CALGARY — Alberta’s finance minister says the province will have the luxury of diversifying its revenues once its budget is balanced.
Toews made his remarks a day after tabling a budget that aims to reduce overall program spending by 2.8 per cent over four years and other measures to balance the books by 2023. We believe that is the most defensible approach to ensure that capital flows in the right places, that we diversify and grow our economy in a sustainable way, that government isn't picking winners and losers
That is why Peter Lougheed had a plan to save and diversify the economy. Conservatives themselves abandoned that plan but now the future Lougheed thought about is here. Strangely Albertans never hold them responsible.
This guy can't finance out of a wet paper bag.
Captain of the Titanic say’s that steering away from that iceberg is a long-term ‘luxury’.
It's a luxury to sit back and hope for oil and gas to boom. How about we do ANYthing to get Alberta's economy working.
Wow. We get what we deserve, don't we?
How do these short-sighted nincompoops get elected
Completely idiotic approach.
Um
Oh really? What does he call a $4.5B tax cut to the corporate sector?
These people are responsible for ruining the future of their kids.
Whew. The universe has some unfortunate news for you, my friend.
Oil and gas days are numbered. It is a hard but inevitable reality.
Yet another reminder that PostMedia is financed by GoldenTree Asset Management who’s primary asset is Pacific Oil and Gas
This is economically irresponsible. As a finance professional, it hurt me to see this kind of thing coming from the finance minister 😐 Alberta is proud of its oil&gas (and we should be), but we need to diversify too, or we stop growing.
And this is the main reason why Alberta can stop blaming everybody else for their problems - they do it to themselves.
Squeeze out the last of the black stuff and then leave. Appears to be the strategy.
Nothing says open for business like telling the world that progress is just not on our radar right now. This is embarrasing abpoli
To put things mildly, I feel this is extemely short sighted. The need to diversify Alberta's economy is not a 'luxury', its an 'inevitability'.
Oops.
Go visit North Wales. Ask them if depending on coal was a good long-term strategy.
Climate Action is a necessity!
Interesting....that is not what Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, says jkenney yeg ableg Alberta
You just killed Alberta , who would invest in morons ! OIL IS DEAD , DIVERSIFY OR DIE !! I wouldn’t invest a penny in Alberta now
🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕🦕 Get with the 21st century pls 🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖
Why do people keep voting for this garbage policy? This has absolutely no benefit for working Albertan's and will only serve to make matters worse, with investment running away at breakneck speed.
here it is folks again the Conservatives prove they do not think long term Quick buck now is better than lots of money down the road jkenney and AndrewScheer are prime examples of the future is as far ahead as the next pay cheque
Well that’s dumb
I really want to see oil and gas thrive again but the “war room” isn’t picking winners and losers?
The fact you aren't planning for the long term shows your incompetence in government. The lack of planning for the future is what's gotten you into this mess and recession.
Wow, we're fucked.
Could this guy be any more of a fool? Could this declaration of conservative stupidity and institutionalized anachronism be any starker? Could it be any more apparent that the UCP is failing its constituents in having zero post-fossil fuel plan for the future? CDNpoli ABleg
That speaks to the cynicism of the UCP, that they have no faith in Albertans’ ability to change and meet the challenge...
Really? Long term? Luxury?
Those who say it cannot be done, should not interrupt those doing it.
Dinosaurs went extinct.
My brainwashed neighbours need to stop voting these idiots into power. You’re bringing us all down with you. You might as well have explicitly told tech companies our doors are closed after scrapping the IDMTC. This crap you gave them instead does not make us competitive anymore.
Alberta Finance Minister proves UCP is a cult that can’t think beyond propping up dying fossil fuel industry & enriching billionaires.
So the province with the lowest tax rates is lowering them further in hopes of a)producing greater economic activity b) paying of its deficit. Ask Kansas how that experiment worked.
Alberta Economic Policy sounds like Blockbuster Video strategy as Netflix scales. Any wise investor looks for and invests in emerging growth markets. the_A100 abpoli InnovateYEG
The difference between thinking and reflection
When you think about Alberta's government pissed away their oil riches. They should gave seen the end of oil coming decades ago.
This is a total lack of common sense and will ruin Alberta. The UCP seems to have decided that jobs in healthcare, education, technology, and green jobs can be thrown away but they can't. Each job represents bills paid and food on the table for a family. This not a luxury AbLeg
A luxury? How about a necessity? AbLeg
Well there's this:
Obviously all Trudeaus fault...😏
Always good to see idiots in power. 🙄
Luckily we kept those horses and carts just in case the future luxury of electricity and internal combustion engines turned out to be a brief fad. Oh, wait, no, we embraced the future and told the cart builders and horse breeders to deal. If only they had had better lobbyists.
