Alberta Finance Minister Ron Liepert warned that the province should be prepared for billions in income from the province's oil sands that will lead to tensions in relations with other provinces.
'I don't think anybody realize what sort of - I will call it a gusher - is leaving the oil sands, ' Liepert told. If oil prices continue to remain extraordinarily powerful, we might be in a situation where a $5-billion surplus is nothing.
That truly sounds great, and surely Albertans will happily bear some consequences if the future guarantees them such growing wealth. Nonetheless it isn't so straightforward to predict what will happen. Conservationists are still attempting to derail the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, and the final choice remains uncertain. If it is not approved, Liepert's predictions will be at least delayed until Canada finds an alternative choice to export its crude oil.
Furthermore, Alberta isn't the sole province with promising surpluses: Saskatchewan's wealth is growing too. The envy problem can therefore be split, and in the best eventuality, even diffused, so have-nots of other provinces will blame their regimes for their situation and not waste their outrage on other provinces. Alberta's spending benefits everybody, in ways , noted Gerald Baier, a political science professor at the University of Brit Columbia.
He also added that other provinces will have good reason to stress about Canada's world reputation if protests against Alberta's oil sands goes on. This is the zombie pipeline (Keystone XL) that keeps stumbling back to life, asserted environmentalist Bill McKibben, who organised a 10,000-person anti-pipeline march outside the Government in 2011.
There is another problem that Albertans must be aware of. Keystone is the project that makes the most sense, but we can?t put all our eggs in one basket, Liepert said, adding that Canada is intending to build a pipeline to the West Coast and ship crude oil to Pacific Rim by tankers. The fact is that Alberta truly put all its eggs in one basket: energy. With increasing wealth coming from crude oil, Alberta will become more and more dependent on it. All foreseeable new projects will depend on the clamor for energy. And even though it doesn't seem to vary, the reality is that Alberta's future will depend totally on the chance of energy demand.
'I don't think anybody realize what sort of - I will call it a gusher - is leaving the oil sands, ' Liepert told. If oil prices continue to remain extraordinarily powerful, we might be in a situation where a $5-billion surplus is nothing.
That truly sounds great, and surely Albertans will happily bear some consequences if the future guarantees them such growing wealth. Nonetheless it isn't so straightforward to predict what will happen. Conservationists are still attempting to derail the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, and the final choice remains uncertain. If it is not approved, Liepert's predictions will be at least delayed until Canada finds an alternative choice to export its crude oil.
Furthermore, Alberta isn't the sole province with promising surpluses: Saskatchewan's wealth is growing too. The envy problem can therefore be split, and in the best eventuality, even diffused, so have-nots of other provinces will blame their regimes for their situation and not waste their outrage on other provinces. Alberta's spending benefits everybody, in ways , noted Gerald Baier, a political science professor at the University of Brit Columbia.
He also added that other provinces will have good reason to stress about Canada's world reputation if protests against Alberta's oil sands goes on. This is the zombie pipeline (Keystone XL) that keeps stumbling back to life, asserted environmentalist Bill McKibben, who organised a 10,000-person anti-pipeline march outside the Government in 2011.
There is another problem that Albertans must be aware of. Keystone is the project that makes the most sense, but we can?t put all our eggs in one basket, Liepert said, adding that Canada is intending to build a pipeline to the West Coast and ship crude oil to Pacific Rim by tankers. The fact is that Alberta truly put all its eggs in one basket: energy. With increasing wealth coming from crude oil, Alberta will become more and more dependent on it. All foreseeable new projects will depend on the clamor for energy. And even though it doesn't seem to vary, the reality is that Alberta's future will depend totally on the chance of energy demand.
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