Canada Shines in a Sear of Dispair - update

Smoky Lake Signal Article No 225 (June 13, 2012) Whispering in the Wind Builderberg Conference Every year, since 1954 about 100 of the world’s most powerful political, financial thinkers gather for “informal, private” discussions on issues that are deemed relevant for the time. The 2012 sessions were held in Chantilly, Virginia and Premier Alison Redford was invited (which is an honor in itself) and “Good for Alberta” “Good for Canada,” she went. Premier Redford’s invitation to the Builderberg Conference (and her subsequent attendance) to me indicates that there is international recognition by the world’s business / government elite that Alberta, with its massive oil sands reserves, will be playing an ever increasing role in international development affairs. What I found surprising (if not astounding) was the reaction by Wildrose Party leader, Danielle Smith. Danielle Smith suggested that the premier attended the Conference with only one motive and that her attendance was strictly a personal networking event that would only be used by the Alberta’s premier after she left politics – and because of that singular, personal motive she should pay for the cost of her attendance – if that’s Danielle Smith’s view of Premier Redford’s motives than I don’t think the Leader of the Official Opposition has a clue on how local or provincial politics works, never mind how international politics works. To me, Danielle Smith is attacking rather than supporting a sincere effort to advance Alberta’s interests. For me, Danielle Smith has gone way over the top with her confusing logic and misdirected conclusions. Harper’s Plea in Europe Last week Prime Minister Harper urged leaders in the European Union to move aggressively and “decisively” on the obvious financial crisis in Europe. Mr. Harper offered his “public plea” after a meeting with France’s new president, Francois Hollande who has politically rejected the austerity measures recommended by the international community. In my view it is quite unusual for the head of one nation state to comment on the economic affairs of another nation state (or group of nation states) but Prime Minister Harper is rightly suggesting dire consequences to the global economic framework should the eurozone states not get their act together. In Mr. Harper’s view the 17 member eurozone and the 27 member European Union lack the “strong institutional structures” that are necessary and associated with a monetary union, indicating that “it’s a half-done project” and Europe needs the tools necessary to deal with crises. Mr. Harper did acknowledge that crisis will not be an easily fixed “but we don’t have years to fix this problem,” and “There has to be a plan” to restore confidence in Europe and the euro. Unfortunately there was not a lot of detail on how to fix the dire situation in Europe. Canada, in Good Shape, but …… I don’t think there is any doubt; the world is not in good economic shape. Much of the world’s financial sector in chaos, largely due to globalization and an unregulated international banking system, causing economic instability around the world – Europe is already on a financial precipice with about a half dozen European countries on the verge of economic collapse – the United States is in deep, deep debt with really no solutions other than printing more money and that means inflation – China is slowing significantly because of internal corruption and their international markets contracting. Canada is actually in pretty good shape with its stronger, better regulated banking system (nevertheless Canadian banks are still vulnerable) and its aggressive resource development strategies, BUT if the dominos start to fall, things could get ugly – the Prime Minister has already indicated that Canada is starting to do some “contingency” planning.

