncor Energy and Cenovus are now at odds as to what to do to solve the differential problem. The truth is that Suncor is integrated with refining capacity so they are able to recoup a large amount of the low oil price through the “crack spread” by refining it into gasoline etc. Pure producers on the other hand are being hammered by the low oil price. I guess the signatories of the NDP Leap Manifesto are seeing their wishes come true as now we do not have a choice other than cutting production to try and increase the differential instead of giving our resources away. Well this is quite the mess isn’t it, and the companies themselves are partly to blame as they collaborated to support the Carbon Tax, and emissions caps, to have a seat at the “social license” table. Please read Peter Shawn Taylor’s excellent article in the Nov. 30 Financial Post (https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/oil-companies-that-backed-notleys-carbon-taxes-learning-hard-lesson ) as it describes very well the conundrum they (and we) are caught in. Fun huh? We can carve back production for a bit, and most of us understand that, but as we all know the only answer is to get pipelines built but the Federal Bill C-69 aka the “no more pipelines” bill will make approvals of new export pipelines next to impossible. I wish I had an explanation that made sense but I do not.
It’s time to use some wisdom here folks. We are losing $80 million a day, and thousands of jobs. We will lose $13 billion this year alone because of the differential caused by lack of pipeline access to tidewater. Of course, the real losers here are the owners of the resource: you, the Alberta taxpayer. Well maybe Santa will balance the budget, Rudolph will light the way as Santa carries our resources to the coast, and Frosty the Snowman will convince the Prime Minister that national pipeline infrastructure is in the best interest of the country. If not, perhaps the changing political landscape will convince him. Ontario has a new Government that is firmly pro-pipeline and against crippling Carbon Taxes. The previous Ontario Government spent billions on so-called “green initiatives”, brought in punishing Carbon Taxes, racked up huge debts, ignored or dismissed the concerns of resource industries, and oversaw an exodus of industry and jobs. Sound familiar? Looks like the new Ontario Government has Ontario’s (and Alberta’s) prosperity in mind as they join with Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New Brunswick in pushing back against the Trudeau Liberals and their anti-resource agenda.
As we head into the Christmas season, I hope that you and your families are well. Let us make sure we are doing everything we can to help those in need as there are many who need our help now. We are all in this together, and we need to keep our voices strong. As always we love to hear from you.