Posts
Refinery vapour base (what gasoline is made from) is going to be moved into Alberta for use in extracting crude out of the tar sands. The now polished crude along with the saturated dilutant will be shipped from Hardisy AB to Superior Wisconsin for refining. Over producing the tar sands leave us in the positon of digging the stuff. We remain hewers of woodand haulers of water. This "dilutant" could arguably be made into gasoline.
One has to wonder how much of this the taxpayer is going to end up paying for. I can only go be the track record of this Government and say, all 5.3 billion dollars of it! The Conservatives don’t use and account system as such. Everything goes into “General Revenues” and is dispersed from there, attributing the expenditures to one Department or Another without those same departments knowing anything about it.
The Conservative way; Accounting by slush fund.
Process for recovering high quality oil from refinery waste emulsions
Document Type and Number:
United States Patent 5882506
Abstract:
An invention is disclosed whereby refinery waste emulsion streams such as API slop oils, desalter rag layer emulsions, mud pit sludges and the like having high viscosities and specific gravity approaching that of water can be treated for the recovery of processable oil values which had previously been unavailable by adding a sufficient amount of a light hydrocarbon diluent to the emulsion to lower its overall viscosity and to reduce the specific gravity of the oil phase to less than about 0.92. The diluted emulsions are subjected to flashing at emulsion-breaking conditions after which the oil is recovered from the various streams created in the flashing steps.
John Clark
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Carbon Controls a patch work of NIMBY projects.
Carbon Controls differ across all the jurisdictions. The underlying theme is how many hat tricks do we have to preform before we can saddle the consumers with the bill. You couple this circus with the hand outs planned by Stelmach and it is not hard to figure it is still another way to cut deeper into Alberta's share of the royalties and fatten the corporate banks while doing so. Carbon be dammed! Take the money and run!
John Clark
John Clark
Carbon Dioxide- Why is it dangerous.
Your body has no inkling of how much Oxygen you are getting. When you breath you take in a mixture of air and the Oxygen is picked up and burned in your body. Carbon Dioxide is produced. Your body monitors the amount of Carbon Dioxide, not the Oxygen you have in your blood.
When you walk into an enclosed, oxygen deficient area like an empty tank. Your body does not get sufficient oxygen; you do not produce enough carbon dioxide and your body registers the "oxygen deprivation" effects of suffocation.
On the other hand when you walk into a Carbon Dioxide enriched area, your body registers you have enough carbon dioxide so, you stop breathing, are overcome and probably die. There is no sense of suffocation because you body, measuring carbon dioxide is in a happy place.
John Clark
When you walk into an enclosed, oxygen deficient area like an empty tank. Your body does not get sufficient oxygen; you do not produce enough carbon dioxide and your body registers the "oxygen deprivation" effects of suffocation.
On the other hand when you walk into a Carbon Dioxide enriched area, your body registers you have enough carbon dioxide so, you stop breathing, are overcome and probably die. There is no sense of suffocation because you body, measuring carbon dioxide is in a happy place.
John Clark
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Alberta carbon sequestor program.
There is no public plan put forward on Alberta's program. There is however information available about what one may reasonably expect.“CO2 will be injected at depths below 0.8 km (2600 feet). CO2 increases in density with depth and becomes a supercritical fluid below 0.8 km. Supercritical fluids take up much less space than gases, as shown in this figure, and diffuse better than either gases or ordinary liquids through the tiny pore spaces in storage rocks. The blue numbers in this figure show the volume of CO2 at each depth compared to a volume of 100 at the surface.”
Source:
Carbon stored at marginal depths create problems where carbon dioxide will stay down at one temperature but not another. In this case the carbon dioxide flooded a valley killing thousands.
And finally the CBC document summary on the Weyburn Co2 Sequester experiment:
The conclusion of the study will be an assessment of the integrity of the reservoir and its
ability to store CO2 over the longer-term. The risk analysis will evaluate the potential for
leakage, migration paths this leakage may take and future land-use changes that may
impact on reservoir integrity.
Nothing is solid or fixed!
One thing I have heard nothing about which, seems obvious to me is a pro active use of the carbon dioxide by injecting into the very deep aquifer that is not potable. Indeed, it is outright poison with no chance of redemption. I see no reason why pressurizing that aquifer would not make this water available to the oil industry rather than using our drinking water the way they are.
The last time I enquired into this was about 8 years ago having to do with the water use at and near Drayton Valley by the oil industry. It was explained to me the deep water would work fine but, it is too expensive to bring up to a point they can use it.
If the industry plays at this it will serve no other purpose than to rip off more cash. Because it is public funded by the taxpayer we should be able to get access to their efforts, good and bad.
I am sure as hell not going to believe anything this Government tells me. There is no accountability!
John Clark
Alberta Electricity and the cost of power lines.
We are told the new double power line down the centre of Alberta is going to cost 800 million of dollars. My guess would be closer to 1.6 billion.
However, using the 800 million dollar figure one has to wonder how long it will take to pay for this line.
Fortis are presently charging you 2.5157 cents per kwh plus .451 cents per day.
Using only the per kwh rate and a base of 9000 megawatts system in Alberta, that means Fortis will collect $226,413.00 per hour for the whole grid.
If .005 cent were allowed for a rate increase to pay for the 800 million dollar construction it would take only 7.4 days to pay for it in total! 1 week of one half cent increase in power bills will pay for this construction in total!
This is why I am insistent we have a construction rate that will come on to pay for the lines and drop off when they are paid.
If some one tells you that you will have to pay .01 cent more until the end of time to pay for the new power lines I would complain loudly!
Expect no help from the Conservatives. Like the oil they will gouge the hell out of the consumers in this province allowing record profits for the companies.
John Clark
However, using the 800 million dollar figure one has to wonder how long it will take to pay for this line.
Fortis are presently charging you 2.5157 cents per kwh plus .451 cents per day.
Using only the per kwh rate and a base of 9000 megawatts system in Alberta, that means Fortis will collect $226,413.00 per hour for the whole grid.
If .005 cent were allowed for a rate increase to pay for the 800 million dollar construction it would take only 7.4 days to pay for it in total! 1 week of one half cent increase in power bills will pay for this construction in total!
This is why I am insistent we have a construction rate that will come on to pay for the lines and drop off when they are paid.
If some one tells you that you will have to pay .01 cent more until the end of time to pay for the new power lines I would complain loudly!
Expect no help from the Conservatives. Like the oil they will gouge the hell out of the consumers in this province allowing record profits for the companies.
John Clark
Monday, June 02, 2008
Alberta Electricty dog and pony show-Transmission
The transmission lines between Genesee and Langdon are working at peak. Peak invites overload and leaves little room for flux or flex. A new power line is needed because this Government allowed it to fall into neglect as they did with all aspects of the infrastructure through the Klein years.
Now privatized they are prepared to put the big bucks in place. Under this scheme the big bucks will come directly from your pockets for years after the line is paid for. What is needed here is a cost analysis. How much will it cost and over what period of time. After that time will the construction fee(no such thing yet) come off our utility or will it remain on as still another escalated cost.
Consider power lines are built in this province on a cost plus 15% for profit basis. There is no tender as such and the system does not encourage any one to control the costs. Only approximations are used. The rich get richer.
There was a working proposal put through to the Government where the cost of power lines would be put onto the generator source. Then, the charge would be put forward to the people who used the power. The large cost of lines would be put through to the exporter!
Stelmach said “No way is this going to happen.”
This is going to be built. New government agencies assure that!
If being built, the double tower high voltage would be the only choice. Single towers are not really considered; only there for the exercise. The double towers will be 20’ higher than and 3 times as wide as the single towers and from a technical stand point the best of all worlds.
When all this is in place and the populace goes back to sleep thinking Conservative is the best of all worlds, the 500 MW power plant at Brooks Alberta will be built and 95% of the power on these new towers will be for export, paid for by you on your utility bill.
John Clark
Now privatized they are prepared to put the big bucks in place. Under this scheme the big bucks will come directly from your pockets for years after the line is paid for. What is needed here is a cost analysis. How much will it cost and over what period of time. After that time will the construction fee(no such thing yet) come off our utility or will it remain on as still another escalated cost.
Consider power lines are built in this province on a cost plus 15% for profit basis. There is no tender as such and the system does not encourage any one to control the costs. Only approximations are used. The rich get richer.
There was a working proposal put through to the Government where the cost of power lines would be put onto the generator source. Then, the charge would be put forward to the people who used the power. The large cost of lines would be put through to the exporter!
Stelmach said “No way is this going to happen.”
This is going to be built. New government agencies assure that!
If being built, the double tower high voltage would be the only choice. Single towers are not really considered; only there for the exercise. The double towers will be 20’ higher than and 3 times as wide as the single towers and from a technical stand point the best of all worlds.
When all this is in place and the populace goes back to sleep thinking Conservative is the best of all worlds, the 500 MW power plant at Brooks Alberta will be built and 95% of the power on these new towers will be for export, paid for by you on your utility bill.
John Clark
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Alberta Electricity continues to be challenged.
”We are meeting with Alberta Electric Systems Operator now to discuss some options. There are options available to satisfy both the industry and the public. However, we are at odds with EPCOR, TransAlta, and AltaLink if they try to make the public pay for an export line that will only raise our electricity rates and does not provide any additional electricity to Albertans. It is time we worked towards a solution,”
The conservatives through still another sustained lie, told Albertans they would take control of the power lines so that all schools could enjoy fancy computer rooms. This was early after the relatively honest Government of Peter Laugheed so, it was taken at its word.
After they had control of all the lines the story was hammered home "Albertans have always paid for their own power lines"
With these pieces in place they sold the power lines through power purchase agreements. The acronym for these was the "PPA's"
These PPA's ended up in the hands of the choice few after someone made millions flipping the PPA before they got into the correct hands; the major cities.
Because this Government opens all of the bids in secret and no one every knows who bid or who the top bid really was, we have no knowledge of who they handed the original PPAs to. In other words, who they decided was to get very rich in a hurry.
All the pieces in place now and more than enough power lines and generation to look after the citizens of Alberta the power companies look for export markets to other parts of Canada and and the coveted USA. The latter are going to be short a very huge amount of electrical generation starting this summer.
Alberta residences are set up presently to pay for all the line costs that is associated with the export market.
That, is what the people are fighting!
John Clark
The conservatives through still another sustained lie, told Albertans they would take control of the power lines so that all schools could enjoy fancy computer rooms. This was early after the relatively honest Government of Peter Laugheed so, it was taken at its word.
After they had control of all the lines the story was hammered home "Albertans have always paid for their own power lines"
With these pieces in place they sold the power lines through power purchase agreements. The acronym for these was the "PPA's"
These PPA's ended up in the hands of the choice few after someone made millions flipping the PPA before they got into the correct hands; the major cities.
Because this Government opens all of the bids in secret and no one every knows who bid or who the top bid really was, we have no knowledge of who they handed the original PPAs to. In other words, who they decided was to get very rich in a hurry.
All the pieces in place now and more than enough power lines and generation to look after the citizens of Alberta the power companies look for export markets to other parts of Canada and and the coveted USA. The latter are going to be short a very huge amount of electrical generation starting this summer.
Alberta residences are set up presently to pay for all the line costs that is associated with the export market.
That, is what the people are fighting!
John Clark
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Conservatives to Improve Pensions?
CD Howe has in an unusual statement endorsed a secondary pension fund to protect the army of workers in Canada who do not have pensions other than the CPP which is in itself very inadequate for a stand alone retirement vehicle.
The point here is that CD Howe Institute would not come up with an idea like this unless Harper’s crew already had it tooled for an election platform!
There is no reason to make a separate “only for the destitute” pension. There is however a great need to bring the Canada Pension Fund up to a point it can be a functioning income for people; all people. This will take an increase in the fund yes, but as CD Howe point out it is necessary.
The Liberals on the other hand are mired down in a Carbon Tax that will unfairly penalize this same group of people for the size of their houses. 300 square feet per person is simply not adequate.
The Liberals are not suspect when the right wing news papers are shouting their success in coming up with this plan. As with the US Democrats one only has to wait around until these guys self destruct.
The point here is that CD Howe Institute would not come up with an idea like this unless Harper’s crew already had it tooled for an election platform!
There is no reason to make a separate “only for the destitute” pension. There is however a great need to bring the Canada Pension Fund up to a point it can be a functioning income for people; all people. This will take an increase in the fund yes, but as CD Howe point out it is necessary.
The Liberals on the other hand are mired down in a Carbon Tax that will unfairly penalize this same group of people for the size of their houses. 300 square feet per person is simply not adequate.
The Liberals are not suspect when the right wing news papers are shouting their success in coming up with this plan. As with the US Democrats one only has to wait around until these guys self destruct.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Alberta: Don't speak ill of the devil!
Mr. Ronald Edward Labelle 57, goes to gaol while the judge says “You threatened violence against the premier.” And continued to say “Politicians must be able to serve the public without fear of harm.”
If this Government was representing the people of this province instead of the Oil Industry this wouldn’t have happened. At point here the Judge was in error. This Government is not serving the public! At best, they are self serving. At worst they are thieves and bandits stripping our resources while getting less than 1/10 their value from their buddies.
The outright lies and deceit this Government practices is all okay according to this Judge.
And why not? The RCMP cannot investigate the blatant insider trading in oil stocks by members of the Alberta Government and Oil Companies unless they get approval from the Alberta Attorney General. That is not going to happen. The judges are under a similar restriction when it comes to Alberta law.
Saddled with a useless opposition, what recourse does a person have?
I think Stelmach has a bad conscience, knowing full well he is ripping us off and is acting in a very defensive manner.
John Clark.
If this Government was representing the people of this province instead of the Oil Industry this wouldn’t have happened. At point here the Judge was in error. This Government is not serving the public! At best, they are self serving. At worst they are thieves and bandits stripping our resources while getting less than 1/10 their value from their buddies.
The outright lies and deceit this Government practices is all okay according to this Judge.
And why not? The RCMP cannot investigate the blatant insider trading in oil stocks by members of the Alberta Government and Oil Companies unless they get approval from the Alberta Attorney General. That is not going to happen. The judges are under a similar restriction when it comes to Alberta law.
Saddled with a useless opposition, what recourse does a person have?
I think Stelmach has a bad conscience, knowing full well he is ripping us off and is acting in a very defensive manner.
John Clark.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Alberta Electricity to go up 50%? No!
Alberta Electricity going up 50% ? NO!
The spin doctors are at work, forcing the price of electricity up in this province to a point where we can afford to pay for Nuclear power. Some kind of expert in the east is saying it will cost 50% more for electricity if the carbon sequestering program is started at the coal plants.
