Kyoto David was at a news conference in Calgary where the Premier was announcing the government's new green plan. Eddie took the opportunity to point out that the Liberal plan would be a disaster. Since the Opposition Environment Critic was around, the press took the opportunity to get the Liberals' own projections as to the economic cost of their plan.
When asked about the costs of the Liberal proposal, Dr. Swann's response was nothing short of stunning:
"I'm not sure what they would be. Maybe we should get working on that."
MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET WORKING ON THAT???
Keep in mind, folks, that this guy is considered a Shadow Minister in a group of people who consider themselves to be a government-in-waiting.
David... Kevin... there are a lot of things you should get working on.
How about figuring out how much your environment fantasies will cost Albertans? Perhaps telling us where we're going to work when your royalty scheme drives all but the deepest pockets out of oil and gas exploration? Or, here's an idea, why not try and actually get people to run in every riding for this election that we've known was coming for over a year?
The role of opposition is an important one in any democracy. Unfortunately for Alberta, instead of a real official opposition we've been saddled with a modern day version of the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
And yet they think they're a credible alternative.
I can see the election billboards now:
Ed who?
ReplyDeleteIt's so very convienient that the Liberals get to harp on about the govt not having a plan for the unprecendted growth that the continued high price of oil (which is also unpredictable) brought to Alberta, especially since they didn't have a plan either.
ReplyDeleteTruth is there is no one who could have possibly forseen this happening, to this degree, and no one who can predict if the trend will increase, continue or die off with a plunge in oil prices...
But thats not the point is it. Just another thing that the Liberals get to repeat over and over - hoping that voters don't get that the reason they are harping on it repeatedly is because they don't have a plan themselves. Even now... even in the face of the PC govt actually developing and implementing a plan.
Anon, your comments embody another classic PC party hipocrisy: when confronted with ugly, "we didn't have a plan" quote, they refer to the boom as if it were an act of God, entirely unpredictable by the world at large. However, when they discuss it in the context of fiscal management, it is a precision-engineered result of strategic Tory legislation. Unfortunately, you can't have it both ways.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, maybe if the Opposition caucuses were granted more than a pittance for a budget , they would have the capacity to research the exact costs of a very complex policy problem.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, BR is clearly just using this post to deflect attention from the fact that Alberta's new "climate policy" is a complete joke. Fourteen percent below 2005 levels by 2050 - are you kidding me?? By 2050 every almost every industrialized country are looking at 50-80 per cent reductions from 1996 levels.
Even Stephen "Climate Change is a Socialist Scheme" Harper has committed Canada to a 20 per cent reduction by 2020.
Where are you going to work when half the country is under water, BR?
Where's your source Alberta Tory?
ReplyDeleteI cant find a link with Swann saying that on your post nor the quote in any mainstream media article.
avi,
ReplyDeleteCheck Calgary Herald. Don Braid's article from the Saturday edition. It is there.
Yeah, I'm with tfac. Seems to me the only fair solution is to make sure the opposition parties finally get a research budget that isn't laughable.
ReplyDelete"What the Liberals have promised is a commitment to a hard cap. They haven't said what that cap is yet."
ReplyDeleteAhhh. So there it is. Promise a hard cap for the election to curry favour with the green vote, then quietly assure big oil that the cap will be high enough to allow expansion?
If you advocate a hard cap in five years, you either make the cap so high as to be practically useless (from your Kyoto-esque perspective), or tell the oilsands companies that they ought to shut down construction. No point building, if you won't be allowed to switch it on.
P.S. Love the "we'll cancel natural gas rebates to consumers" idea from Taft. Keep 'em coming. I'm sure the working family of six will appreciate that they will save money in the end, after electriciy is re-regulated. Ought to be easy to sell. ;-)