We are going to be fucked, the world is marching off of oil and we are sitting on our hill of arrogance and land lock crap oil singing “ we are the future”. Idiots
What the? We can't afford to keep our heads in the (oil)sand
OMG! This is the level of intelligence we have running our Province...either a complete moron or completely corrupt and owned by big O&G...can’t forget a third option of alltheabove jkenney UCPCaucus UExit
Lol Albertans are so dumb
That’s conservative all right. 🙄
This is why the province is going absolutely nowhere with these morons in. I’m 100% for O&G but we also need more than just that to rely on, especially when things get tough.
Canada oil production increases 250% to 10 million barrels per day in 2050 CanadianEnergy
It is utter irresponsibility to suggest that diversifying the economy away from an inevitably declining resource is a “luxury”. Albertans should be outraged. The UCP does not work for you, and is using you as pawns.
Alberta Finance Minister needs to read the book 'Who Moved My Cheese' ableg
Not a lot of forward thinking 🤔 on the Alberta UCP’s part. Very myopic, narrow minded mentality
These r the idiots tat ppl voted; the z listers as government! Way to go Albertans! These ppl r jus waiting for their retirement fund n bonuses so tey can live a more comfortable lives; tats their only plan for their future not Alberta ableg ABbudget
Given the bailouts and pipelines they are demanding from the rest of the country, and the proliferation of cheaper oil around the globe as prices sit low and demand drops, I would say it is more like an immediate necessity.
In other words, ostriches will still bury their heads until the predators pass......
Hasn’t Norway been setting aside fees from fossil fuel extraction and now has a trillion for diversification? Alberta has what, three billion from decades of much less aggressive saving and repeated raiding of the cookie jar.
I'm sorry Alberta... but you voted for the guy....
Alberta Finance Minister isn't that bright. Fixed it for you!
A luxury? It's 30 years too late! A mismanaged province now looking for someone to blame.
What an absolutely dumb thing to not only say but to think!Alberta is doomed! cdnpoli ableg
so, putting all your eggs in one basket is the recommended method? yeah, no. We already know that doesn't really work, unless you're really short sighted.
Alberta is a colony of Ontario and Quebec. Now back to the bitumen ponds, slaves. You are not going anywhere.
Uh oh
Alberta will be far better off it it separates...
Mark the time. Exact moment Alberta decided it will be a have-not province in the not to distant future. Gross incompetence. cdnpoli abpoli
So tone deaf. The world will leave you behind Alberta
It's a necessity not a luxury. For a party who likes to think they have financial savvy they surely don't seem to understand market demands and economic drivers.
If only Alberta had one party governing long term who could have foreseen this and diversified ahead of time.
Ummm no. Pretty sure it is a necessity.
50 years - 50 fucking years and no programs based on proper taxation. Keep sending out your money instead of building a province. My god.
That is insane.
iamjohnoliver John Oliver is our finance minister? abpoli lastweektonight
Good Lord. Talk about swimming upstream. The writing is on every wall. Falling demand for O&G is inevitable. Albertans deserve better than this head in the sand thinking.
If I lower my standards, lie and make outrageous and thoughtless statements, will I be qualified to run for office.
Alta been trying this half heartedly for decades in between oil boom fuelled binge spending and no purchase taxes....while pissing away oil royalties unlike frugal, careful Norway. Solution? Tech..tech.& more tech hubs..open doors to economic & tech immigration Kick ass Kenney!
No. It was a long-term luxury 30 years ago. Now it's getting to be a dire necessity. Why wait until the last minute and make it harder on ourselves?
Or, it could be considered a “near term reality”
Lol. They had GretaThunberg in Alberta telling them the future is here and Alberta_UCP folks still don't get it. We're much too late for diversification.
Sounds like a really, really bad finance minister. Or bought by oil & gas...
It's unbelievable that this is Alberta's government. Did people actually vote these crooks in? Starting to wonder.
Behaving like every other province in Canada is not a luxury. This province is going down the tubes. Zero imagination.
Alberta elected stupid people.
tim4hire Your friendly periodic reminder AbPoli UCP DarwinCried
Sounds like a great plan
He might as well have said 'Planning for long term success is dumb.'
Unbelievably ignorant. Thank you to those who voted for this clown troupe. They are leading us down a dark path of recession upon recession because of their denial.