I think carbon sequestering is necessary but because the general public ends up paying for these projects on their utility bill, we should get an itemized cost of what goes into these programs.
Consider, the people generating the power are getting paid between .05 cents a kwh and .09 per kwh with the bulk of the power purchases now around .06 but much higher in the winter. With the power system putting out close to 9000 megawatts per hour of power! At the optimal rate of .07 per kwh it means that power generators are taking home 630,000 dollars per hour in this province! That is 15.12 million dollars per day! The utility companies post huge, some say unreasonable profits which are taken by the cities of Edmonton and Calgary. They are more than healthy!
Consider these same companies retail the power they have already been paid for generating. A contract at .12 per kwh would return these same companies an additional 450,000 dollars per hour or 10.8 million dollars a day.
Some one is taking 25 million dollars a day to the bank, all of it out of your pockets.
The Conservatives have the system rigged so you have no recourse to correction because you have signed a contract. However, it is something you can change at the civic election! I think Albertans should be given some degree of accountability in the implementation of new programs in the power industry before we pay attention to charlatans calling for 50% increases. In this province however there is no accountability from Government and, that seems to be okay.
John Clark
The spin doctors are at work, forcing the price of electricity up in this province to a point where we can afford to pay for Nuclear power. Some kind of expert in the east is saying it will cost 50% more for electricity if the carbon sequestering program is started at the coal plants.
I think carbon sequestering is necessary but because the general public ends up paying for these projects on their utility bill, we should get an itemized cost of what goes into these programs.
Consider, the people generating the power are getting paid between .05 cents a kwh and .09 per kwh with the bulk of the power purchases now around .06 but much higher in the winter. With the power system putting out close to 9000 megawatts per hour of power! At the optimal rate of .07 per kwh it means that power generators are taking home 630,000 dollars per hour in this province! That is 15.12 million dollars per day! The utility companies post huge, some say unreasonable profits which are taken by the cities of Edmonton and Calgary. They are more than healthy!
Consider these same companies retail the power they have already been paid for generating. A contract at .12 per kwh would return these same companies an additional 450,000 dollars per hour or 10.8 million dollars a day.
Some one is taking 25 million dollars a day to the bank, all of it out of your pockets.
Aside from this; the power companies will be further eligible for large grants under the "carbon sequestering program" announced earlier by Stelmach.
The Conservatives have the system rigged so you have no recourse to correction because you have signed a contract. However, it is something you can change at the civic election! I think Albertans should be given some degree of accountability in the implementation of new programs in the power industry before we pay attention to charlatans calling for 50% increases. In this province however there is no accountability from Government and, that seems to be okay.
John Clark
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Alberta Royalty Regime is an Outright Lie!
The Conservatives have been telling outright lies to the party faithful!
If anything, the new royalty program will end up costing Albertans.
John Clark
As of today oil is more than 120.00 per bbl that
gives Alberta 27.80 and the oil companies 97.20. !
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
When your Boss (Premier) is a liar.
When Your Boss is a Liar:
Mark SwartzQuestion: I'm at my wit's end about a problem at work. I discovered last year that my boss had personally changed the results of an expensive market research study our firm had paid for. In doing so, she ended up costing the company a ton of money because the original research results said that we shouldn't launch the new product. We did anyway, and our department is now in the dog house. I feel my job may therefore be in jeopardy. Should I go over her head and report her actions so at least upper management knows it wasn't my fault? I've since caught my boss in several other lies. I love my job here and the money's good, so what do I do? "This is a direct quote from the Workopolist web site."
John Clark
Friday, April 25, 2008
Alberta royalty an outright lie!
Alberta's Energy Minister has a job that is guaged on how well he can stall and delay changes, not how well he can help build this province. Billions of dollars are lost to this province every month due to the unchanged oil royalty scheme. Worse, Mr. Stelmach has said there may well be no changes at all to the Royalty scheme.
Mr. Knight refuses to answer the questions on the current rate of royalty charged. The Journal reported the royalty being reduced to 19% and Mr. Knight is still talking agreed rates of 25%.
At no point will he clearly state what the current rate of royalty being charged is and our all but useless opposition will not ask that question!
Certainly the Liberals are pandering to the Oil Companies; they are 750 Million dollars in debt. Where else are they going to get that kind of cash after two frittered away elections?
The stock market correctly identifies the Conservaives as being a lying deceitful bunch and as I pointed out prior to the election there is nothing in Stelmach's package for Alberta!
The stock market reports energy stocks a good deal: "There may be no urgency to act as long as oil and gas prices appreciate. In fact, we think there is a cause and effect between untrustworthy government and commodity price. "
John Clark
Mr. Knight refuses to answer the questions on the current rate of royalty charged. The Journal reported the royalty being reduced to 19% and Mr. Knight is still talking agreed rates of 25%.
At no point will he clearly state what the current rate of royalty being charged is and our all but useless opposition will not ask that question!
Certainly the Liberals are pandering to the Oil Companies; they are 750 Million dollars in debt. Where else are they going to get that kind of cash after two frittered away elections?
The stock market correctly identifies the Conservaives as being a lying deceitful bunch and as I pointed out prior to the election there is nothing in Stelmach's package for Alberta!
The stock market reports energy stocks a good deal: "There may be no urgency to act as long as oil and gas prices appreciate. In fact, we think there is a cause and effect between untrustworthy government and commodity price. "
John Clark
Monday, April 21, 2008
Alberta politicians elevate themselves
Alberta Conservatives declare their entitlement status by issuing themselves with Diplomatic Passports. This group of louts are not going to wait in line at any airport, thank you!
John Clark
John Clark
Alberta Electricity is good to Electrical Business.
Alberta's high cost electricity is makes it impossible to bring on new industry and nearly impossible for consumers in Alberta to pay their power bills.
There is no protection for consumers from the Alberta Utilities boards.
What is a fair return?
Transalta Utilities have announced a 75 million dollar upgrade to the Sundance Generating Station. This will increase electricity production by 53 megawatts of power.
The numbers:
53 megawatts = 53,000 kw per hour.
Market for electricity is .07 per kwh.
When producing the new 53 megawatt will return $3710.00 per hour at .07 per kwh.
This expenditure will be paid for in 2.3 years. From that time on it is clear profit!
Wouldn't you like to start a business that will be paid for in less than 3 years?
John Clark
There is no protection for consumers from the Alberta Utilities boards.
What is a fair return?
Transalta Utilities have announced a 75 million dollar upgrade to the Sundance Generating Station. This will increase electricity production by 53 megawatts of power.
The numbers:
53 megawatts = 53,000 kw per hour.
Market for electricity is .07 per kwh.
When producing the new 53 megawatt will return $3710.00 per hour at .07 per kwh.
This expenditure will be paid for in 2.3 years. From that time on it is clear profit!
Wouldn't you like to start a business that will be paid for in less than 3 years?
John Clark
Friday, April 18, 2008
Shaw.ca reply1
Reducing to 6kbs is lower than any industry in Canada or the US. Shaw are obviously protecting their cable PPV business.
-------------------------
Hello John,
Thank you for choosing Shaw Technical Support.
With the popularity of the Internet having grown so quickly, the challenge faced by all ISP's is upgrading the network fast enough to keep up with bandwidth needs. Since 2002, Shaw has increased bandwidth guidelines ten-fold. This has been possible only with continual upgrades to the network infrastructure. These upgrades are still being done continuously, but can only be done as quickie as manpower and operating budgets allow.
We recognize that there is the ability to transfer hundreds of Gigabytes of data in a relatively short time, but the current network could not provide this type of service without seriously impacting the speeds of most users.
Much as many of our cities find that the roadways are overcrowded, and are constantly trying to expand their infrastructure to keep up with the demand, so is the case for ISP's. In five years, we have expanded from 770,000 Internet customers to 1,500,000, almost double. We have also seen an extremely rapid growth in Digital Television customers (more than doubled). As well as needing continual upgrades to support these customers, there is also the task of upgrading areas where cabling is simply old and beginning to deteriorate.
We hope this information has been useful to you. When sending a reply to us, please remember to include all previous correspondence.
Thank you for choosing Shaw.
Bernice E-Mail Support Team Shaw Internet Service
Should you require further assistance in the future, you may reach us via any of the mediums listed below: Web: http://support.shaw.ca/
Email: edm.help@sjrb.caTelephone:Edmonton
(780) 490-3590 Option 1 then
Option 2Red Deer (403) 340-6420
Hinton 1 (800) 465-9605
-------------------------
Hello John,
Thank you for choosing Shaw Technical Support.
With the popularity of the Internet having grown so quickly, the challenge faced by all ISP's is upgrading the network fast enough to keep up with bandwidth needs. Since 2002, Shaw has increased bandwidth guidelines ten-fold. This has been possible only with continual upgrades to the network infrastructure. These upgrades are still being done continuously, but can only be done as quickie as manpower and operating budgets allow.
We recognize that there is the ability to transfer hundreds of Gigabytes of data in a relatively short time, but the current network could not provide this type of service without seriously impacting the speeds of most users.
Much as many of our cities find that the roadways are overcrowded, and are constantly trying to expand their infrastructure to keep up with the demand, so is the case for ISP's. In five years, we have expanded from 770,000 Internet customers to 1,500,000, almost double. We have also seen an extremely rapid growth in Digital Television customers (more than doubled). As well as needing continual upgrades to support these customers, there is also the task of upgrading areas where cabling is simply old and beginning to deteriorate.
We hope this information has been useful to you. When sending a reply to us, please remember to include all previous correspondence.
Thank you for choosing Shaw.
Bernice E-Mail Support Team Shaw Internet Service
Should you require further assistance in the future, you may reach us via any of the mediums listed below: Web: http://support.shaw.ca/
Email: edm.help@sjrb.caTelephone:Edmonton
(780) 490-3590 Option 1 then
Option 2Red Deer (403) 340-6420
Hinton 1 (800) 465-9605
Shaw.ca
Shaw Internet services “shape” the bandwidth you use. For those of you who use torrent sites, don’t bother buying the Shaw “Extreme” package thinking you will get better download speed. Simply won’t happen.
Shaw have limited these downloads to 6 kbs which on a bandwith that has the capability of 160 kbs is nothing!
The limiting as they are managing it screws up your modem, routers and switches. In effect it will overload the resource of your machine so you cannot get your internet pages, email etc until you shut down your torrent program.
Coming up will be industry comparison of services.
John Clark.
Shaw have limited these downloads to 6 kbs which on a bandwith that has the capability of 160 kbs is nothing!
The limiting as they are managing it screws up your modem, routers and switches. In effect it will overload the resource of your machine so you cannot get your internet pages, email etc until you shut down your torrent program.
Coming up will be industry comparison of services.
John Clark.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
First evidence of pay your own way health care shows up
Seniors told they have used up all their allowance on Alberta Health Care cards. When senior contacted Alberta Health Care stating her health care card had been ruined when it was inadvertently put through the wash she was told “This is your last free health care card!” Future card will have to be paid for in cash.
Sign of things to come under this hawkish right wing Government. I would like to see their budget for body guards.
John Clark
Sign of things to come under this hawkish right wing Government. I would like to see their budget for body guards.
John Clark
Monday, April 14, 2008
Conservatives position for Bulk Water Export
The Conservatives want to Export bulk water!
Do you trust them to negotiate a new NAFTA?
The Conservative party of Canada appeared before the Privy Council to make the case that water exports were included in the present NAFTA agreement. They were defeated but said they would pursue this through the courts if needed.
The Conservative policies are set by large by the Fraser Institute and the CD Howe Institute. Both of these organizations have U S citizens and industry as a large segment of their membership.
I have come to think of these organizations as being the shadow government for the ruling Conservatives.
The articles outline Harper’s plan to talk to the provinces getting them to lobby for the agreement. With the Conservatives in charge in Alberta and Saskatchewan there will be no resistance to the privatization and export of our fresh water.
Do you really want to keep the Federal Conservatives in power for this exercise?
A must read
John Clark
Liberals move to prevent export of water!
Federal Liberals aggressively move to prevent export of water.
On September 12, 2007, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion called upon the government to work with the provinces and territories to close any possible loopholes in our water protection framework, and to pass backstop legislation banning bulk water exports. A Task Force on the protection of Canadian water resources should be established and would work to ensure that federal, provincial and territorial governments treat bulk water diversions in a consistent manner.
In addition, the Liberal Party has called on the Conservative government to immediately inform the governments of the United States and Mexico that bulk water removals from Canada’s major drainage basins will not be permitted and that the topic of water export will be excluded from all future Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) or related discussions.
As it has in the past, the Liberal Party will continue to protect Canada’s water resources through a comprehensive water strategy that works in partnership with our provinces, municipalities and First Nations communities.
Thank you for sharing your concerns about our country’s water resources; they are concerns that we share as well.
Sincerely,
Scott Blurton
Electronic Communications Officer
Liberal Party of Canada.
info@liberal.ca
On September 12, 2007, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion called upon the government to work with the provinces and territories to close any possible loopholes in our water protection framework, and to pass backstop legislation banning bulk water exports. A Task Force on the protection of Canadian water resources should be established and would work to ensure that federal, provincial and territorial governments treat bulk water diversions in a consistent manner.
In addition, the Liberal Party has called on the Conservative government to immediately inform the governments of the United States and Mexico that bulk water removals from Canada’s major drainage basins will not be permitted and that the topic of water export will be excluded from all future Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) or related discussions.
As it has in the past, the Liberal Party will continue to protect Canada’s water resources through a comprehensive water strategy that works in partnership with our provinces, municipalities and First Nations communities.
Thank you for sharing your concerns about our country’s water resources; they are concerns that we share as well.
Sincerely,
Scott Blurton
Electronic Communications Officer
Liberal Party of Canada.
info@liberal.ca
Friday, April 11, 2008
Alberta Royalty lies are laid bare.
Royalty lies lay bare!
It is as I predicted before the election. There is nothing in this royalty regime for Albertans!
I read the original proposal with dismay. The increases as such were no increase at all but a means to shuttle crude from one account to another while subsidizing the oil up-grader scam.
Certainly the Conservatives knew they could not subsidize the up-graders as it would be against the rules of NAFTA. With Harper set to re- negotiate the NAFTA and the US hungry for tar sands crude, this may well change.
When Mel Knight says there will be no changes for 5 years he is saying they are willing to fight the royalty fight again in the next election. Why not? With a worse than useless Liberal opposition and the NDP solidly on their side, they did famous. All Stelmach had to do was parrot “We have a plan” without divulging it lay in the further privatization of Alberta’s Heritage, Schools, Water and trust funds.
