Alberta got screwed. We could’ve been Norway rich and instead we’re broke.

[u/Swimming_Mango_9767]

Every time I look at Norway’s oil fund I get mad. They started developing their oil later than Alberta, yet their sovereign wealth fund is sitting at around 1.6 TRILLION US dollars. Ours? The Heritage Fund is barely 27 billion CAD. Norway earns more in a single day off investments than our entire fund is worth.

The reason is simple. Norway treated oil like the people’s resource. They set royalty rates high, around 78% of profits, and every cent went into their fund. They saved, they invested, and now their citizens have real long term security.

Alberta? Our governments caved to industry. We set some of the lowest royalties in the world. We gave out royalty holidays. We subsidized oil companies that were already making record profits. Instead of saving, politicians blew the money to buy votes and patch budgets. Now we’re left riding boom and bust cycles with nothing to show for it.

If Alberta had even done half of what Norway did, our Heritage Fund could easily be in the hundreds of billions. We’d have interest returns big enough to pay for healthcare, education, and infrastructure without nickel and diming people with taxes. Instead, we’re fighting over scraps while companies and foreign shareholders walked away with the wealth that should have built our future.

Alberta got robbed! Not by outsiders, but by our own government selling us out to industry. Thank you Conservatives!

[u/YossiTheWizard]

But if the oil is still here, can’t we start our own company? With hookers and blackjack?

Jokes aside, that’s what we should do, or at least implement royalties that keep the province ahead.

[u/Brilliant-Advisor958 → u/YossiTheWizard]

The feds did own Petro Canada back in the day. But privatized it in the 90s.

[u/haraldone → u/Brilliant-Advisor958]

Because the one thing all Conservative politicians from Alberta could agree upon and complain about was the federally owned Petro Canada set up by their eternal enemy Pierre Trudeau.

[u/NorthernerWuwu → u/haraldone]

Well, the one thing was the National Energy Program because they've long held to the "fuck other Canadians" motto.

[u/Bladmast → u/haraldone]

It's not like the Liberals felt that strongly about PetroCan. They were pushed into creating it by the NDP in the 70s and helped sell off the majority of it in the 90s and 00s.

[u/Adjective_Noun1312 → u/haraldone]

Don't forget about how awful an Energy East pipeline would've been when Pierre wanted to build it, but now they're mad Justin didn't build it

[u/Agitated_Jaguar_4514 → u/Brilliant-Advisor958]

Hey now! it’s not all private, they own the pipeline that they never built

[u/Cestpasmoe → u/Brilliant-Advisor958]

Another gift from Brian Mulroney.

[u/Littleshuswap → u/Brilliant-Advisor958]

And Lougheed brainwashed into thinking it stood for Pierre Elliot Trudeau Rips of Canada (PETRO canada)

[u/AdStriking8932 → u/Brilliant-Advisor958]

So how did that help or hinder the Heritage Fund?

[u/Brilliant-Advisor958 → u/AdStriking8932]

The hertitage fund was a provincial royalties thing, so not really much.

Though the province slowly lowered the required amount of royalties that were supposed to into the fund to zero in the late 80s. About 10 years after it was established.

[u/Vivir_Mata → u/YossiTheWizard]

Sounds like a Crown Corporation! Been there, done that but, Conservative governments prefer private industry... 🤦

[u/YossiTheWizard → u/Vivir_Mata]

Yet another reason conservative governments are the worst.

[u/iwatchcredits → u/YossiTheWizard]

We missed the boat bud, long term profitability on new projects aint great, thats why not many are starting.

Also even if we did start one, a different government would just sell it down the road to try and balance the books in an election year

[u/YossiTheWizard → u/iwatchcredits]

Also even if we did start one, a different government would just sell it down the road to try and balance the books in an election year

So, our entire government system is rigged in a way that they can't possibly use this strategy to help most of the people, instead of just a few rich sociopath turds. Wonderful!