Alberta finance minister needs a history lesson about Alberta finance apparently.
Wow...
Wow. Even the Chamber of Commerce President chose their words carefully at the end. These dudes are so out of touch with reality.
Diversification is a long term necessity. Environment aside, oil is a finite resource, that WILL run out eventually.
Should’ve diversified 40 years ago after the 1980 bust
I absolutely love watching these hicks choke on their own shit.
They are fools and always have been.
1950 called. They don’t want this finance minister back.
How dumb ar they? A rhetorical question Answer easy Dumb.
Yikes! Really worried about Alberta now.
Should have been started 10 years ago....while you were still raking in the dough. But you conservatives had to cut tax revenues when wages were going through the roof and buying power was at it's maximum. Huge lost revenue that could be helping peope now!
Then your provinces collapse is your own fault. We know y’all don’t like diversity but without economic diversity when your one industry fails, your whole province and economy will fail.
How much more diversified do you want to get.....people act like the economy is only G&O. Step off the ledge people.
Lol
'Luxury' Conservatives should have started this forty years ago. Its a necessity, and not a long term one
I believe it is called provincial sales tax. Try it on for size.
Making more money from different revenue streams is just bad business. You don’t see clothing stores selling accessories or grocery stores selling magazines, right? abpoli ableg
“If we waste money on something ridiculous like diversifying and expanding our economy, how will we have enough money to throw at billionaires?”
Clearly this guy doesn’t understand the actual world. Electric cars, Bitcoin, are just examples ...
Green jobs outnumber oil jobs in Alberta today. This government is out of touch. I feel for the people of Alberta. They're being fed a bill of goods and will suffer for it. cdnpoli wexit
We’re oil and gas till we die.
you folks smokin' too much crack cocaine eh? ya ya i know you shill for conservatives. sorry i should never forget.
Wake up, jkenney Alberta_UCP. ‘Green energy sector jobs surpass total oil sands employment’
Last year I couldn't spell minster, now I are one.
If Alberta had taken advantage of previous opportunities to diversify its economy, couldn't it have avoided the boom/bust oil cycles?
Truly a sign of things to come.
Diversification is a 'luxury' WTF is wrong with this government? Even if they're right (they're not) and oil magically rebounds, diversification is a good thing - a necessity NOT a luxury.
How backwards are these people
AB could invest in VCR’s , 8 track tapes and CD’s and it will all be worth the same as their oil & gas in 15 or 20 years
How many automakers have given up on manufacturing combustion engines to focus on EVs? Volvo. Honda just announced they’ll stop producing soon. ucp on wrong side of history and will sink AB with its narrow vision ableg
The future he believes in
Lol. More like a short-term necessity. What idiots.
Its a short term necessity. Long term is way lower demand/price for oil.. Not diversifying in the short term will leave AB a 'have-not' forever.
Pity us Albertans with ‘visionary’ leadership like this.
Do any of these clowns realize that 'diversification' also means hauling in cash from tech companies etc., as the youngest one of the tech-savviest provinces? Obviously not, since they cancelled all tax credits and reasons to invest here. 🤡🛢
not a luxury! an absolute necessity! a functioning economy can’t be based on a single commodity! jfc! especially for all the ucp’s crowing that the industry’s in crisis, betting everything on oil is NOT “fiscal responsibility”.
He’s right. Alternatives to fossil fuels aren’t ready for prime time.
So it’s a 1979 kind of budget in 2019. Got it. What could go wrong?
no, you guys THIS time when the boom cycles back it'll be for good. We just need to wait. We definitely don't have a bunch of laid off O&G workers in the meantime that need to find some way to support their families.
Ideologically, this group pre-dates the forward vision of Mr Peter Lougheed. I am so frustrated we're ruled by such narrow-minded partisans...
You need money from oil in order to do that !
Of course he would say that. The Kenney government's whole schtick is convincing the base that oil and gas is the ONLY solution for Alberta. Gotta keep that resentment boiling over.
Everything I’ve seen about that budget is bonkers.
lets get on it.
Talk about... Alberta albertabudget cdnpoli
He should know better than to say that. Reason is not popular with EIL's. (Easily Indoctrinated Luddites)
Get the butterfly nets! This guy is looney tunes!
These plans will lead to short term disaster
always will be a one trick pony! Then stop bitching!
Long-term necessity!
Not diversifying revenues away from oil and gas is incompetence.
Unsurprisingly short sighted once again. How much has Norway saved up for the transition away from fossil fuels?
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