It is also very important to notice that Mr. Knight does not state publicly or publish what exactly is being paid for royalties now. Amongst the field of lies and misdirection this Government lays down, keeping mind the reduction in royalty from 25% to 19% and he is saying no changes for 5 years!
I have said before and will say again “It is hard to distinguish this Government from Organized Crime”
John Clark
It is as I predicted before the election. There is nothing in this royalty regime for Albertans!
I read the original proposal with dismay. The increases as such were no increase at all but a means to shuttle crude from one account to another while subsidizing the oil up-grader scam.
Certainly the Conservatives knew they could not subsidize the up-graders as it would be against the rules of NAFTA. With Harper set to re- negotiate the NAFTA and the US hungry for tar sands crude, this may well change.
When Mel Knight says there will be no changes for 5 years he is saying they are willing to fight the royalty fight again in the next election. Why not? With a worse than useless Liberal opposition and the NDP solidly on their side, they did famous. All Stelmach had to do was parrot “We have a plan” without divulging it lay in the further privatization of Alberta’s Heritage, Schools, Water and trust funds.
It is also very important to notice that Mr. Knight does not state publicly or publish what exactly is being paid for royalties now. Amongst the field of lies and misdirection this Government lays down, keeping mind the reduction in royalty from 25% to 19% and he is saying no changes for 5 years!
I have said before and will say again “It is hard to distinguish this Government from Organized Crime”
John Clark
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Alberta 19% royalty revisited
Mr. Mel R. Knight Minister
Alberta Energy
404 Legislature Building,
10800-97 Ave
Edmonton, AB T8V-0T8
Cc: Honourable Ed Stelmach, Premier.
Dear Mr. Knight:
I will make a reply easy for you! During one of your very rare public appearances during the past election you were asked in public forum “What about the 19% Royalty?” You blew this person off saying “That is a matter of record; that is old stuff!”
So, why does your on line information all refer to our no existent 25% royalty?
Meanwhile; after the Auditor General’s report addressing the potential of self serving profiteering by yourself and other members, Mr. Stelmach said publicly “We will certainly have to find another way of handling royalties”
Somewhere between Premier Stelmach’s “open Government” promise and his pointed direction of finding a new way to settle royalty rates would leave the casual observer to read this as being “more open” which seems not to be the case.
Certainly you will appreciate http://albertathedetails.blogspot.com/ is a good advertisement for the Conservative nature of your Government.
John Clark
Alberta Energy
404 Legislature Building,
10800-97 Ave
Edmonton, AB T8V-0T8
Cc: Honourable Ed Stelmach, Premier.
Dear Mr. Knight:
I will make a reply easy for you! During one of your very rare public appearances during the past election you were asked in public forum “What about the 19% Royalty?” You blew this person off saying “That is a matter of record; that is old stuff!”
So, why does your on line information all refer to our no existent 25% royalty?
Meanwhile; after the Auditor General’s report addressing the potential of self serving profiteering by yourself and other members, Mr. Stelmach said publicly “We will certainly have to find another way of handling royalties”
Somewhere between Premier Stelmach’s “open Government” promise and his pointed direction of finding a new way to settle royalty rates would leave the casual observer to read this as being “more open” which seems not to be the case.
Certainly you will appreciate http://albertathedetails.blogspot.com/ is a good advertisement for the Conservative nature of your Government.
John Clark
Monday, March 31, 2008
Alberta Crude up to 1.05 per barrel.
Oil is up to 1.05 US a barrel!
Under the Conservatives hidden oil royalty rates that works out to:
Alberta gets 19.95
Oil Company gets 85.05
John Clark
Under the Conservatives hidden oil royalty rates that works out to:
Alberta gets 19.95
Oil Company gets 85.05
John Clark
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Alberta Innovation Fund????
Alberta spending more millions on the oil industry in new found projects. Still no money for municipal projects.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Bitumen, and plenty of jobs, heading south to U.S.
Bitumen, and plenty of jobs, heading south to U.S.Tories making a huge mistake not upgrading more, and 'scraping off the topsoil'
Diana Gibson and David ThompsonMonday, March 24
"Our product is steel, our strength is people." So goes the motto of one Canadian steel company.
What would Alberta's motto be? "Our export is oil; our other export is jobs."
And now it looks like even more jobs will be flowing flow south to the U.S., along with Alberta's non-renewable resources.
The U.S. State Department has just given its approval to the Keystone pipeline, which will eventually ship 590,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil to the U.S.
It's already been given the nod by Canada's National Energy Board, which also recently approved the Alberta Clipper pipeline which can carry 800,000 barrels per day.
This is enormous capacity. To give a sense of scale, these two pipelines alone will exceed Alberta's total 2006 oil exports -- all of it. They have more capacity than the current total production of the tarsands.
Those pipelines can export either bitumen from the tarsands, or upgraded product. And American refineries are already retrofitting to receive and upgrade Alberta's bitumen -- along with all the jobs that would entail.
Exporting raw resources means exporting jobs. In fact, according to a consultant's report for a recent Energy Board hearing, even one 450,000 bpd pipeline can send 18,000 jobs south along with that bitumen.
Those well-paid jobs are critical to families, communities and the province. Without the job-creating, "value-added" processing, oil and gas extraction is one of the lowest jobs-per-output industries in Canada.
Many Albertans know this is a problem. And they've been speaking out about it for some time now. So much so that in 2006, one Tory party leadership candidate made a promise to address it, saying: "Shipping raw bitumen is like scraping off the topsoil, selling it, and thinking we have a rich farm because we have cash in the bank."
He even pointed out the obvious, "Once it's gone, it's gone for good."
While campaigning, he talked about increasing the amount of bitumen upgraded in the province. That candidate's name was, of course, Ed Stelmach.
But when he became premier, nothing happened on the raw bitumen exports file. Then value-added processing was included within the scope of Alberta's recent royalty review.
The government's own hand-picked panel surprised everyone with its recommendations, which included a rebate on royalties for processing in-province.
However, Premier Stelmach's government chose to ignore that recommendation, instead promising vague action sometime in the future. Still, nothing happened on the raw bitumen exports file.
Then the news came out last month that the Clipper pipeline was approved, and possibly 18,000 jobs would flow down to the United States. Many voices said the government should do something.
Still nothing happened.
Instead Stelmach claimed that 72 per cent of bitumen would be processed in Alberta by 2016 with upgrader plans already on the books. So obviously, there would be no need for government to act.
Wrong. Without government action, there is no guarantee that those upgraders will be built in Alberta. Quite the contrary. The lack of government regulation, in conjunction with runaway inflation -- also caused by government-without-a-plan -- has already resulted in some upgrader projects being shelved. More will likely follow.
Instead of those upgraders being built in Alberta, U.S. based refineries are installing upgraders, which will create thousands of long-term, well-paying jobs -- in the U.S.
And every time the capacity for upgrading and refining bitumen is stepped up in the U.S., the job loss in Alberta is permanent. When facilities are built elsewhere, companies have no incentive to build them here. And NAFTA makes it hard to bring those jobs home.
As Stelmach said, once it is gone, it's gone for good.
Few premiers have been courageous enough to make value-added jobs a priority. Perhaps only one has.
Peter Lougheed created an Alberta-first employment policy. He required natural gas exports to contribute to building the petrochemical industry in Alberta. This value-added strategy built that industry -- an industry with good, family-supporting jobs.
Sadly for many Alberta families, Ralph Klein rolled back the value-added processing rules, and good jobs started flowing south again.
And Stelmach has put himself squarely in Klein's camp. The recent oilpatch calls to slow the pace of tarsand leases (calls that are supported by broader public opinion) were rebuffed by Stelmach, who said his government will not "control" the economy. This is consistent with the laissez-faire approach that has allowed raw resources and jobs to flow south.
In other words, nothing has happened to curtail that flow, and now it looks like nothing will happen.
Pipelines will continue to take bitumen to the U.S., and soon there will be more of them. Upgraders will continue to be built -- in the U.S. And sadly, good Alberta jobs will continue to flow south.
Diana Gibson is Research Director for the Parkland Institute.
David Thompson is an independent public policy consultant.
The Parkland Institute is a charitable, non-partisan research network based at the University of Alberta
********************************************************************PARKLAND INSTITUTE - website http://www.ualberta.ca/parkland Edmonton Office: 11045 Saskatchewan Drive, T6G 2E1Phone: (780) 492-8558 Fax:(780) 492-8738 email: parkland@ualberta.ca Calgary Office: 2919 - 8 Avenue NW, T2N 1C8 Phone: (403) 270-9669 Fax (403) 283-6480 email: parkcalg@ualberta.ca
Diana Gibson and David ThompsonMonday, March 24
"Our product is steel, our strength is people." So goes the motto of one Canadian steel company.
What would Alberta's motto be? "Our export is oil; our other export is jobs."
And now it looks like even more jobs will be flowing flow south to the U.S., along with Alberta's non-renewable resources.
The U.S. State Department has just given its approval to the Keystone pipeline, which will eventually ship 590,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil to the U.S.
It's already been given the nod by Canada's National Energy Board, which also recently approved the Alberta Clipper pipeline which can carry 800,000 barrels per day.
This is enormous capacity. To give a sense of scale, these two pipelines alone will exceed Alberta's total 2006 oil exports -- all of it. They have more capacity than the current total production of the tarsands.
Those pipelines can export either bitumen from the tarsands, or upgraded product. And American refineries are already retrofitting to receive and upgrade Alberta's bitumen -- along with all the jobs that would entail.
Exporting raw resources means exporting jobs. In fact, according to a consultant's report for a recent Energy Board hearing, even one 450,000 bpd pipeline can send 18,000 jobs south along with that bitumen.
Those well-paid jobs are critical to families, communities and the province. Without the job-creating, "value-added" processing, oil and gas extraction is one of the lowest jobs-per-output industries in Canada.
Many Albertans know this is a problem. And they've been speaking out about it for some time now. So much so that in 2006, one Tory party leadership candidate made a promise to address it, saying: "Shipping raw bitumen is like scraping off the topsoil, selling it, and thinking we have a rich farm because we have cash in the bank."
He even pointed out the obvious, "Once it's gone, it's gone for good."
While campaigning, he talked about increasing the amount of bitumen upgraded in the province. That candidate's name was, of course, Ed Stelmach.
But when he became premier, nothing happened on the raw bitumen exports file. Then value-added processing was included within the scope of Alberta's recent royalty review.
The government's own hand-picked panel surprised everyone with its recommendations, which included a rebate on royalties for processing in-province.
However, Premier Stelmach's government chose to ignore that recommendation, instead promising vague action sometime in the future. Still, nothing happened on the raw bitumen exports file.
Then the news came out last month that the Clipper pipeline was approved, and possibly 18,000 jobs would flow down to the United States. Many voices said the government should do something.
Still nothing happened.
Instead Stelmach claimed that 72 per cent of bitumen would be processed in Alberta by 2016 with upgrader plans already on the books. So obviously, there would be no need for government to act.
Wrong. Without government action, there is no guarantee that those upgraders will be built in Alberta. Quite the contrary. The lack of government regulation, in conjunction with runaway inflation -- also caused by government-without-a-plan -- has already resulted in some upgrader projects being shelved. More will likely follow.
Instead of those upgraders being built in Alberta, U.S. based refineries are installing upgraders, which will create thousands of long-term, well-paying jobs -- in the U.S.
And every time the capacity for upgrading and refining bitumen is stepped up in the U.S., the job loss in Alberta is permanent. When facilities are built elsewhere, companies have no incentive to build them here. And NAFTA makes it hard to bring those jobs home.
As Stelmach said, once it is gone, it's gone for good.
Few premiers have been courageous enough to make value-added jobs a priority. Perhaps only one has.
Peter Lougheed created an Alberta-first employment policy. He required natural gas exports to contribute to building the petrochemical industry in Alberta. This value-added strategy built that industry -- an industry with good, family-supporting jobs.
Sadly for many Alberta families, Ralph Klein rolled back the value-added processing rules, and good jobs started flowing south again.
And Stelmach has put himself squarely in Klein's camp. The recent oilpatch calls to slow the pace of tarsand leases (calls that are supported by broader public opinion) were rebuffed by Stelmach, who said his government will not "control" the economy. This is consistent with the laissez-faire approach that has allowed raw resources and jobs to flow south.
In other words, nothing has happened to curtail that flow, and now it looks like nothing will happen.
Pipelines will continue to take bitumen to the U.S., and soon there will be more of them. Upgraders will continue to be built -- in the U.S. And sadly, good Alberta jobs will continue to flow south.
Diana Gibson is Research Director for the Parkland Institute.
David Thompson is an independent public policy consultant.
The Parkland Institute is a charitable, non-partisan research network based at the University of Alberta
********************************************************************PARKLAND INSTITUTE - website http://www.ualberta.ca/parkland Edmonton Office: 11045 Saskatchewan Drive, T6G 2E1Phone: (780) 492-8558 Fax:(780) 492-8738 email: parkland@ualberta.ca Calgary Office: 2919 - 8 Avenue NW, T2N 1C8 Phone: (403) 270-9669 Fax (403) 283-6480 email: parkcalg@ualberta.ca
Alberta in the middle of the waste.
We hear of 60% of the bats dieing on the east coast of the US and in Texas. A huge boost for insects! We read that oxygen depleated "dead" spots are showing up on the west coast of Canada and the US. Oceans dying is part of the long cycle of the ice age. Over the past couple of years we have read about the bee population dying for no apparent reason, same as the bats. Then to top it off we read the southern ice cap is slipping into the ocean at a great pace.
One has to wonder what we are doing and when the chase the buck mentality is going to curb.
As if a bright spot, the Alberta Government anounces they are going to sump or bury Carbon dioxide under the coal at Sundance. This is curious to say the least. The gas has to be pumped down over 2000 feet in order to get enought pressure to hold it down there!. There are no deep strata formations around Sundance. This appears to be another PR deal by Stelmach.
An American writer repored in the Edmonton Journal that we will all perish before any real changes take place!
Then, a real bright spot! AESO are getting an award for intergrating wind power in Alberta. In effect doing much better than their peers. This should be a cause for a celebration some place.
John Clark
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Alberta wealth going south of the border; big time!
Mar. 27, 2008 (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --
On Wednesday we examined how well Canada stands as investors unlock their bank accounts and jump back into stocks. Much of the fortunes up north may depend on commodity prices.
Taking a look at Canada's recent winners, we see lots of natural resources companies, such as oil and gas, gold and silver, base metals, and wheat.
Prices for these raw goods recently plunged after major run-ups, so passing on a gold mine or an oil driller may have been smart.