Canada Shines in a Sea of Dispair

Smoky Lake Signal Article No 225 (June 13, 2012) Whispering in the Wind Builderberg Conference Every year, since 1954 about 100 of the world’s most powerful political, financial thinkers gather for “informal, private” discussions on issues that are deemed relevant for the time. The 2012 sessions were held in Chantilly, Virginia and Premier Alison Redford was invited (which is an honor in itself) and “Good for Alberta” “Good for Canada,” she went. Premier Redford’s invitation to the Builderberg Conference (and her subsequent attendance) to me indicates that there is international recognition by the world’s business / government elite that Alberta, with its massive oil sands reserves, will be playing an ever increasing role in international development affairs. What I found surprising (if not astounding) was the reaction by Wildrose Party leader, Danielle Smith. Danielle Smith suggested that the premier attended the Conference with only one motive and that her attendance was strictly a personal networking event that would only be used by the Alberta’s premier after she left politics – and because of that singular, personal motive she should pay for the cost of her attendance – if that’s Danielle Smith’s view of Premier Redford’s motives than I don’t think the Leader of the Official Opposition has a clue on how local or provincial politics works, never mind how international politics works. To me, Danielle Smith is attacking rather than supporting a sincere effort to advance Alberta’s interests. For me, Danielle Smith has gone way over the top with her confusing logic and misdirected conclusions. Harper’s Plea in Europe Last week Prime Minister Harper urged leaders in the European Union to move aggressively and “decisively” on the obvious financial crisis in Europe. Mr. Harper offered his “public plea” after a meeting with France’s new president, Francois Hollande who has politically rejected the austerity measures recommended by the international community. In my view it is quite unusual for the head of one nation state to comment on the economic affairs of another nation state (or group of nation states) but Prime Minister Harper is rightly suggesting dire consequences to the global economic framework should the eurozone states not get their act together. In Mr. Harper’s view the 17 member eurozone and the 27 member European Union lack the “strong institutional structures” that are necessary and associated with a monetary union, indicating that “it’s a half-done project” and Europe needs the tools necessary to deal with crises. Mr. Harper did acknowledge that crisis will not be an easily fixed “but we don’t have years to fix this problem,” and “There has to be a plan” to restore confidence in Europe and the euro. Unfortunately there was not a lot of detail on how to fix the dire situation in Europe. Canada, in Good Shape, but …… I don’t think there is any doubt; the world is not in good economic shape. Much of the world’s financial sector in chaos, largely due to globalization and an unregulated international banking system, causing economic instability around the world – Europe is already on a financial precipice with about a half dozen European countries on the verge of economic collapse – the United States is in deep, deep debt with really no solutions other than printing more money and that means inflation – China is slowing significantly because of internal corruption and their international markets contracting. Canada is actually in pretty good shape with its stronger, better regulated banking system (nevertheless Canadian banks are still vulnerable) and its aggressive resource development strategies, BUT if the dominos start to fall, things could get ugly – the Prime Minister has already indicated that Canada is starting to do some “contingency” planning.

Laissez-faireism Exposed

Smoky Lake Signal Article No.224 (June 6, 2012) Whispering in the Wind The world’s “developed nations” are suffering from a political crisis of monumental proportions and nobody with any political status seems to have a correction strategy, or any sort of a plan to address the negative effects of laissez-faireism and globalization on individual nations such as Canada. To translate the term laissez-faire, it means, “to let people do as they wish” and if one not-so-cynically applies it to the corporate world, “to let companies do as they wish.” In today’s lexicon, libertarianism is the political philosophy that is most closely associated with the principles of laissez-faireism – libertarianism believes in individual freedom, liberty and minimal government and to a significant degree reflects the views of Danielle Smith, leader of the Alberta Wildrose Party – even Steven Harper has been associated with at least some of the principles of libertarianism. What I find disturbing is that today’s political leaders (both in Canada and elsewhere) have not learned anything from the reality and experiences of history – in the 1920s the economic circumstances of laissez-faireism emerged in Europe and North America, a time that is often labeled the Roaring Twenties – the lack of government action against the so called Robber Barons of the 1920s led to the Great Depression; which then led to the growth of extreme nationalism and World War II.

Mulcair's Thoughts Should Be Looked At:

