Skip to content

Letter: Alberta should see the writing on the wall

Low oil prices hurting neighbour to east, says Maple Ridge writer
19129075_web1_181210-CPW-climatechange

Editor, The News:

Like everyone, the recent election has raised many questions in my mind.

Are we really a divided country or is it just the latest in a series of disagreements our country has to resolve? We’ve been here before with Quebec and the Western provinces, so is it really different now?

Albertan’s must face up to the reality of their fossil fuel industry declining. They must see the writing on the wall; that it is not going to be the “golden calf” it once was. The oil they produce is too costly to be competitive on the world markets when the price per barrel in low.

If oil was at $100 a barrel, they might have a chance but this is not the case, and in all likelihood it will not go back there. So they won’t be able to successfully compete on the world markets because their tar sands oil is too costly to produce.

So, they must quit blaming Ottawa for all of their woes and start to diversify their economy, like others have had to do. Plus, they should have done what Norway has done in setting up an heritage fund for the rainy days when things go down and their struggling!

But no, why do that when you can just blame others for your short-slightness and lack of proper planning?

It was a successful tactic/ploy in getting the voters in the West to reject Justin Trudeau’s government in Ottawa, but will it change anything? Only time will tell.

John E. McKenzie

Maple Ridge