Still, that's Canada's specialite du maison.
So let's start with oil and gas.
EnCana ECA, a big cap based in Calgary, is one of the biggest holders of onshore oil and gas properties in North America. The company was on Tuesday's IBD Big Cap 20.
Natural gas accounts for 80% of EnCana's (NYSE:ECA) output. But it hasn't ignored crude.
One of the company's projects is a joint effort with ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) COP. The result is an integrated stream.
It starts with heavy oil extracted from Canadian oil sands (or tar sands) in northeast Alberta. That's EnCana's ballpark.
It wants to raise output to 400,000 barrels a day by 2015. It's now at 50,000 bpd.
"Downstream," that heavy oil is refined at ConocoPhillips' refineries in Roxana, Ill., and Borger, Texas.
EnCana has put up some choppy earnings results. In the past four quarters, it reported gains of 49%, 55%, 4% and 116%.
Estimates for the current period are for a 13% gain. Sales have come in with gains of 43%, 39% and 58% in the past three quarters.
Margins and return on equity improved in 2007 from the prior year. But a concern is that analysts' estimates for 2008 are for a 13% earnings decline.Newstex ID: IBD-0001-24048124
On Wednesday we examined how well Canada stands as investors unlock their bank accounts and jump back into stocks. Much of the fortunes up north may depend on commodity prices.
Taking a look at Canada's recent winners, we see lots of natural resources companies, such as oil and gas, gold and silver, base metals, and wheat.
Prices for these raw goods recently plunged after major run-ups, so passing on a gold mine or an oil driller may have been smart.
Still, that's Canada's specialite du maison.
So let's start with oil and gas.
EnCana ECA, a big cap based in Calgary, is one of the biggest holders of onshore oil and gas properties in North America. The company was on Tuesday's IBD Big Cap 20.
Natural gas accounts for 80% of EnCana's (NYSE:ECA) output. But it hasn't ignored crude.
One of the company's projects is a joint effort with ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) COP. The result is an integrated stream.
It starts with heavy oil extracted from Canadian oil sands (or tar sands) in northeast Alberta. That's EnCana's ballpark.
It wants to raise output to 400,000 barrels a day by 2015. It's now at 50,000 bpd.
"Downstream," that heavy oil is refined at ConocoPhillips' refineries in Roxana, Ill., and Borger, Texas.
EnCana has put up some choppy earnings results. In the past four quarters, it reported gains of 49%, 55%, 4% and 116%.
Estimates for the current period are for a 13% gain. Sales have come in with gains of 43%, 39% and 58% in the past three quarters.
Margins and return on equity improved in 2007 from the prior year. But a concern is that analysts' estimates for 2008 are for a 13% earnings decline.Newstex ID: IBD-0001-24048124
Alberta better jobs head for the US Big Time!
Mar. 27, 2008 (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --
On Wednesday we examined how well Canada stands as investors unlock their bank accounts and jump back into stocks. Much of the fortunes up north may depend on commodity prices.
Taking a look at Canada's recent winners, we see lots of natural resources companies, such as oil and gas, gold and silver, base metals, and wheat.
Prices for these raw goods recently plunged after major run-ups, so passing on a gold mine or an oil driller may have been smart.
Still, that's Canada's specialite du maison.
So let's start with oil and gas.
EnCana ECA, a big cap based in Calgary, is one of the biggest holders of onshore oil and gas properties in North America. The company was on Tuesday's IBD Big Cap 20.
Natural gas accounts for 80% of EnCana's (NYSE:ECA) output. But it hasn't ignored crude.
One of the company's projects is a joint effort with ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) COP. The result is an integrated stream.
It starts with heavy oil extracted from Canadian oil sands (or tar sands) in northeast Alberta. That's EnCana's ballpark.
It wants to raise output to 400,000 barrels a day by 2015. It's now at 50,000 bpd.
"Downstream," that heavy oil is refined at ConocoPhillips' refineries in Roxana, Ill., and Borger, Texas.
EnCana has put up some choppy earnings results. In the past four quarters, it reported gains of 49%, 55%, 4% and 116%.
Estimates for the current period are for a 13% gain. Sales have come in with gains of 43%, 39% and 58% in the past three quarters.
Margins and return on equity improved in 2007 from the prior year. But a concern is that analysts' estimates for 2008 are for a 13% earnings decline.Newstex ID: IBD-0001-24048124
On Wednesday we examined how well Canada stands as investors unlock their bank accounts and jump back into stocks. Much of the fortunes up north may depend on commodity prices.
Taking a look at Canada's recent winners, we see lots of natural resources companies, such as oil and gas, gold and silver, base metals, and wheat.
Prices for these raw goods recently plunged after major run-ups, so passing on a gold mine or an oil driller may have been smart.
Still, that's Canada's specialite du maison.
So let's start with oil and gas.
EnCana ECA, a big cap based in Calgary, is one of the biggest holders of onshore oil and gas properties in North America. The company was on Tuesday's IBD Big Cap 20.
Natural gas accounts for 80% of EnCana's (NYSE:ECA) output. But it hasn't ignored crude.
One of the company's projects is a joint effort with ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) COP. The result is an integrated stream.
It starts with heavy oil extracted from Canadian oil sands (or tar sands) in northeast Alberta. That's EnCana's ballpark.
It wants to raise output to 400,000 barrels a day by 2015. It's now at 50,000 bpd.
"Downstream," that heavy oil is refined at ConocoPhillips' refineries in Roxana, Ill., and Borger, Texas.
EnCana has put up some choppy earnings results. In the past four quarters, it reported gains of 49%, 55%, 4% and 116%.
Estimates for the current period are for a 13% gain. Sales have come in with gains of 43%, 39% and 58% in the past three quarters.
Margins and return on equity improved in 2007 from the prior year. But a concern is that analysts' estimates for 2008 are for a 13% earnings decline.Newstex ID: IBD-0001-24048124
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Public Schooling to be marginalized while the private schools expand.
Under fund; close facilities and create a problem. (Remember the hospitals?) Then, point the general public to the cure in this case, private schools. More and more you are going to hear this Government tell you the existing schools (all public) do not meet some criteria or another and/or the funding is just not there to keep them going. The whole scenario is to instill more private schools.
Alberta already has the highest number of private schools in Canada!
They have invented the school credit that goes with the child to which ever school they enroll in. Keeping choices and facilities short the funding and the children are directed to private schools.
If you are one of the people who didn’t vote or voted for these characters, you deserve it.
John Clark
Alberta already has the highest number of private schools in Canada!
They have invented the school credit that goes with the child to which ever school they enroll in. Keeping choices and facilities short the funding and the children are directed to private schools.
If you are one of the people who didn’t vote or voted for these characters, you deserve it.
John Clark
Heritage trust fund on the way out!
The announcement of the amalgamation of the credit unions into one large company with Mr. Jim Dinning heading up the board of the yet to be named company puts all the pieces in place. There goes the farm!
Mr. Dinning who is also the chair of the Western Financial Group will be the person who controls the purse strings on the Alberta Heritage and Savings Trust fund.
One has to wonder what kind of transparency will be provided to Albertans as to the health and well being of this fund and, what access will there be by this province. How much is it going to cost us to turn this money over to a private company? You can bet at the end of the day the Conservatives Friends will be much richer and the province will be much poorer.
John Clark
Mr. Dinning who is also the chair of the Western Financial Group will be the person who controls the purse strings on the Alberta Heritage and Savings Trust fund.
One has to wonder what kind of transparency will be provided to Albertans as to the health and well being of this fund and, what access will there be by this province. How much is it going to cost us to turn this money over to a private company? You can bet at the end of the day the Conservatives Friends will be much richer and the province will be much poorer.
John Clark
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Man could face jail for venting.
Man could get 5 years for venting against the Premiers office!
This Government has gone through more than a dozen years of lying, cheating and conniving as they rip this province apart, selling it for pennies on the dollar of value.
When an individual feels his life has hit a wall and his future is destroyed by this Government’s irresponsible policies the Government adds “Bully” to its list of habits.
This Government who uses the police forces and if need be the army to enforce an industrial agenda are only too happy to play their bully role in the courts. No folks, this isn’t China!
After crooking the electoral system so they continue to win majorities with only 22 percent of the vote (too regular to be random) it is a small wonder they are not facing a full fledged armed uprising!
John Clark
This Government has gone through more than a dozen years of lying, cheating and conniving as they rip this province apart, selling it for pennies on the dollar of value.
When an individual feels his life has hit a wall and his future is destroyed by this Government’s irresponsible policies the Government adds “Bully” to its list of habits.
This Government who uses the police forces and if need be the army to enforce an industrial agenda are only too happy to play their bully role in the courts. No folks, this isn’t China!
After crooking the electoral system so they continue to win majorities with only 22 percent of the vote (too regular to be random) it is a small wonder they are not facing a full fledged armed uprising!
John Clark
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Air Condition time in Alberta = 39 cents/hour
A rated 2 ton air conditioner (built in) is standard for houses up to 1200 or 1300 square feet.
Rule of thumb which works is 1 ton for every 600 sq foot of building. 1 ton = 12,000 BTU.
An efficient 2 ton built in unit cost of operation:
Power: 208 Volts at 13.5 amp = 2808 watts/hour of use.
Power Line charge .02
Power Contract .09
Power charge delivered 11 cents per kwh
Furnace motor efficient or semi efficient 7 amps @ 110 volt = 770 watts/hour
Total operational power 3578 watt/hour
Total operational cost 3.578 kwh X .11 per kwh = 39.3 cents per hour
This works out to 3.93 for 10 hours of continuous operation.
With reasonable insulation and decent windows one can reasonably expect a 60% duty cycle.
Providing your furnace fan shuts down with the air conditioning, this would leave you a bottom line of $2.36 per day for air conditioning.
Having said this, I see where ENMAX has again increased their contract rate and incorporated a per month charge on the same path the EPCOR has found a success.
Between their monthly increase and their add on charges they have again increased their rates 1 cent by 25%. On the other hand, EPCOR seems to be down by nearly 1 cent. Will have to look close at their add on charges.
John Clark
Rule of thumb which works is 1 ton for every 600 sq foot of building. 1 ton = 12,000 BTU.
An efficient 2 ton built in unit cost of operation:
Power: 208 Volts at 13.5 amp = 2808 watts/hour of use.
Power Line charge .02
Power Contract .09
Power charge delivered 11 cents per kwh
Furnace motor efficient or semi efficient 7 amps @ 110 volt = 770 watts/hour
Total operational power 3578 watt/hour
Total operational cost 3.578 kwh X .11 per kwh = 39.3 cents per hour
This works out to 3.93 for 10 hours of continuous operation.
With reasonable insulation and decent windows one can reasonably expect a 60% duty cycle.
Providing your furnace fan shuts down with the air conditioning, this would leave you a bottom line of $2.36 per day for air conditioning.
Having said this, I see where ENMAX has again increased their contract rate and incorporated a per month charge on the same path the EPCOR has found a success.
Between their monthly increase and their add on charges they have again increased their rates 1 cent by 25%. On the other hand, EPCOR seems to be down by nearly 1 cent. Will have to look close at their add on charges.
John Clark
Friday, March 14, 2008
Nuclear Power - Bruce Power and the Peace River
The Bruce Power plan for Peace River seems to be gaining momentum!
Spokesmen for Bruce Power say they are going to take their considerable water needs from the Peace River and there is no talk of putting any of it back.
The Peace River is under the Navigable Water Protection Act. Approvals to move water from it or build pipe lines in or around it must come from Ottawa, Transport Canada!
With Harper in charge you can be very sure it will rubber stamped through!
John Clark
Spokesmen for Bruce Power say they are going to take their considerable water needs from the Peace River and there is no talk of putting any of it back.
The Peace River is under the Navigable Water Protection Act. Approvals to move water from it or build pipe lines in or around it must come from Ottawa, Transport Canada!
With Harper in charge you can be very sure it will rubber stamped through!
John Clark
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Nuclear Plants for Alberta - 4 of them!
Duke power sees 4 nuclear power plants for Alberta.
Appreciate they will have talked to both the Federal and Provincial Conservatives before publishing an article like this!
1. They are saying Alberta residences will be paying competing prices with oil sands projects.
2. They are planning 4000 megawatts of electricty increasing Alberta's power grid by 50%
3. They are abandoning the Canadian "safe" reactor in favor of world market. That is, down and dirty.
John Clark
Appreciate they will have talked to both the Federal and Provincial Conservatives before publishing an article like this!
1. They are saying Alberta residences will be paying competing prices with oil sands projects.
2. They are planning 4000 megawatts of electricty increasing Alberta's power grid by 50%
3. They are abandoning the Canadian "safe" reactor in favor of world market. That is, down and dirty.
John Clark
Friday, March 07, 2008
Harper to Axe Social Programs!
Taking his lead from Stelmach, Stephen Harper plans on axing social programs in order to reduce the size and expense of Government. Turning the screws, an article by Murray Dobbin who quotes Tom Flanagn, Harper's former Chief of Staff.
Bean spiller: Tom Flanagan, former Harper chief of staff
Perhaps you won't blow your vote next time around?
John Clark
Thursday, March 06, 2008
1.4 billion in promises to be paid for by you!
Newspaper reports say that Stelmach made 1.4 billion dollars in promises and continued to suggest there is no money in the revenues to pay for this.
This in turn opens the door for Stelmach to charge the people of this province more for goods and services or his last choice in tax.
The tar sands are producing more than 1 million barrels per day. The price of oil is above 1.00 per barrel. Stelmach reduced the royalty from 25% to 19% a difference of 6 percent.
At 1.00 a barrel price on oil that will be 6 cents per barrel reduction.
He gave away 60,000 dollars per day of our royalty to oil companies and continues to do so.
That is 22 million dollars a year he gave up because he thought it was enough for Alberta.
When he comes after you for more money tell him to get it off the oil we give away.
John Clark
This in turn opens the door for Stelmach to charge the people of this province more for goods and services or his last choice in tax.
The tar sands are producing more than 1 million barrels per day. The price of oil is above 1.00 per barrel. Stelmach reduced the royalty from 25% to 19% a difference of 6 percent.
At 1.00 a barrel price on oil that will be 6 cents per barrel reduction.
He gave away 60,000 dollars per day of our royalty to oil companies and continues to do so.
That is 22 million dollars a year he gave up because he thought it was enough for Alberta.
When he comes after you for more money tell him to get it off the oil we give away.
John Clark
Alberta -- Owned and operated by oil.
