PNWER and the EUB hearings

Well the PNWER summit is over for another year and I must say that this one was a real treat to participate in. There are so many people and organizations who made it a priviledge to be a part of this year's gathering. In no particular order, thank you to:

• The PNWER staff and their team of interns who did an absolutely outstanding job of making sure that PNWER's largest conference was a resounding success. Hats off to Matt Morrison, Judy Skarsten, Brandon Hardenbrook, Ian Burkheimer, Neil Parekh, Amy Wheeless, Jamie Robertson, Kristen Meyers, Bethany Van Etten, Alex Bond, Rachel Park, and Josh Morrison... you were all a treat to work with and people I am now happy to call friends.
• The staff of Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations for their outstanding support of the conference.
• The City of Edmonton for putting on a world-class welcome for PNWER's 570 delegates.
• The many, many officials who I had the pleasure of conversing with over the course of 4 days, particularily: Representative George Eskridge, Representative Alan Olson, MLA Mel Knight, Hon. John Van Dongen, David Curtis, Jeff Morris, James Rajotte, and Jean-Yves Laforest.

I also enjoyed the presentations on various topics relating to Energy and Workforce Development. As a bit of a policy wonk I always enjoy getting new information as it relates to issues like these.

I hope everyone from the summit had a safe journey home, and I look forward to seeing you all in Anchorage in 2007!

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I also wanted to post THIS.

I have some definite thoughts, but i'm not going to expand much on them except to say that on this point...

“The job of business in this case is to develop a resource to create employment, to create opportunity and to pay royalties and taxes,” Taft said, adding it’s the government’s job to provide infrastructure.

... I am in agreement with Kevin Taft.