- Changes will take effect January 1st, 2009.
- Ed seems to be doing PRETTY well, but he's going to the stock answers when asked uncomfortable questions... "How can the companies trust us now?" Answer: "We're doing this for the good of all Albertans." Huh? Trying to build a sense of trust with the public by being seen to be dodging questions is a tough row to hoe.
- He's really hammering home the "predictability" and "certainty" themes.
It's rather difficult to hear the questions being asked of the Premier. The quality of the sound is quite poor.
This seems like a "glass half full, glass half empty" issue... media have asked Ed about why he's "accepting about 75% of the Our Fair Share Report" and yet other media are asking about "rejecting or modifying half of the recommendations". Guess it depends on the editorial bias of their paper or station. Ed takes umbrage with the description of the announcement as a "compromise", pointing out that Royalties will go to 20% on January 1st, 2009.
IF all things remain equal (they never do), the government estimates an extra $1.4 Billion in provincial coffers annually with the announced changes.
Full text of the government's response to the recommendations of the "Our Fair Share" report are located here.
Details of the new Royalty Regime are located here.
Let the scare campaigns kick into high gear - after all, it's Halloween season!
Full analysis coming later tonight or tomorrow.
- E.S.
2 comments:
Who cares if we have an extra 1.4 billion? They are just going to blow it like a half drunk fratboy trying to impress a girl.
Until we have a plan for how we are going to spend the money, there is no real need to collect more.
During the bozo years from 2001-2006, our provincial government notoriously favoured the interests of multi-billion dollar corporations over those of Henry and Martha. How refreshing to be under new management that actually seems to give a tinker's damn about severely normal Albertans.
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