Prices are escalating in houses, store front buildings, utilities and the cost of living generally. Pensions and wages are not keeping up and the Conservatives have abandoned the average citizen.
Let the market prevail and those who can’t afford the market should move. That is the conservative way.
The result will be a segment of the population being forced to sell and move from this province leaving it to those people employed in oilfield service or the oil industry.
This government is facilitating the total take over of the province by the oil industry. It is now okay to employ people out of Mexico and abroad and put them up in hovels. Many of these people are abandoning Alberta in favor of their homes.
The fault in this case falls directly on those people who thought it not worthwhile to vote coupled with a crooked voting system. I guess it is a time to fight.
“I’ll say it a dozen times, people have to remember that the Oil Sands are owned by the people, they’re not owned by the oil companies.”- Peter Lougheed, Prime Minister of Alberta 1971-1985
John Clark
Let the market prevail and those who can’t afford the market should move. That is the conservative way.
The result will be a segment of the population being forced to sell and move from this province leaving it to those people employed in oilfield service or the oil industry.
This government is facilitating the total take over of the province by the oil industry. It is now okay to employ people out of Mexico and abroad and put them up in hovels. Many of these people are abandoning Alberta in favor of their homes.
The fault in this case falls directly on those people who thought it not worthwhile to vote coupled with a crooked voting system. I guess it is a time to fight.
“I’ll say it a dozen times, people have to remember that the Oil Sands are owned by the people, they’re not owned by the oil companies.”- Peter Lougheed, Prime Minister of Alberta 1971-1985
John Clark
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Alberta Royalty Benchmark
Put the crooks to the test:
The last royalty agreement made public was 25% on mature projects; 1% only during construction.
Stelmach in secret reduced the royalty to 19%. The lowest in the world by far! The 1% remains the same.
Then, he promised a 20% increase in royalty allowing oil companies to pay “part in kind” with crude. The latter to be given to the phantom up-graders.
If he is good to his word and I’m sure you will find he is not he will announce the royalty has been increased from 25% to 45%. The 45% is still at the bottom of the world in price.
If he comes out with a straight statement as in "we are going to increase" with no start or end numbers you know full well he is lying through his teeth!
Keep in mind insiders have told me it is their intention to further reduce the 19%
John Clark
The last royalty agreement made public was 25% on mature projects; 1% only during construction.
Stelmach in secret reduced the royalty to 19%. The lowest in the world by far! The 1% remains the same.
Then, he promised a 20% increase in royalty allowing oil companies to pay “part in kind” with crude. The latter to be given to the phantom up-graders.
If he is good to his word and I’m sure you will find he is not he will announce the royalty has been increased from 25% to 45%. The 45% is still at the bottom of the world in price.
If he comes out with a straight statement as in "we are going to increase" with no start or end numbers you know full well he is lying through his teeth!
Keep in mind insiders have told me it is their intention to further reduce the 19%
John Clark
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Conservatives win by steath.
The numbers are coming in. The conservatives ran this election the same way they did the last election.
Make up a bunch of outright lies to go into an election on.
Do not show up for any all candidate forums.
Hide from all people who look like they may have a question.
Have security at the door to week out potential serious questions.
With less than 50% of eligible voters turning out they managed to win a huge majority with about 24% of the eligible vote.
When I hear of seniors being mistreated I will first ask “and who did you vote for?”
When I hear of atrocities in the medical arena; who did you vote for?
When in 2009 the interest rates go through the roof and these sit on your ass and let some one else do it types loose their homes and their savings there will be no tear from me. I’ll make them an offer as is the conservative way.
John Clark
Make up a bunch of outright lies to go into an election on.
Do not show up for any all candidate forums.
Hide from all people who look like they may have a question.
Have security at the door to week out potential serious questions.
With less than 50% of eligible voters turning out they managed to win a huge majority with about 24% of the eligible vote.
When I hear of seniors being mistreated I will first ask “and who did you vote for?”
When I hear of atrocities in the medical arena; who did you vote for?
When in 2009 the interest rates go through the roof and these sit on your ass and let some one else do it types loose their homes and their savings there will be no tear from me. I’ll make them an offer as is the conservative way.
John Clark
Friday, February 29, 2008
Conservative program a complete lie - Proof!
Stelmach’s campaign an outright lie as is his royalty scheme.
Stelmach has been in politics as a Conservative boss for more than a dozen years. He knows the NAFTA agreement, inside and out.
His royalty scheme called for a large percentage of his BS oil program to be paid for “in like tender” as in tar sands oils, being turned over to the proposed up-graders at a discount price ranging from little to nothing.
Even as he was making the public announcements, he knew it would be impossible; would never get by NAFTA!
It was all lies a verbiage to kick off an election on.
As a kicker he reduced Alberta’s royalty from 25% to 19%.
When we were at 19% he made claims of increasing royalty under his new regime.
When the phony up-grader funding was exposed on the net, the oil companies and pipeline companies saw no reason to wait in instituting plans that have been in the making for at least 3 years. Pipelines were announced. Export the crude to the US and off the coast in ships.
There is no up-grader.
There is no increase in Royalty.
There is going to be a huge export of Alberta Crude to foreign soil.
The Conservatives have embarked on an unsustainable lie.
All these anouncements are straight out lies! What's left?
More and more you will be expected to dig deeper and deeper into your income for survival while all the resource coin is given to the oil and water companies, the ever popular conservative “trickle down” theory at work.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Stelmach has been in politics as a Conservative boss for more than a dozen years. He knows the NAFTA agreement, inside and out.
His royalty scheme called for a large percentage of his BS oil program to be paid for “in like tender” as in tar sands oils, being turned over to the proposed up-graders at a discount price ranging from little to nothing.
Even as he was making the public announcements, he knew it would be impossible; would never get by NAFTA!
It was all lies a verbiage to kick off an election on.
As a kicker he reduced Alberta’s royalty from 25% to 19%.
When we were at 19% he made claims of increasing royalty under his new regime.
When the phony up-grader funding was exposed on the net, the oil companies and pipeline companies saw no reason to wait in instituting plans that have been in the making for at least 3 years. Pipelines were announced. Export the crude to the US and off the coast in ships.
There is no up-grader.
There is no increase in Royalty.
There is going to be a huge export of Alberta Crude to foreign soil.
The Conservatives have embarked on an unsustainable lie.
All these anouncements are straight out lies! What's left?
More and more you will be expected to dig deeper and deeper into your income for survival while all the resource coin is given to the oil and water companies, the ever popular conservative “trickle down” theory at work.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Stelmach twisting truths.
It would break a snakes back to follow Stelmach and crew!
Listen close to what he says. He says one thing and implies another.
Example: He says “1.4 billion dollars more in royalty next year” would have you believe he is increasing royalty rates. Not so! 1.4 billion dollars is made up of maturing production and new production all taken at 19% not 25% When he talks increase in revenues he is adding up increases in income tax no oil royalty!
His election is a sham! If you do not get out and vote this time you will be hit by a political bus! By not voting you will have put the most corrupt government in north America back into office.
John Clark
Listen close to what he says. He says one thing and implies another.
Example: He says “1.4 billion dollars more in royalty next year” would have you believe he is increasing royalty rates. Not so! 1.4 billion dollars is made up of maturing production and new production all taken at 19% not 25% When he talks increase in revenues he is adding up increases in income tax no oil royalty!
His election is a sham! If you do not get out and vote this time you will be hit by a political bus! By not voting you will have put the most corrupt government in north America back into office.
John Clark
Alberta Doctors against Conservatives
Doctors give Alberta Liberals top marks
The Canadian Press
February 28, 2008 at 11:46 AM EST
CALGARY — Alberta's doctors have given the Liberals the best grade of the political parties heading into Mondays election.
The Alberta Medical Association posed 10 health-care questions to the parties.
The Liberals garnered a B grade, the New Democrats a C-plus and the Conservatives a C.
The Green Party fared the worst with a D.
The answers were assessed by about 150 physicians.
The Wildrose Alliance was the only party that didn't respond to the survey.
The Canadian Press
February 28, 2008 at 11:46 AM EST
CALGARY — Alberta's doctors have given the Liberals the best grade of the political parties heading into Mondays election.
The Alberta Medical Association posed 10 health-care questions to the parties.
The Liberals garnered a B grade, the New Democrats a C-plus and the Conservatives a C.
The Green Party fared the worst with a D.
The answers were assessed by about 150 physicians.
The Wildrose Alliance was the only party that didn't respond to the survey.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Alberta 2008 Leadership Debate
2008 Leadership Debate
Opponents cream Stelmach
Compiled by Heath McCoy, Renata D'Aliesio and Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald., Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, February 22, 2008
Kevin Taft
Liberal
On Health Care
Taft: "I can't stand on the sidelines . . . . People are dying, Mr. Stelmach. People are stuck in emergency rooms for days on end. This is a life-and-death issue. . . . This government has to be held to account."
On Energy and Environment
Taft: "It feels to so many people like Alberta's economy, particularly the oilsands development, is a runaway train . . . But you don't build a garage without a plan. You can't . . . develop the biggest industrial development on the planet without a plan."
On Social Issues
Taft: "Too many people are getting left behind. . . . Long term, so much of this comes down to great education. The best low-income policy in the long term is to give people great education."
- - -
Brian Mason
NDP
On Health Care
Mason: "Albertans really want to have health care that's there when they need it. They don't want to be waiting in the hallways. We have 10 years of neglect. . . . We are short 1,000 doctors and 1,500 nurses. How did we get into this situation?"
On Energy and Environment
Mason: "The decision of the government to not touch the brake, as Mr. Stelmach said when he first became the Conservative leader, is a terrible mistake. We need to pace development in the tar sands."
On Social Issues
Mason: "This government has done more to create homelessness than any other government since the Second World War in this province. The simple failure to bring in rent controls to protect people has meant many more people are living out on the street."
- - -
Paul Hinman
Wildrose Alliance
On Health Care
Hinman: "We've had 36 years of these guys (the Tories) saying more money, more money. It will never be enough. . . . There's nothing bold about (Stelmach's) plan. There's nothing innovative about it."
On Energy and Environment
Hinman: "He's hurt our reputation by tearing up those contracts and saying, 'You know what, we're not going to listen to industry. We are going to listen to my heart,' and he's failing on the economic decision that he's making for this province."
On Social Issues
Hinman: "We need to reduce the taxes on the people of Alberta -- then they'll be able to have affordable housing because they (will) have money in their pocket to actually pay the rent or buy the house."
On Health Care
Ed Stelmach
Progressive Conservative
Ed Stelmach, Progressive Conservative
Jenelle Schneider, Calgary Herald
Stelmach: "I'm fully committed to supporting the public health-care system. . . . While others are identifying issues in health care, we have acted. We have brought world-class physicians to the province. We've added more nurses."
On Energy and Environment
Stelmach: "The plan we have in place is already showing that we have dealt with a lot of the environmental issues in Fort McMurray and Fort Saskatchewan -- an overall cumulative environmental plan. We've got an excellent plan for water strategy."
On Social Issues
Stelmach: "Rent controls do not build one affordable unit (of housing) in the province of Alberta. It's proven. We've looked at the history of other provinces and we're not going to go (down) that path. We're going to increase the supply."
An Exercise: How a re ordering of the story can change the facts!
Opponents cream Stelmach
Compiled by Heath McCoy, Renata D'Aliesio and Tony Seskus, Calgary Herald., Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, February 22, 2008
Kevin Taft
Liberal
On Health Care
Taft: "I can't stand on the sidelines . . . . People are dying, Mr. Stelmach. People are stuck in emergency rooms for days on end. This is a life-and-death issue. . . . This government has to be held to account."
On Energy and Environment
Taft: "It feels to so many people like Alberta's economy, particularly the oilsands development, is a runaway train . . . But you don't build a garage without a plan. You can't . . . develop the biggest industrial development on the planet without a plan."
On Social Issues
Taft: "Too many people are getting left behind. . . . Long term, so much of this comes down to great education. The best low-income policy in the long term is to give people great education."
- - -
Brian Mason
NDP
On Health Care
Mason: "Albertans really want to have health care that's there when they need it. They don't want to be waiting in the hallways. We have 10 years of neglect. . . . We are short 1,000 doctors and 1,500 nurses. How did we get into this situation?"
On Energy and Environment
Mason: "The decision of the government to not touch the brake, as Mr. Stelmach said when he first became the Conservative leader, is a terrible mistake. We need to pace development in the tar sands."
On Social Issues
Mason: "This government has done more to create homelessness than any other government since the Second World War in this province. The simple failure to bring in rent controls to protect people has meant many more people are living out on the street."
- - -
Paul Hinman
Wildrose Alliance
On Health Care
Hinman: "We've had 36 years of these guys (the Tories) saying more money, more money. It will never be enough. . . . There's nothing bold about (Stelmach's) plan. There's nothing innovative about it."
On Energy and Environment
Hinman: "He's hurt our reputation by tearing up those contracts and saying, 'You know what, we're not going to listen to industry. We are going to listen to my heart,' and he's failing on the economic decision that he's making for this province."
On Social Issues
Hinman: "We need to reduce the taxes on the people of Alberta -- then they'll be able to have affordable housing because they (will) have money in their pocket to actually pay the rent or buy the house."
On Health Care
Ed Stelmach
Progressive Conservative
Ed Stelmach, Progressive Conservative
Jenelle Schneider, Calgary Herald
Stelmach: "I'm fully committed to supporting the public health-care system. . . . While others are identifying issues in health care, we have acted. We have brought world-class physicians to the province. We've added more nurses."
On Energy and Environment
Stelmach: "The plan we have in place is already showing that we have dealt with a lot of the environmental issues in Fort McMurray and Fort Saskatchewan -- an overall cumulative environmental plan. We've got an excellent plan for water strategy."
On Social Issues
Stelmach: "Rent controls do not build one affordable unit (of housing) in the province of Alberta. It's proven. We've looked at the history of other provinces and we're not going to go (down) that path. We're going to increase the supply."
An Exercise: How a re ordering of the story can change the facts!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Alberta to further reduce royalties!
The US dollar falling against the Canadian dollar was seen by the Conservative as an opportunity to upset what they had come to see as the status quo of the royalty regime.
Reducing our royality on the tar sands from 25% to 19% (current) is only the start of a long slide down!
It is their intention to further reduce royalties as new production comes on line. They will in effect benchmark what they think Alberta will need with the citizens charged to the brink for goods and services.
Alberta will not enjoy more royalties in the future under a Conservative Government!
Meanwhile, Oil companies in the US are doing budgets in anticipation of paying more money to the Government when the Democrats take office this election.
John Clark.
Reducing our royality on the tar sands from 25% to 19% (current) is only the start of a long slide down!
