Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

Massive layoffs in the most important industry of a country or province is never a good thing. I didn't realize that Ottawa's NEP (National Energy Policy) extended to the North Sea or the Scottish economy. :rolleyes:

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

Ah, the great western canard; that when the economy of Alberta collapses it's somehow the fault of the feds and when it booms it's the work of the rednecks. It's not politics, it's just commodity prices, the Alberta economy will go bust again and it'll boom again. That's not something the politicians control but the consequence of having a resource based economy.

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

If you say so.... dbd33. After all, you lived there for a long time and know all about the place.[/sarcasm] You don't even understand that Federal policy affected commodity prices so you have contradicted yourself. :D

BTW, your act of characterizing the people of an entire province as "rednecks" is far greater in extent than anything Klein ever said - talk about bigotry.

NEP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Energy_Policy

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

I understood the NEP well enough at the time. What I don't understand is the continued fervour about it. People cling to the alleged injustices of three decades ago as a talisman, the way the Irish speak of the potato famine; "Let them freeze in the dark" could be the state motto of Alberta. Maybe what's needed out there is lots of immigrants, people who don't have all this baggage. They could replace the cradle Canadians as they age out of the province.

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

The Atlantic provinces donated cod to the prairie provinces, including Alberta, during the dust bowl period of the 1930s. When Alberta experienced a severe drought in 2001 and 2002, Ontario farmers donated cattle feed to Alberta farmers. I hang my head in shame when I hear Albertans saying, "Let them freeze in the dark."

In the spring of 2003, Ralph Klein's government considered whether or not to act on the (in)famous 2001 Firewall Letter from Stephen Harper, Tom Flanagan, Ted Morton, Rainer Knopff, Andrew Crooks and Ken Boessenkool. Thank goodness the Klein government set up a sort of commission of enquiry to canvass opinion across Alberta. A handful of Members of the Legislative Assembly held a series of town hall meetings at which members of the public were invited to express their opinions.

The couple who chair the Calgary chapter of the Council of Canadians, and whom I know slightly, informed me a couple of days before the Calgary town hall meeting that it would take place. In a mad scramble, because of the tight deadline, I contacted my left-wing network. Several of them jumped through whatever hoops were necessary to register their names as speakers at the town hall meeting. Many of the speakers at the town hall meeting espoused conservative and separatist views. My friends were definitely in the minority, but they eloquently championed a vision of Canada as a team.

Calgary's town hall meeting was the last one in the province. When I listened to the news on the radio the next morning, I heard the chairmain of the commission saying that, while a majority of speakers at the town hall meetings had been in favour of the "firewall," there had been a minority that had been against the firewall and that minority had been significant enough that the commission could not in good conscience recommend to the government of Alberta that it pursue the firewall idea.

When I heard the chairman's words, I heaved a sigh of relief. I felt as if I had played a part in saving Canada.

I have seen you make a derogatory remark about Maude Barlow on this forum. But out here in Alberta it is people who think like Maude Barlow who introduce a bit of sanity into the province's politics, in my opinion.

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

Alberta contributes roughly $9 billion per year - a lot of cod tongues and hay - into the "equalization" program so that the "have-not" provinces can pay for their social programs. Klein, along with every other Alberta premier in past, has supported the equalization program .

The NEP was the origin of the "let them freeze in the dark" bumper stickers. It was estimated that this ill-advised Federal Government policy cost Alberta's economy up to $150 billion dollars. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost around the province, thousands of businesses and individuals went bankrupt, homes were lost, marriages broke down, and suicides occurred as a consequence. So if some Albertans in the past have appeared to be less than magnanimous, perhaps the rest of us should cut them a little slack. After all, on a per capita basis, the taxpayers of Alberta have put far more into Canada than those of any other province, and by an enormous margin.

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

HTF can you say someone lost their home if they wouldnt pay their mortgage!!!!! If you dont pay your mortgage you FORFIET your home not loose it.
Unfortunately (I hope canada bob is watching me 'attack' someone else) the intelligent things you say always end up getting lost in the crap you come up with to ATTEMPT to win a point!

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

I well believe that Maude Barlow introduces relative sanity to Alberta politics.

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

:D

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

Forfeit, surrender or lose.... it's all just semantics... I wasn't concerned about the fine details just the overall point of the matter which was: people did badly. :(

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

No its two different things.
Forfeit (in this case) is to give away 'voluntarily' through your own actions.
Loose is to have it taken away against your will.

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

No, "loose" means "not fastened". "Lose" means "to be unsuccessful in retaining possession of". :p

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

lucks like we our both guilty of the same miss steak then.

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

Hhhhhhhhmmmmmmm sssttteeeaaakkkk


Time to get that grill fired up.

Re: Ralph Klein - classy guy ?
 

Iain,
can I be cheeky?
I WILL be in the market for a TOOL like yours in approx three weeks can you give me the model number cos it looks a gud'un at a very decent price.

(Just to keep on topic, how long do you reckon it would take to roast Klein? or would the alcohol content mean it would be too dangerous?)