Smoky Lake Signal Article No. 223 (May 30, 2012) Whispering in the Wind Is Canada Suffering From the “Dutch Disease”? The current hassle, between the Leader of the Official Opposition, Thomas Mulcair and the Prime Minister, relates to the NDP Leader’s suggestion that Canada is suffering from the so called “Dutch disease” ailment. (No, the “Dutch disease” is not a virus or a pandemic flue bug, it describes a set of economic circumstances that hit the Netherlands in the 1960s – at a time when the Netherlands was being blessed with major natural gas developments, a true resource windfall situation that caused the demise of the country’s manufacturing sector). Mr. Mulcair’s commentary compared the “Dutch disease” syndrome with what is happening in Ontario’s declining manufacturing sector while Alberta is booming with oil sands developments. For the moment political leaders throughout the country are doing a lot of name calling and offering unsubstantiated innuendos, some rightly coming from the western premiers. For me, I would like to see the Prime Minister review the merits of Mr. Mulcair’s arguments and look at ways to do some nation-building. As to Mr. Mulcair’s more abrasive attitude when it comes to dealing with national and at times, provincial issues, I think he might have learned a lesson when he recently observed to Parliament Hill reporters: “My debate is here in the House [of Commons].- My debate is with Stephen Harper.” Have Politicians and Economists Failed in Their Duties? I don’t think there is any argument to the contrary; the developed world is a much different place than it was just fifty years ago. The question then becomes; are our political leaders and their chief advisors (the economists) up to the task of governing or have they been virtually consumed by right wing, laissez-faire economics and the new realities of globalization? Said another way; have our politicians and their advisors become irrelevant to the workings of global commerce? The first indication of how inept traditional economists were and how they failed their political masters was the housing bubble in the United States (that was only five years ago) – it cost the US Treasury something like $900 billion to bail out the banks and confirmed the saying, some companies are just “too big to fail.” The current crisis in Europe is equally disturbing, equally dangerous and all the great political minds and all the great economists attached to the great political experiment don’t have a strategy or an answer to the crisis – some of those great minds are now saying that the European experiment has failed; it’s my view that what has failed is the globalization experiment and that is what has to be dismantled and substituted with another very dangerous experiment, nation-building and nationalism. Nonetheless, the next big test is going to be the commodity bubble that has already shown its head. Here we are going see another realization that traditional economists and political leaders aren’t up to their jobs. I would like to end this week’s incoherent, disjointed essay with a quote from the famous humorist Will Rogers: “If you inject truth into politics, you have no politics.”

National Up-date

Smoky Lake Signal Article No. 222 (May 23, 2012) Whispering in the Wind It’s been a while since I paid any attention to what’s going on in Ottawa – what follows is a catch-up on a couple recent statements in the nation’s capital – and for me the statements are a reflection on how we are doing as a nation. The Mulcair Gaff Thomas Mulcair recently made some “bull in the china shop” remarks about Alberta’s oil sands development causing a tsunami response from Canada’s conservative elite, including Canada’s western premiers and the Prime Minister himself. The conservative response at least in Ottawa was intended to question, if not destroy Mr. Mulcair’s credibility as the new leader of the NDP and the new leader of the Official Opposition. In essence Mr. Mulcair opined that the hyper-economic-activity in Alberta’s oil sands is causing the Canadian dollar to be held at artificially high levels opposite other national currencies and that is causing Ontario manufacturing to become less competitive in international markets and that is causing hundreds of thousands of jobs to be lost in Ontario. In my view it was not Thomas Mulcair’s intent to pit one region of Canada against another, but a call for a National Economic Development Strategy that benefits all regions of Canada based on all of Canada’s assets – Mr. Mulcair might have an abrasive, arrogant management style but there is some merit in his argument and that should not be forgotten. Mr. Mulcair can redeem his obvious political “gaff” with a call for a national economic development strategy which is not too different from Premier Redford’s call for a National Energy Strategy, something she had called for well before she became Premier, Province of Alberta. Canada’s Performance – A Harper Report Card Since 2008, Canada’s economic performance has been pretty good according to the many press releases and speeches given by Prime Minister Harper and Finance Minister Flaherty – on March 29, 2012 Minister Flaherty tabled the government’s “Economic Action Plan 2012: [A Conservative] Plan for jobs, growth and long term prosperity.” The question is, how is Canada actually doing opposite other developed nations when it comes to economic performance and will the 2012 Action Plan bring further prosperity? Following are some statistical rankings than captures how well Canada is doing compared to other industrial countries using 2011 data: Unemployment rates: Canada ranks 9th with an unemployment rate of 7.8 percent, behind South Korea 3.6; Netherlands 4.3; Japan 4.9; Mexico 5.2; Australia 5.0; Germany 6.5. Inflation rates: Canada ranks 8th with an inflation rate of 2.2 percent; Switzerland is at 0.5 percent; Norway at 1.2; France at 1.7; Germany and the United States at 2.1 percent. Per-capita GDP: Canada ranks 10th behind; Norway, United States, Switzerland, Netherlands and Australia. Projected Economic Growth to 2015, the International Monetary Fund ranks Canada 10th behind South Korea, Israel, Sweden, Australia, United States, Britain, New Zealand, Switzerland and France. When it comes to a broad measure of quality of living, accounting for social, economic, crime and other factors the United Nations has a Human Development Index. For seven consecutive years, between 1994 and 2000, Canada ranked first amongst the UN’s industrialized nations. After that things start slipping, in 2008 Canada ranked 3rd, in 2009 Canada ranked 4th, in 2010 ranked 8th and in 2011 Canada will likely rank 6th. All in all Canada faired quite well in relation to the economic performance of other countries, at least according to the statistics just mentioned but maybe not as well as some of politicians in Canada like to suggest – there is an age old adage which is worth repeating when quoting statistics: “figures don’t lie but liars know how to figure” said another way “statistics never lie but liars use statistics.” So who’s fooling whom? Go figure!