It is their intention to further reduce royalties as new production comes on line. They will in effect benchmark what they think Alberta will need with the citizens charged to the brink for goods and services.
Alberta will not enjoy more royalties in the future under a Conservative Government!
Meanwhile, Oil companies in the US are doing budgets in anticipation of paying more money to the Government when the Democrats take office this election.
John Clark.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Stelmach tough on crime? I don't think so.
Crime
Is he going to start to publish the results of Government bids and show all the bids along side the insiders he gives the contracts to? In Alberta now, they know who is getting the contract before they put it out! They won’t change.
Is he going to change the Freedom of Information program to allow a full and honest review of Government polices? I think not.
These guys are the biggest crooks! Is he going to take the seals off the court on the West Edmonton Mall fiasco? I think not.
Is he going to divulge the details on the Firestorm rip off? I think not.
Is he going to post the list of people who flipped the power purchase agreements and check for improprieties? I think not.
Perhaps this is the lynch pin for private prisons?
Eddie and the crew were a part of all of these debacles. No one is exempt. After 14 years to lies and deceit, nothing has changed.
John Clark
Is he going to start to publish the results of Government bids and show all the bids along side the insiders he gives the contracts to? In Alberta now, they know who is getting the contract before they put it out! They won’t change.
Is he going to change the Freedom of Information program to allow a full and honest review of Government polices? I think not.
These guys are the biggest crooks! Is he going to take the seals off the court on the West Edmonton Mall fiasco? I think not.
Is he going to divulge the details on the Firestorm rip off? I think not.
Is he going to post the list of people who flipped the power purchase agreements and check for improprieties? I think not.
Perhaps this is the lynch pin for private prisons?
Eddie and the crew were a part of all of these debacles. No one is exempt. After 14 years to lies and deceit, nothing has changed.
John Clark
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Oil Profits up 28 Billions - Alberta Royalities down 21 billion.
Oil companies to record record profits of 28 billions of dollars while Alberta looses 21billion a year proping up these profits!
Reasoning follows:
Alberta Oil Sands important details Oil sands deposits contain approximately 1.7 trillion barrels of bitumen.
Approximately 10 % or 174 billion barrels are proven reserves that can be recovered using current technology.
Current economic limit for oil sand surface mining is approximately 80 meters which makes up 20 % of the proven reserves.Current oil sand production is approximately 1 million barrels per day, 1/2 is from surface mining.
1 million barrels per day at $100.00 per bbl US is 100 million dollars per day US.
1% start up rate returns 1 million dollars per day into royalty funds.
25% agreed production returns 25 million dollars per day in royalties.
19% Stelmach adjusted rate brings in 19 million dollars per day royalties.
Stelmach has moved 6 million dollars per day from Alberta Taxpayers into the hands of the Oil Companies while he is telling us he has found the “middle road” turning even more revenue into oil company’s profits.
John Clark
Reasoning follows:
Alberta Oil Sands important details Oil sands deposits contain approximately 1.7 trillion barrels of bitumen.
Approximately 10 % or 174 billion barrels are proven reserves that can be recovered using current technology.
Current economic limit for oil sand surface mining is approximately 80 meters which makes up 20 % of the proven reserves.Current oil sand production is approximately 1 million barrels per day, 1/2 is from surface mining.
1 million barrels per day at $100.00 per bbl US is 100 million dollars per day US.
1% start up rate returns 1 million dollars per day into royalty funds.
25% agreed production returns 25 million dollars per day in royalties.
19% Stelmach adjusted rate brings in 19 million dollars per day royalties.
Stelmach has moved 6 million dollars per day from Alberta Taxpayers into the hands of the Oil Companies while he is telling us he has found the “middle road” turning even more revenue into oil company’s profits.
John Clark
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Liberals outline a solid, sustainable plan!
Kevan Taft has outlined a solid, sustainable plan for Alberta's future. This is in direct conflict with the Conservative doom and gloom scenarios that Albertan's must learn to pay more.
John Clark
John Clark
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Conservatives approve endless increases in insurance.
Ed Stelmach in a tit for tat statment gives insurance companies the okay to charge what ever they see fit in the wake of the court decision to get rid of the cap on soft tissue.
The Conservatives have been whoring with Insurance Companies since the onset. There is no one in this Government looking after the citizens of this province!
John Clark
The Conservatives have been whoring with Insurance Companies since the onset. There is no one in this Government looking after the citizens of this province!
John Clark
Friday, February 08, 2008
School Closures are a big thing in Alberta!
Conservative school closures are a deliberate means to push our education system into a privitized industry. There are people in our political arena who despise and resist this plan.
John Clark
John Clark
Thursday, February 07, 2008
The Conservative Plan to Fix Health Services
It takes 9 years to put a physician into private practice!
Alberta’s health care problem is short funding as it has always been. The plans have always been the same; destabilize then privatize.
Stelmach opted to secretly cut our revenue from royalties by 84 million dollars a day. (Dropping royality to 19%) This was done to prop up oil companies profits when the US dollar fell; it had nothing to do with their operational securities! That is 84 million a day he doesn’t have to put into other programs. Health Care is only one example.
It is not a far reach to say they have cut money to Capital Health in order to prop up oil profits!
University seats go to foreign students because these students pay multi thousands of dollars more for a lecture hall slot at a university than does an Albert student. Universities need the cash!
These foreign graduates go back to their homes to practice, they seldom stay in Alberta.
Stelmach has put up a smoke and mirrors royalty proposal that returns nothing to the Alberta revenue base! He has found a way to subsidize the oil up grader plants through a fiscal “payment in kind of crude” which can be 90% of the royalty further shorting the revenue into Alberta.
A shallow numbers game! More lies and misconceptions!
These guys have lied their way into the past 3 elections. Hold them accountable now!
Remember they were elected to a Majority Government last time getting only 23% of the Alberta Vote!
John Clark
Alberta’s health care problem is short funding as it has always been. The plans have always been the same; destabilize then privatize.
Stelmach opted to secretly cut our revenue from royalties by 84 million dollars a day. (Dropping royality to 19%) This was done to prop up oil companies profits when the US dollar fell; it had nothing to do with their operational securities! That is 84 million a day he doesn’t have to put into other programs. Health Care is only one example.
It is not a far reach to say they have cut money to Capital Health in order to prop up oil profits!
University seats go to foreign students because these students pay multi thousands of dollars more for a lecture hall slot at a university than does an Albert student. Universities need the cash!
These foreign graduates go back to their homes to practice, they seldom stay in Alberta.
Stelmach has put up a smoke and mirrors royalty proposal that returns nothing to the Alberta revenue base! He has found a way to subsidize the oil up grader plants through a fiscal “payment in kind of crude” which can be 90% of the royalty further shorting the revenue into Alberta.
A shallow numbers game! More lies and misconceptions!
These guys have lied their way into the past 3 elections. Hold them accountable now!
Remember they were elected to a Majority Government last time getting only 23% of the Alberta Vote!
John Clark
The Conservative Plan to Save Alberta-Education
Increase funding to private schools while continuing to short public school funding.
Why?
The mentality of this crew is such that the privatization of schools allows them a place of fame with like minded people.
They feel the public system is too expensive and to walk away from regulation is a good thing because people will pay more to get their kids into better schools there by reducing “public” expenditures.
In all. a “feel good” thing for the Conservatives who claim private is always cheaper than Government but never ever do a follow up to see the huge cost increases.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Why?
The mentality of this crew is such that the privatization of schools allows them a place of fame with like minded people.
They feel the public system is too expensive and to walk away from regulation is a good thing because people will pay more to get their kids into better schools there by reducing “public” expenditures.
In all. a “feel good” thing for the Conservatives who claim private is always cheaper than Government but never ever do a follow up to see the huge cost increases.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Conservative Plan to Save Alberta - Water
Further privatize the water in Alberta.
Why?
The rivers are going dry, quickly as the glaciers recede at record speeds. This leaves the ground water; the aquifer as being our primary source of water. Much of the water rights for this aquifer have been given to Coca Cola, Calgary Malting and others in the Agra Food Industries.
The conservatives were unhappy with the hearings held by the Privy Council of Canada which ruled that bulk water exports were not covered under NAFTA and gave notice to the Privy Council the Conservatives were taking up a legal challenge to make it acceptable to export bulk water to the US.
Placing the water firmly in the hands of private companies makes it very easy to escalate the price of water to the residential consumers. Prices for water service will be levied by the pipeline companies. A bill for the water combined with a bill for the transmission of water if you like. The water analogy for electricity is applicable in more than one discipline.
Bottom line; your costs are going to go up by 10 times almost, overnight.
The kicker here is the oil up graders planned will use more water than all the residential housing but, will get it for nothing.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Why?
The rivers are going dry, quickly as the glaciers recede at record speeds. This leaves the ground water; the aquifer as being our primary source of water. Much of the water rights for this aquifer have been given to Coca Cola, Calgary Malting and others in the Agra Food Industries.
The conservatives were unhappy with the hearings held by the Privy Council of Canada which ruled that bulk water exports were not covered under NAFTA and gave notice to the Privy Council the Conservatives were taking up a legal challenge to make it acceptable to export bulk water to the US.
Placing the water firmly in the hands of private companies makes it very easy to escalate the price of water to the residential consumers. Prices for water service will be levied by the pipeline companies. A bill for the water combined with a bill for the transmission of water if you like. The water analogy for electricity is applicable in more than one discipline.
Bottom line; your costs are going to go up by 10 times almost, overnight.
The kicker here is the oil up graders planned will use more water than all the residential housing but, will get it for nothing.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Conservative Plans to Savel Alberta-Heating
Immediately eliminate the subsidy to home owners on heating costs. When the price of heating goes up there will be no rebates!
Why?
The price of gas is down. Because of this now is a good time to eliminate the program.
The price of coal is moving up on the world markets. It is higher now than it has ever been and it will get much higher they will push for world prices on coal more especially since the Ontario Teachers Pension fund owns most of it.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Why?
The price of gas is down. Because of this now is a good time to eliminate the program.
The price of coal is moving up on the world markets. It is higher now than it has ever been and it will get much higher they will push for world prices on coal more especially since the Ontario Teachers Pension fund owns most of it.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Alberta electricity an empire built on lies and misdirection
The deregulation of Alberta’s power grid and the subsequent mess was not an accident. It was in fact the plan from the start.
Paying friends hundreds of thousand of dollars to “fix” an electrical system that is going precisely the way they had hoped is nothing but another act of misdirection and still another lie.
They find it more convenient and easier to sell an error in judgment than to admit they embarked on what amounts to a royal rip off.
As a plus it puts more coin into the pocket of friends.
John Clark
Cyberclark@shaw.ca
Paying friends hundreds of thousand of dollars to “fix” an electrical system that is going precisely the way they had hoped is nothing but another act of misdirection and still another lie.
They find it more convenient and easier to sell an error in judgment than to admit they embarked on what amounts to a royal rip off.
As a plus it puts more coin into the pocket of friends.
John Clark
Cyberclark@shaw.ca
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Alberta electricty pressures.
Following my lead-in there is an excellent evaluation of Alberta's electrical power situation. The web link to the journal article has been taken down so I have copied here.
Not covered in the Article by Joseph Doucetis is the Fording Coal dilemma which is huge and should get some air.
1. Fording was purchased by Sherritt (Ontario teachers assn pension)
2. Fording kept title to the Anthracite (tool) coal.
3. Sherritt took the title to all the lower quality heating coal.
4. Fording is presently completing or has completed the environmental studies for the Genesee like generating unit at Brooks AB. (4000 mv, half of the present generation capacity of Alberta)
5. Fording will buy coal from Sherritt for the generation at prices that Sherrit set as a seperate entity.
Depending on the price the Ontario Teachers assn charges Fording for the coal, the prices of electricity should come down!
The Government has allowed the prices to escalate by constricting growth forcing gas generation on line in the meantime.
When Fording comes on they will peg their prices at the "market" which will allow them huge, unprecedented profits.
The environmental studies should be complete. That means an announcement will be made shortly after an election.
Consider: When Fording owned all the coal they tried to build the plant and got shut down by what appears to be government sponsored environmental complaints allowed by a Government who had every interest in killing the project. Fording was prepared to build the power lines to Calgary and South to Southern Alberta. Trans Alta fought this. (who would have guessed?)
On a different line the City of Edmonton fought the Province for permission to build the expansion of Genesse and were like Fording, denied permission until the scalping PPA agreements were in place.
In short the Conservatives again have autored a rip off situation for Albertans.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Wednesday » January 16 » 2008
Alberta's power play difficult to assess
Government's electricity restructuring results can't be measured simply by comparing prices
Joseph Doucet
Freelance
Saturday, January 12, 2008 - Edmonton Journal
In a letter to the Journal, "6 years later, deregulation hasn't lived up to the promises" (Jan. 10), a former provincial electricity planner suggested that the restructuring of Alberta's electricity industry and markets has not delivered on its "promises." Of particular interest to consumers is Keith Provost's statement that "Albertans have paid more than $16 billion more for their electricity needs than if the system had not been deregulated."
Despite his contention that "the cost can be easily calculated by anyone with a cursory knowledge of the economics of electricity generation," I would suggest that calculating the costs and benefits of restructuring is anything but an easy exercise.
One of the all-too-common mistakes made in this type of discussion is to simply compare prices today with prices in previous years. Electricity prices in Alberta, as in almost every other jurisdiction, are higher today than they were in 1995, the year in which Alberta's first piece of restructuring legislation, the Electric Utilities Act, was passed.
Why can't we simply compare 2008 with 1995? Well, the makeup of the industry is actually quite different today. For instance, in the mid-1990s about 75 per cent of Alberta electricity was generated with coal. Today the figure is a little under 50 per cent. Natural gas, on the other hand, makes up about 40 per cent of today's generation capacity; in 1995 it accounted for less than 15 per cent. Thus we can't expect underlying costs, and the resulting prices, to be directly comparable.
Informed readers will point out, quite correctly, that coal prices are both lower and less volatile than natural gas prices. Thus, the greater reliance on natural gas is bound to have had an impact on electricity prices. This is certainly true. But is the increased use of natural gas in Alberta attributable to restructuring? I'm not so sure. In the 1990s North American electricity planners believed that natural gas was going to remain cheap for a long time. We were wrong.
But I don't believe that a regulated generation sector in Alberta would have seen things any differently.
The real question to ask in order to begin to understand the price impact of restructuring is this: What would our electricity industry look like today had the Government of Alberta NOT embarked on the restructuring exercise? What fuels and technologies would have been chosen in a regulated system? What types of plants would have been built, and where? What research and development would have been undertaken? Which risks would have been allocated to electricity consumers and which to the regulated firms?
