Martin dismisses criticism from Klein
that oil is Alberta's to sell

Greg Bonnell
Canadian Press
Thursday, October 13, 2005

COMMENT: Albertans are as intelligent and industrious as other Canadians. But that's it. They're not smarter than the rest of us. They don't work harder than the rest of us. They're not more deserving or entitled than other Canadians. But they're a hell of a lot richer than the rest of us.

Albertans don't pay provincial sales tax. They don't have a provincial debt. They're constant contributors to national accounts. Lucky them. And that's all it is. Luck of geographical placement.

Yet Ralph Klein gloats about his province's economy as if he made it all happen, as if Albertans earned the riches. His province is not rich because of special business acument. It's because they "have" most of Canada's oil and gas. Alberta would be debt free and Klein's voters rich, even if he were permanently pissed to the eyeballs and unable to stand up between elections. What's fair or just about that?

By today's rules, what's under Alberta isn't Canada's oil and gas. It is Alberta's. (Actually, it belongs now to whatever corporations Alberta has sold the rights to. Alberta keeps some, in the form of royalties, but most of it is handed over to the corporations. Corporations which are rolling in unprecedented profits. Undeserved, unearned profits. But that's another rant.)

This is not right. It's time to rewrite the deal. Canada's environment belongs to all of us, and it's our national duty to protect it. Canada's natural resources should belong to all of us, and it's time to change the deal. Time for Canada to stand up to Alberta's bullying and claim substantially more of the benefits for all Canadians of all that fossil fuel wealth.

Paul Martin is playing that old electoral strategy that makes the US a foe. George Bush makes that easy to do right now. "BC vs Ottawa" has been a winning gambit for decades. Alberta has played the same game against Ottawa at least ever since Trudeau's National Energy Program in 1980.

Martin has nothing to lose in Alberta, and plenty to win in the rest of the country. Maybe it's time to get ugly with Klein.

I can already hear the whining about "National Energy Program II" starting in Alberta and BC. Yep.

And how to stay the course when those bloated oil and gas corporations turn their bankrolls to bringing down a government.

OWEN SOUND, Ont. (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin was on the defensive Wednesday about his government's role in promoting Canada's commodities, a day after Alberta Premier Ralph Klein told Ottawa to keep its hands off of his province's resources.

"Of course the federal government has a role in trying to open markets, new markets, and we will continue to do that," Martin told reporters in Owen Sound, Ont., where he met with community leaders. He was responding to criticism from Klein, who has pointedly said his province's petroleum isn't the prime minister's to sell.

"I'm not trying to pick a fight with anybody. I just want the Americans to live up to the terms of the NAFTA agreement, both in letter and spirit," Martin later told reporters at an event in Petersburg, Ont., near Kitchener.

Martin slammed the U.S. for continuing to impose duties on Canadian softwood lumber, while also hinting that countries such as China and India are becoming a more lucrative market for Canadian oil that the U.S. needs.

Washington is refusing to recognize a trade panel's final ruling that said U.S. duties on Canadian softwood are unwarranted.

Martin and other government leaders have been careful not to directly link the softwood conflict with punishment for the United States on other trade fronts.

But speaking to a Wall Street audience last week, Martin warned that the softwood dispute is threatening the integrity of the continental trade pact and future economic relations.

Martin said Wednesday that business leaders have encouraged his government to develop more markets for a range of Canadian commodities.

"That should not be a disagreement with Mr. Klein. In fact, I would have expected Mr. Klein to really support our position, given the importance of his own cattle producers," he said.

Klein said Wednesday in Edmonton that he in fact does support Martin trying to open new markets for Canadian products.

"I think that what we have here is a media thing. I don't care if he wants to sell and promote our oil but it's not his to sell. That is the only point I was trying to make."

The Opposition, meanwhile, renewed calls for Martin to get tough with U.S. President George W. Bush to solve the longstanding softwood lumber problem.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said the United States needs to be reminded of its legal obligation to comply with NAFTA rulings.

"If the U.S. has some difficulty with that . . . then this is going to have repercussions," he told reporters in Vancouver Wednesday.

The U.S. has collected $5 billion in duties on softwood imports since May 2002, hurting Canadian companies which export lumber south of the border.

© The Canadian Press 2005