Redford on the Move With Change

Smoky Lake Signal Article No. 221 (May 16, 2012) Whispering in the Wind Premier Redford Gets Down To Work – Last month’s election was a surprise to many Albertans and after the ballots were all counted, the more serious, committed “progressive” conservatives likely observed; “wow, that was a close one.” So, when all is said and done, the 41 year dynasty will continue for at least another four years under the strategic leadership of Alison Redford and her vocal commitment to CHANGE. It is a little early to judge Premier Redford’s strategy for change, but already people are seeing some real signs of a new approach to governance: Premier Redford’s Cabinet: Last week Premier Redford announced her new cabinet and a new cabinet structure. Not only is her new cabinet smaller with a number of important functions absorbed into fewer ministries, Premier Redford has staffed her priority ministries with notable and capable MLAs – Energy (Ken Hughes); Health (Fred Horne) and Education (Jeff Johnson) – it is also interesting, the premier has identified a specific priority for aboriginal affairs with the appointment of Robin Campbell, Minister of Aboriginal Relations. For me, the most important change in the premier’s new cabinet structure is the appointment of Thomas Lukaszuk as Deputy Premier, without ministerial responsibilities. Mr. Lukaszuk is not only Deputy Premier he has been given the responsibility for the very important Operations Policy Committee an appointment that is revealing of Premier Redford’s governance strategy. From my perspective, Mr. Lukaszuk’s responsibilities are clear he will be managing the day to day operations of government while Premier Redford will be giving a lot more attention to Alberta’s role in national and international affairs. Don’t get me wrong, Premier Redford will still maintain control of the government’s agenda and priority setting – after all she is Premier, Province of Alberta, she is President of Executive Council and Chair of the all important Agenda and Priorities Committee. If I were to offer a concern regarding Premier Redford’s new cabinet structure it is the fusing of the Finance Department with the Treasuring Board under one Minister, Doug Horner – I always thought that the two functions acted as a sober check on the other? Jeff Johnson, Minister of Education If you ask me Jeff Johnson has been given a significant promotion in Premier Redford’s Cabinet. Some have observed that Mr. Johnson, as Minister of Education, will have important responsibilities related to the Province of Alberta but will have little impact on the priorities in the Smoky Lake area. I disagree with that observation and point out that Jeff John sits on all three priority Cabinet Committees struck be Premier Redford: Agenda and Priorities Committee (Chair, Premier Redford); Operations Policy Committee (Chair, Thomas Lukaszuk); Treasury Board (President, Doug Horner). Remember Jeff Johnson was very good to us when he was Minister of Infrastructure, and he can be very good to us as Minister of Education, its going to be up to supporters of Jeff Johnson to make sure it happens.