There are no straightforward answers to these questions, despite the best intentions of Monday morning quarterbacks. In truth it is impossible to know exactly what our electricity industry would look like today had the government not introduced restructuring. As a result it is very difficult to say what price we would be paying under the "old" system.
That being said, the retail price is just one measure of the efficiency of the electricity industry. It is certainly an important one and understandably the main focus of attention of residential consumers. But retail prices can be deceiving, such as in Ontario where retail prices have been regulated to artificially low levels well below the wholesale prices. This hides the true costs of electricity and shifts the burden to taxpayers. This doesn't happen here.
To suggest that prices in some non-restructured jurisdictions have risen less than in restructured jurisdictions misses the important point that the underlying costs and technologies differ a great deal between different provinces and states and that, for the most part, low-cost North American jurisdictions did not embark on restructuring.
Many very-low-cost jurisdictions, notably those with large hydroelectric capacity, continue to benefit from their low-cost technologies despite the fact that they have not changed the structure of their industry. Relatively low prices in these areas for the most part reflect the low costs of generation, not the benefits of the regulated system.
On the other hand, many high-cost jurisdictions saw costs rising, principally because of the need to build more generation, and moved to restructuring in part because of the desire to introduce competition in the generation investment and operation decisions.
In the last 10 years close to 4,500 megawatts of new generation capacity has been built in Alberta. This is one reason that there is less danger of the lights going out in Alberta than in Ontario - proportionally more capacity has been built here than in Ontario. Has more capacity been built than would have been the case without restructuring? This again is hard to say, because we simply don't have the crystal ball that answers the "what if" questions about the past.
More significantly than the amount of generation, though, is the fact that the new electricity generation plants in Alberta have been built without any price or profit guarantee from the government or the regulator as was the case in the "good old days." This is a comparison that we can make. Alberta ratepayers no longer carry the risk of construction-cost overruns, plant operation or fuel prices via a regulated system. This is a very real benefit to Albertans. Of course, Alberta electricity consumers do bear some risk with respect to fuel price increases. There is no way around this.
Was the government's plan perfect? Of course it wasn't, as I have often written. There were errors in planning and in implementation. The lessons of history cannot be ignored. But let's move on and make our electricity sector as productive, efficient and environmentally responsible as possible.
Is Alberta's electricity model today a panacea? Of course it isn't. I would like to see more competition in the retail sector, but fear that won't happen because of our small market size, and because electricity prices really are, relatively speaking, low. However, lack of competition on the retail side should not be mistaken for, or confused with, lack of competition in the wholesale and investment market.
It is also true that we have major challenges ahead in co-ordinating the development of regulated transmission in sync with our competitive generation market. This challenge is not unique to Alberta and will take a lot of effort and smart people to solve. It isn't an easy problem.
And clearly the newly created Alberta Utilities Commission has to regain public trust in its regulation of the electricity industry.
This exercise will take time, commitment and leadership.
So are there challenges ahead? Most definitely. But this is not a simple industry and the questions to be asked are complex. Suggesting otherwise does a disservice to the debate.
Joseph Doucet is professor of energy policy and director of the Centre for Applied Business Research in Energy and the Environment at the U of A's School of Business.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/ideas/story.html?id=7587c57a-4aa0-419c-b5c8-65244dd6d51f
Not covered in the Article by Joseph Doucetis is the Fording Coal dilemma which is huge and should get some air.
1. Fording was purchased by Sherritt (Ontario teachers assn pension)
2. Fording kept title to the Anthracite (tool) coal.
3. Sherritt took the title to all the lower quality heating coal.
4. Fording is presently completing or has completed the environmental studies for the Genesee like generating unit at Brooks AB. (4000 mv, half of the present generation capacity of Alberta)
5. Fording will buy coal from Sherritt for the generation at prices that Sherrit set as a seperate entity.
Depending on the price the Ontario Teachers assn charges Fording for the coal, the prices of electricity should come down!
The Government has allowed the prices to escalate by constricting growth forcing gas generation on line in the meantime.
When Fording comes on they will peg their prices at the "market" which will allow them huge, unprecedented profits.
The environmental studies should be complete. That means an announcement will be made shortly after an election.
Consider: When Fording owned all the coal they tried to build the plant and got shut down by what appears to be government sponsored environmental complaints allowed by a Government who had every interest in killing the project. Fording was prepared to build the power lines to Calgary and South to Southern Alberta. Trans Alta fought this. (who would have guessed?)
On a different line the City of Edmonton fought the Province for permission to build the expansion of Genesse and were like Fording, denied permission until the scalping PPA agreements were in place.
In short the Conservatives again have autored a rip off situation for Albertans.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Wednesday » January 16 » 2008
Alberta's power play difficult to assess
Government's electricity restructuring results can't be measured simply by comparing prices
Joseph Doucet
Freelance
Saturday, January 12, 2008 - Edmonton Journal
In a letter to the Journal, "6 years later, deregulation hasn't lived up to the promises" (Jan. 10), a former provincial electricity planner suggested that the restructuring of Alberta's electricity industry and markets has not delivered on its "promises." Of particular interest to consumers is Keith Provost's statement that "Albertans have paid more than $16 billion more for their electricity needs than if the system had not been deregulated."
Despite his contention that "the cost can be easily calculated by anyone with a cursory knowledge of the economics of electricity generation," I would suggest that calculating the costs and benefits of restructuring is anything but an easy exercise.
One of the all-too-common mistakes made in this type of discussion is to simply compare prices today with prices in previous years. Electricity prices in Alberta, as in almost every other jurisdiction, are higher today than they were in 1995, the year in which Alberta's first piece of restructuring legislation, the Electric Utilities Act, was passed.
Why can't we simply compare 2008 with 1995? Well, the makeup of the industry is actually quite different today. For instance, in the mid-1990s about 75 per cent of Alberta electricity was generated with coal. Today the figure is a little under 50 per cent. Natural gas, on the other hand, makes up about 40 per cent of today's generation capacity; in 1995 it accounted for less than 15 per cent. Thus we can't expect underlying costs, and the resulting prices, to be directly comparable.
Informed readers will point out, quite correctly, that coal prices are both lower and less volatile than natural gas prices. Thus, the greater reliance on natural gas is bound to have had an impact on electricity prices. This is certainly true. But is the increased use of natural gas in Alberta attributable to restructuring? I'm not so sure. In the 1990s North American electricity planners believed that natural gas was going to remain cheap for a long time. We were wrong.
But I don't believe that a regulated generation sector in Alberta would have seen things any differently.
The real question to ask in order to begin to understand the price impact of restructuring is this: What would our electricity industry look like today had the Government of Alberta NOT embarked on the restructuring exercise? What fuels and technologies would have been chosen in a regulated system? What types of plants would have been built, and where? What research and development would have been undertaken? Which risks would have been allocated to electricity consumers and which to the regulated firms?
There are no straightforward answers to these questions, despite the best intentions of Monday morning quarterbacks. In truth it is impossible to know exactly what our electricity industry would look like today had the government not introduced restructuring. As a result it is very difficult to say what price we would be paying under the "old" system.
That being said, the retail price is just one measure of the efficiency of the electricity industry. It is certainly an important one and understandably the main focus of attention of residential consumers. But retail prices can be deceiving, such as in Ontario where retail prices have been regulated to artificially low levels well below the wholesale prices. This hides the true costs of electricity and shifts the burden to taxpayers. This doesn't happen here.
To suggest that prices in some non-restructured jurisdictions have risen less than in restructured jurisdictions misses the important point that the underlying costs and technologies differ a great deal between different provinces and states and that, for the most part, low-cost North American jurisdictions did not embark on restructuring.
Many very-low-cost jurisdictions, notably those with large hydroelectric capacity, continue to benefit from their low-cost technologies despite the fact that they have not changed the structure of their industry. Relatively low prices in these areas for the most part reflect the low costs of generation, not the benefits of the regulated system.
On the other hand, many high-cost jurisdictions saw costs rising, principally because of the need to build more generation, and moved to restructuring in part because of the desire to introduce competition in the generation investment and operation decisions.
In the last 10 years close to 4,500 megawatts of new generation capacity has been built in Alberta. This is one reason that there is less danger of the lights going out in Alberta than in Ontario - proportionally more capacity has been built here than in Ontario. Has more capacity been built than would have been the case without restructuring? This again is hard to say, because we simply don't have the crystal ball that answers the "what if" questions about the past.
More significantly than the amount of generation, though, is the fact that the new electricity generation plants in Alberta have been built without any price or profit guarantee from the government or the regulator as was the case in the "good old days." This is a comparison that we can make. Alberta ratepayers no longer carry the risk of construction-cost overruns, plant operation or fuel prices via a regulated system. This is a very real benefit to Albertans. Of course, Alberta electricity consumers do bear some risk with respect to fuel price increases. There is no way around this.
Was the government's plan perfect? Of course it wasn't, as I have often written. There were errors in planning and in implementation. The lessons of history cannot be ignored. But let's move on and make our electricity sector as productive, efficient and environmentally responsible as possible.
Is Alberta's electricity model today a panacea? Of course it isn't. I would like to see more competition in the retail sector, but fear that won't happen because of our small market size, and because electricity prices really are, relatively speaking, low. However, lack of competition on the retail side should not be mistaken for, or confused with, lack of competition in the wholesale and investment market.
It is also true that we have major challenges ahead in co-ordinating the development of regulated transmission in sync with our competitive generation market. This challenge is not unique to Alberta and will take a lot of effort and smart people to solve. It isn't an easy problem.
And clearly the newly created Alberta Utilities Commission has to regain public trust in its regulation of the electricity industry.
This exercise will take time, commitment and leadership.
So are there challenges ahead? Most definitely. But this is not a simple industry and the questions to be asked are complex. Suggesting otherwise does a disservice to the debate.
Joseph Doucet is professor of energy policy and director of the Centre for Applied Business Research in Energy and the Environment at the U of A's School of Business.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/ideas/story.html?id=7587c57a-4aa0-419c-b5c8-65244dd6d51f
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Alberta Heritage Trust Funding is a farce!
The Conservatives have raped the Heritage Trust fund as with every other resource we have!
The Conservatives claim they are being more open but in doing so they have to change history and misrepresent figures and the truth.
The short truth being that the Heritage Trust Fund should have been 40 billions of dollars by this time is only sitting at a very small 1.6 billion.
The balance whisked away unaccounted for by this Government. It would still be going on if the Liberals had not busted them.
After finally admitting they were fleecing the Heritage Trust fund they come up with a one liner they hope to cover their pillage as in “The net income earned from the Fund’s investments, less the amount retained for inflation-proofing, is transferred to the Province’s main operating fund, the General Revenue Fund (the GRF), to help pay for government programs.” This was written by spin doctors!
Outright lies, and misdirection are the hallmark of this Government! They are trying very hard to spin this misappropriation of funds off with the repeated lines “Of the total realized net income during the past six months, $662 million is transferred to the GRF and $248 million is retained in the Fund for inflation-proofing.”
In this bit of chicanery they have invented a term that never existed prior to their web page “inflation-proofing the Heritage Trust” Such crap!
When the Heritage Trust Fund was set up the moneys made by the Heritage trust fund were to be reinvested in that Fund. This Government robbed the Heritage Trust fund of all its dividend earnings preventing the compounding of investment. The purpose of this was to debilitate the Heritage Trust Fund in order to privatize it. And that is a very bad move.
As to adding to community projects from the billions they have taken from the Heritage Trust Fund is simply another aspect of a large and thinly veiled misrepresentation by spin doctors!
When the money goes into the General Operating Revenues it is more than likely spent on paying for Government Aircraft, paying the Elected Members expense accounts and quick flights to the Orient or Washington and possibly the cafeteria bills. It is after all, General Revenue.
The citizens of this province have suffered through 14 years of outright lies and misdirection watching the money and resources go to a very short list of Tory friends. This line of Heritage Trust stuff is no exception.
PS:
It was a year ago now when they first announced the privatization of the Heritage
Trust Fund saying it had to be privatized because "it was preforming very poorly"
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
The Conservatives claim they are being more open but in doing so they have to change history and misrepresent figures and the truth.
The short truth being that the Heritage Trust Fund should have been 40 billions of dollars by this time is only sitting at a very small 1.6 billion.
The balance whisked away unaccounted for by this Government. It would still be going on if the Liberals had not busted them.
After finally admitting they were fleecing the Heritage Trust fund they come up with a one liner they hope to cover their pillage as in “The net income earned from the Fund’s investments, less the amount retained for inflation-proofing, is transferred to the Province’s main operating fund, the General Revenue Fund (the GRF), to help pay for government programs.” This was written by spin doctors!
Outright lies, and misdirection are the hallmark of this Government! They are trying very hard to spin this misappropriation of funds off with the repeated lines “Of the total realized net income during the past six months, $662 million is transferred to the GRF and $248 million is retained in the Fund for inflation-proofing.”
In this bit of chicanery they have invented a term that never existed prior to their web page “inflation-proofing the Heritage Trust” Such crap!
When the Heritage Trust Fund was set up the moneys made by the Heritage trust fund were to be reinvested in that Fund. This Government robbed the Heritage Trust fund of all its dividend earnings preventing the compounding of investment. The purpose of this was to debilitate the Heritage Trust Fund in order to privatize it. And that is a very bad move.
As to adding to community projects from the billions they have taken from the Heritage Trust Fund is simply another aspect of a large and thinly veiled misrepresentation by spin doctors!
When the money goes into the General Operating Revenues it is more than likely spent on paying for Government Aircraft, paying the Elected Members expense accounts and quick flights to the Orient or Washington and possibly the cafeteria bills. It is after all, General Revenue.
The citizens of this province have suffered through 14 years of outright lies and misdirection watching the money and resources go to a very short list of Tory friends. This line of Heritage Trust stuff is no exception.
PS:
It was a year ago now when they first announced the privatization of the Heritage
Trust Fund saying it had to be privatized because "it was preforming very poorly"
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Monday, January 14, 2008
The Scale of Alberta Power
Alberta’s power runs close to 9000 megawatts
If there is an increase of 1 cent anywhere in the system, it means a 90,000 dollars exchange in every hour that .01 is in effect.
That is 2.16 million dollars a day that some one gains and some one looses.
1 cent increase in the power rate means 10 dollars increase in your power based on a 1000 kwh consumption. This makes it easy for power companies to increase their rates. Ater all, who reads their light bill?
One cent increases are impossibly high and there is no protection from this Government.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
If there is an increase of 1 cent anywhere in the system, it means a 90,000 dollars exchange in every hour that .01 is in effect.
That is 2.16 million dollars a day that some one gains and some one looses.
1 cent increase in the power rate means 10 dollars increase in your power based on a 1000 kwh consumption. This makes it easy for power companies to increase their rates. Ater all, who reads their light bill?
One cent increases are impossibly high and there is no protection from this Government.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Daycare crippled to fund Oil Stock profits
No, the lead in is not a large leap of imagination!
The Edmonton Sun is clearly the best "News" Newspaper in town!
Daycare owners, Grits slam funding methods
Shortage of quality, qualified caregivers continues
By JEREMY LOOME, LEGISLATURE BUREAUJanuary 10, 2008
A decision to fund 81 separate Alberta daycare centres through grants last year proves the province made a big mistake when it eliminated operating grants a decade ago, say operators.
And according to the Opposition, the nature of those grants - which are ostensibly to ensure centres can achieve accreditation under the province's new quality standards program - is such that much of what they'll be spent on would have been covered under the old grant system.
"In many cases, when I'm talking to owners or operators, they're telling me they don't have the time or resources to wade through these grant applications again and again," said Liberal critic Weslyn Mather. "Where we're at right now is that this does not solve the ongoing operating cost issue, which is leading to such a shortage of qualified staff that some daycare centres are closing."
Operating grants were eliminated when Alberta privatized the industry in the early 1990s. Soon after, a glut of private daycares that tried to compete using bottom-line staff costs sprung up, leading to a scarcity of qualified workers.
That's led to parents complaining of shortages for years now in quality, qualified daycares, even as 60% of Alberta daycares have vacancies.
One prominent operator, who requested anonymity due to an ongoing working relationship with government, said the government's carrot-and-stick approach to quality control is unnecessary.
"This problem only exists because they allowed so many under-qualified operations in the first place," she said. "None of these operators, in my experience, have poor intentions. They're trying hard to provide good service to children. They simply can't afford to hire qualified staff on what parents can afford to pay each month."
The operator said the government seems to be "genuinely trying" to fix the industry but doesn't have the humility to simply admit deregulation was a failure and reinstate the grants.
But a spokesman for Alberta Children's Services said the grant structure - which unlike operating grants does not allow the operator to use public money for staff wages (although top-ups are part of it) or rent, among other items - is what the public has indicated it wants.
"The public has consistently told us that we should be focusing funding on increased wages for staff and for supporting middle-income families," said Cathy Ducharme "And we know that this grant structure is working, because it is opening up new spaces."
Space isn't the problem, said Mather. Quality is.
"Alberta has regulated child care for only 10% of our children and that's terrible," she said, noting more than 70% of two-parent homes feature both parents working.
"Only Newfoundland and Saskatchewan are worse. What a record for us. What a record of failure for a province as wealthy as Alberta."
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2008/01/10/4765202-sun.html
The Edmonton Sun is clearly the best "News" Newspaper in town!
Daycare owners, Grits slam funding methods
Shortage of quality, qualified caregivers continues
By JEREMY LOOME, LEGISLATURE BUREAUJanuary 10, 2008
A decision to fund 81 separate Alberta daycare centres through grants last year proves the province made a big mistake when it eliminated operating grants a decade ago, say operators.
And according to the Opposition, the nature of those grants - which are ostensibly to ensure centres can achieve accreditation under the province's new quality standards program - is such that much of what they'll be spent on would have been covered under the old grant system.
"In many cases, when I'm talking to owners or operators, they're telling me they don't have the time or resources to wade through these grant applications again and again," said Liberal critic Weslyn Mather. "Where we're at right now is that this does not solve the ongoing operating cost issue, which is leading to such a shortage of qualified staff that some daycare centres are closing."
Operating grants were eliminated when Alberta privatized the industry in the early 1990s. Soon after, a glut of private daycares that tried to compete using bottom-line staff costs sprung up, leading to a scarcity of qualified workers.
That's led to parents complaining of shortages for years now in quality, qualified daycares, even as 60% of Alberta daycares have vacancies.
One prominent operator, who requested anonymity due to an ongoing working relationship with government, said the government's carrot-and-stick approach to quality control is unnecessary.
"This problem only exists because they allowed so many under-qualified operations in the first place," she said. "None of these operators, in my experience, have poor intentions. They're trying hard to provide good service to children. They simply can't afford to hire qualified staff on what parents can afford to pay each month."
The operator said the government seems to be "genuinely trying" to fix the industry but doesn't have the humility to simply admit deregulation was a failure and reinstate the grants.
But a spokesman for Alberta Children's Services said the grant structure - which unlike operating grants does not allow the operator to use public money for staff wages (although top-ups are part of it) or rent, among other items - is what the public has indicated it wants.
"The public has consistently told us that we should be focusing funding on increased wages for staff and for supporting middle-income families," said Cathy Ducharme "And we know that this grant structure is working, because it is opening up new spaces."
Space isn't the problem, said Mather. Quality is.
"Alberta has regulated child care for only 10% of our children and that's terrible," she said, noting more than 70% of two-parent homes feature both parents working.
"Only Newfoundland and Saskatchewan are worse. What a record for us. What a record of failure for a province as wealthy as Alberta."
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2008/01/10/4765202-sun.html
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Alberta Conservatives give lists of favors bought.
The release of the document “Alberta Blue Book of expenditures shows just how this Government pays and pays their friends as in dropping cash into their pockets with no other reason than they are perceived as being a “voting block”
$24.5 billion of the $35 billion dollar budget was handed out with no explanation.
I have said before and will continue to say “It is difficult to tell the difference between the Alberta Conservative Government and Organized Crime”
Meanwhile seniors and thoes less privilaged live in degredation and hard ship and ordinary citizens cannot keep up to their electricity and fuel bills.
Scott Hennig, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, was reacting to the release of the government 2007 Blue Books on Monday, a 1,000 page line-by-line account of all capital spending and operating grants. The list, although online for the first time, is virtually useless to the pubic, said Hennig. Unlike its federal counterpart, the government doesn’t link the list to explanations of why spending was necessary.
Further details in the Edmonton Sun which, is putting out some really good news now-days.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
$24.5 billion of the $35 billion dollar budget was handed out with no explanation.
I have said before and will continue to say “It is difficult to tell the difference between the Alberta Conservative Government and Organized Crime”
Meanwhile seniors and thoes less privilaged live in degredation and hard ship and ordinary citizens cannot keep up to their electricity and fuel bills.
Scott Hennig, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, was reacting to the release of the government 2007 Blue Books on Monday, a 1,000 page line-by-line account of all capital spending and operating grants. The list, although online for the first time, is virtually useless to the pubic, said Hennig. Unlike its federal counterpart, the government doesn’t link the list to explanations of why spending was necessary.
Further details in the Edmonton Sun which, is putting out some really good news now-days.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Alberta Liberals on top of Electrical Sham
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 2:07 PM
Alberta Liberals Raise Questions about Department of Energy’s Million Dollar Man
Edmonton – Hugh MacDonald, Alberta Liberal Shadow Minister of Energy, says government documents show one of the architects of Bill 46 received almost $1.4 million from the provincial government over the last four years.
The provincial Blue Book, or list of provincial grants and payments, shows a numbered company owned by Kellan Fluckiger received $354,807 in the last year. Combined with the previous three years, the contracts add up to $1,358,645.
“The government isn’t sending Albertans a very good message about accountability and priorities,” says MacDonald. “Just recently, they attempted to reduce the Auditor General’s budget by $20,000. In the same fiscal year, they handed out a six figure contract to the architect of a democratically damaging piece of legislation.”
Fluckiger was one of those responsible for the government’s flawed Bill 46, which split the Energy and Utilities Board into two separate entities while failing to offer adequate protections for landowners. The bill was forced through the Legislature last fall. The government evoked closure on all three stages of the bill.
MacDonald notes that Fluckiger was originally hired by the Department of Energy to fix electricity deregulation, yet the system has reached a crisis since his hiring.
“Electricity deregulation has been one of the most expensive failures in Alberta’s history,” says MacDonald. “Alberta consumers continue to struggle to pay their monthly power bills, while the government is very generous to Mr. Fluckiger, paying him almost $1.4 million.”
Fluckiger is currently under a conflict of interest investigation by the Auditor General of Alberta. Fluckiger resigned from his position at Alberta Energy in October of 2007.
“Mr. Fluckiger has been collecting a very generous paycheque for years, for what results?” asks MacDonald. “The Minister of Energy owes it to Alberta taxpayers to immediately release the details of his role, his recent resignation, and whether he was paid a severance package on top of these expensive annual contracts.”
-30-
For more information contact:
Hugh MacDonald or Yolande Cole
Shadow Energy Minister Media Liaison
(780) 914-5270 (780) 446-6868
Alberta Liberals Raise Questions about Department of Energy’s Million Dollar Man
Edmonton – Hugh MacDonald, Alberta Liberal Shadow Minister of Energy, says government documents show one of the architects of Bill 46 received almost $1.4 million from the provincial government over the last four years.
The provincial Blue Book, or list of provincial grants and payments, shows a numbered company owned by Kellan Fluckiger received $354,807 in the last year. Combined with the previous three years, the contracts add up to $1,358,645.
“The government isn’t sending Albertans a very good message about accountability and priorities,” says MacDonald. “Just recently, they attempted to reduce the Auditor General’s budget by $20,000. In the same fiscal year, they handed out a six figure contract to the architect of a democratically damaging piece of legislation.”
Fluckiger was one of those responsible for the government’s flawed Bill 46, which split the Energy and Utilities Board into two separate entities while failing to offer adequate protections for landowners. The bill was forced through the Legislature last fall. The government evoked closure on all three stages of the bill.
MacDonald notes that Fluckiger was originally hired by the Department of Energy to fix electricity deregulation, yet the system has reached a crisis since his hiring.
“Electricity deregulation has been one of the most expensive failures in Alberta’s history,” says MacDonald. “Alberta consumers continue to struggle to pay their monthly power bills, while the government is very generous to Mr. Fluckiger, paying him almost $1.4 million.”
Fluckiger is currently under a conflict of interest investigation by the Auditor General of Alberta. Fluckiger resigned from his position at Alberta Energy in October of 2007.
“Mr. Fluckiger has been collecting a very generous paycheque for years, for what results?” asks MacDonald. “The Minister of Energy owes it to Alberta taxpayers to immediately release the details of his role, his recent resignation, and whether he was paid a severance package on top of these expensive annual contracts.”
-30-
For more information contact:
Hugh MacDonald or Yolande Cole
Shadow Energy Minister Media Liaison
(780) 914-5270 (780) 446-6868
Alberta rejects carbon tax
.
Carbon Tax a no Starter in Alberta reads the headline.
A carbon tax would be returned to the provincial coffer. That is totally against the Conservative mantra!
Instead, The Alberta Conservatives have been on a path of allowing huge increase in electricity and gas charges to heat our homes. These windfall profits go to ENMAX and EPCOR. We presently pay the highest prices in the Americas!
Following the trickle down policy of Conservatives in General, some of these funds will go to the cities of Edmonton (EPCOR) and Calgary (ENMAX) and the very limited return will be added to the city surplus quietly and without fan fair.
More reasons to get this government out of office come Election Day.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Carbon Tax a no Starter in Alberta reads the headline.
A carbon tax would be returned to the provincial coffer. That is totally against the Conservative mantra!
Instead, The Alberta Conservatives have been on a path of allowing huge increase in electricity and gas charges to heat our homes. These windfall profits go to ENMAX and EPCOR. We presently pay the highest prices in the Americas!
Following the trickle down policy of Conservatives in General, some of these funds will go to the cities of Edmonton (EPCOR) and Calgary (ENMAX) and the very limited return will be added to the city surplus quietly and without fan fair.
More reasons to get this government out of office come Election Day.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Alberta Royalty losses or something else?
Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal report multi billions of dollars lost to Albertans from Royalties.
Alberta’s Auditor General has yet to report on Conservative Members padding their own pockets through royalty “losses”
The Auditor General will not report until March. The Conservatives want an Election in February. I think this is blatant!
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Alberta’s Auditor General has yet to report on Conservative Members padding their own pockets through royalty “losses”
The Auditor General will not report until March. The Conservatives want an Election in February. I think this is blatant!
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Alberta Budget Feb 14-08
Consider first, in the past 14 years the Conservatives have never followed a budget! The Budget has been a piece of useless paper as far as the general public is concerned. It simply meets a legal requirement.
This will take some effort but, in the near future I will map out the lay of the financial land and leave you with a guide by which you can view the Budget when it comes.
Most of the budget by its nature will deal with "projected revenues" based on "projected figures" which in this case will be absolutely nothing.
The production is flat. The royalties are down. The Lease purchase is down. The expenses are up.
Will make an effort to organize for you.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
This will take some effort but, in the near future I will map out the lay of the financial land and leave you with a guide by which you can view the Budget when it comes.
Most of the budget by its nature will deal with "projected revenues" based on "projected figures" which in this case will be absolutely nothing.
The production is flat. The royalties are down. The Lease purchase is down. The expenses are up.
Will make an effort to organize for you.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Alberta oil hits 100.00
And, Alberta is broke so, no budget before election.
The Conservatives figure Alberta is making too much so they have reduced Alberta Royalties to 19%. Conventional oil is now priced in Canadian dollars and not at the US equivalent. Still more losses. Their philosophy is “How much does Alberta need?” as opposed to “What is Alberta’s entitlement?”
Meanwhile they are blowing money like there is no tomorrow and for them, this may be the case.
Word has it that Stelmach will go into an election before he presents a budget to Alberta. This is because the lease money is down; the energy royalties are down at every level and he is still spending to get elected.
If elected again you can be sure that Albertans will be asked to dig into their pockets to pay off the big deficit these guys are creating. There is no way he will dig into the resources for the money he has already short changed us.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
The Conservatives figure Alberta is making too much so they have reduced Alberta Royalties to 19%. Conventional oil is now priced in Canadian dollars and not at the US equivalent. Still more losses. Their philosophy is “How much does Alberta need?” as opposed to “What is Alberta’s entitlement?”
Meanwhile they are blowing money like there is no tomorrow and for them, this may be the case.
Word has it that Stelmach will go into an election before he presents a budget to Alberta. This is because the lease money is down; the energy royalties are down at every level and he is still spending to get elected.
If elected again you can be sure that Albertans will be asked to dig into their pockets to pay off the big deficit these guys are creating. There is no way he will dig into the resources for the money he has already short changed us.
John Clark
cyberclark@shaw.ca
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