Political Horrors on 63

Smoky Lake Signal Article No. 220 (May 9, 2012) Whispering in the Wind In late March of this year MLA Rob Anderson viewed a major collision on Highway 2 that killed 4 and sent one to hospital in critical condition – the culprit (apparently uninjured) faces 14 charges including impaired driving causing death and failure to provide a breath test. Mr. Anderson opined his view on the crash: “We got to double, triple the check stops and if anybody kills people in a crash, they need to go to jail for a long time and not be able to drive, forever.” More recently, there was a horrific collision on Highway 63, killing 7 people – and generating an emotional uproar in Ft. McMurray and political chaos in Edmonton. Collision on Highway 63 – A Political “Hot Potato” or a “Bee’s Nest” The horrific collision on Highway 63 a week ago last Friday killed 7 people and has generated an emotional uproar in Ft. McMurray and elsewhere. The grief, anger and despair shown by the people of Ft. McMurray since the collision has definitely gained the attention of Premier Redford and the message from the grieved community is quite clear: We, the people of Ft. McMurray want Highway 63 twinned, and we want it twinned now! From my perspective, the political fallout from the collision on Highway 63 is going to be the first major test for the new Alison Redford government and also, in some ways the leader of the Official Opposition, Danielle Smith. In my mind what is clear, Albertans are going to see Premier Redford’s 3 year goals and one year budget estimates re-evaluated and re-addressed. The opposition parties and some well organized segments of the public in Ft. McMurray want the twinning of Highway 63 accelerated big time but have not offered any realistic opinion on the pace of development or a measure of just how much it will cost the Alberta Treasury. After some political fumbling on the part of Doug Horner just days after the accident, Premier Redford finally asked (late last week), the Department of Transport to review its priorities and see if the 63 twinning program could be moved forward at a faster pace. What I find unfortunate about the political “box” the Premier is in, the accident of two weeks back was a result of winter driving conditions and deadly, unsafe driving habits on the part of someone. In my view, the situation in Ft. McMurray is politically charged, so what has to happen first and foremost: the current road system has to be adequately and properly patrolled and the irresponsible speednicks, when caught, thrown into jail, their licenses suspended and those in violation of the speed laws, their vehicles immediately impounded – all that should be the first piece of legislation passed in the upcoming spring legislative session. The Department of Transportation can and must also do some things immediately like: putting up concrete barriers where appropriate; build more passing lanes and rest stop areas; put down more rumble strips; implement more effective regulation of wide load movements and yes, look at ways of twinning Highway 63 at a faster pace, at a pace that doesn’t compromise safety and the integrity of the final product. One further point for Premier Redford to consider: Grief and despair are formidable political forces that often cloud reality, where facts are ignored or just left off of the table. The Smoky Lake Connection, Highway 28 – For those that are claiming that Highway 63 is a “deadly” problem and the highway is just too busy for a two lane highway system, then those same people would have to include Highway 28 as being part of that same problem – after all Highway 28 is the traffic feed into 63 from Edmonton and from the east, through the Town of Smoky Lake. About a month ago I was driving up to St. Paul and encountered 5 wide-load convoys that I call spaghetti trees – for me, each encounter required that I slow down to pass the oncoming spaghetti trees, and I wondered about the frustration being experienced by the dozen vehicles trailing each of the wide-loads. I also wondered why these wide-load rigs and their pilot vehicles aren’t traveling at more appropriate times of the day or the night. Also, anyone traveling from Smoky Lake to Edmonton on a Friday or Sunday evening will invariably encounter major traffic flows coming from or going to Ft. McMurray. Yes, a realistic, safe, expanded transportation corridor has to be constructed between Ft. McMurray and Edmonton – for the government, don’t rush it because it is more than a “hot potato” its a “bee’s nest”.