I intend to vote in the next Fed election as I did last time, and that was NDP (almost knocked out Conservative Duncan!).

My intention is hopefully the NDP will gain enough seats to moderate/improve the minority government of the Liberals (so similar results but hopefully more NDP seats that provide a clear balance of power.

Never liked Mulroney - NAFTA has just guaranteed that the Americans can legally drain our energy supplies away. Sure Alberta has reduced it debt to zero, but in the next few years when energy costs soar thay may have wished they actually conserved some of that oil & gas! Also the g.s.t was Mulronney's "gift" that keeps on giving (sure the Liberals failed to eliminate the g.s.t. as promised!.

Will not buy Newman's book however as I said earlier I could care less about Mulroney's musings! Its bad eneough his son is now a talling head on T.V.!!!!!

Good for Peter Newman!

How sweet it is, to think of Mulroney (like Seinfeld) hissing the name of his old friend and enemy: "Newman!"

One thing I have not read anywhere yet is the idea that Mulroney's outrage over this book is feigned. Why not? No one believes him anyway, do they? By supposedly not knowing that the book was being written, Mulroney is eluding some (not all) of the backlash against his critical comments, comments that he evidently made with great passion into Newman's tape recorder.

As for Red Tories, I would like to have that voting option too, but the "unite the right" movement effectively did away with that.

What I would really really like would be to abolish slate voting. There is no party whose policies completely are in line with my own. I'm closest to the NDP but there are things I admire in the policy statements of the other guys. So you are always forced to hold your nose when you vote -- I don't like that, and it is not an incentive to participate in democracy. Conversely, slate politics are a magnate for people who are naturally zealots and partisans: groupthinkers.

It's intersting to read Peter Newman's comments. But they are, afterall, simply opinions. I take them with a grain of salt.
It's hard to figure out where he is coming from. Who is he trying to help or hurt.

"Not much corruption" under Social Credit???

That's a laugh. How about Robert Summers, the first cabinet minister in Canadian history jailed for accepting bribes. Or Bill Bennett, inside trader (well, maybe that doesn't count. He wasn't premier then).

yup it was just a coincidence with the doman lumber shares. the tax breaks to the horse racing industry were just a coincidence too. bring back the socreds, not!

Let's not forget Flyin' Phil Gagliardi. And, to be fair, Dave Stupich from the NDP side...

how about there was two wild kelowna boys and bennet was their name, they bought some land and sold some land made a capital gain.

These are the lyrics from a song commenting on the bennet boys getting inside information to buy up land in front of highways before the public new, allowing them to make an untold fortune!

Am I mistaken or was not Bill Bennet found not guilty of insider trading. In fact he was never found guily of anything.
Phil Galiardi ( hope that's how it's spelled ) was a visionary who opened this Province up by building thousand of miles of highways.
Bill Bennet Sr. was also a visionary. He had all those hydro dams built.
Imagine someone trying to do either of those things now ? By the time you got through The Sierra Club, Indians and other obstacles, it would never happen. We would be burning fossil fuels for electricity.
Don't put down our founding fathers, they were great men.

our founding fathers ronny you are not from this province. jr was a spoiled brat, if Sr was alive today he would likely be calling for el gordo's head! jr didn't get charged because of some funny business, he should have been convicted. Money talks that and belonging to the right clubs.

Flyin` Phil sued Fotheringham for libel and won a dollar. What does that tell you. Gordo strikes me as a classic over-achiever, an accountant that knows how to keep his mouth shut while the NDP constantly shoot themselves in the foot but what can you expect from the BCFed - retreat, retreat, retreat.

Isn't David Orchard a Red Tory? We all saw what Mackay and the other conservatives did to him. So the Red Tory movement is clearly history. Conservatism in Canada does seem so reactionary during this period. Thank heavens they don't seem to have a large enough base to form government in this country for a long time yet. And Peter Newman likes men of the past like the Bennetts and of the present such as John Tory? Man, I sure am glad that Newman isn't seen as an influential public intellectual, despite authoring 23 books. John Tory would clearly be much more like Mike Harris than John Diefenbaker, and no one needs that! I am certain that average Caanadians would be wise to look at social democracy rather than conservatism if they ever want to stand up to the Americans. Jack Layton is so much more skilled at thinking through complex isues than anyone the conservatives can offer the populace. This is especially clear around environmental issues. It's too bad that CanWest has such a stranglehold on the public discourse. Newman made one good point: Alberta's selfish attitude around sharing oil revenues with the rest of the country is beyond reproach. I'd like to see a Trudeau-like national energy program to force them to share. Maybe Layton could help Martin see the logic in that and help him develop the political will to do so - it could very well help the entire country, and not just Albertans. Let's hope that the Liberals get a minority government again, only this time the NDP gets more seats to really hold the balance of power.

I hope Paul from E.Van continues to post here on The Tyee. He is a poster boy for everything that's flaky in Canada. I would swear he's Paul Martin's best friend. I hope Albertan's get to see comments like his and Peter Newman's in order to know why they should separate from these Trudeau like goofballs.
Long live Wild Rose Country, the last true Canadians.

alberta has always been and always will be very selfish, they seem to think they are above the rest of Canada, I have spent a lot of time in that Province and do not have a lot of respect for most.

klein has gone from exporting welfare recipients with one way greyhound tickets to Vancouver to crying about sharing with the rest of Canada now that he has sold the tar sands to a foreign country an d they are reaping the rewards.

This may have been said before, but Alta is forgetting that we paid for their infrastructure etc for years. And, there was a time when they were a 'have not' province and received funding from us. As well, Alta received Ontario's money for years.

The real question is whether the real people of Alberta will buy this scam being offered to them in order for other interests to divide them from a united Canada. United, Canada can withstand the looting. Divided it can not. For what do you think the natural antipathy the West has for the East is being so exploited?

Alta is becoming the very worst of Texas. The people better put a stop to it.

Redrivergirl,[/B, you have touched on a very important aspect of why Ralphie and company are so defensive about Alberta's new found wealth.

But, ironically, his tight-fistedness toward the rest of Canada, isn't his worst trait.

Sure, he's a hypocrite, who doesn't seem to understand anything about the have and have-not sharing that we developed to deal with the primarily cyclical benefits of resource extraction in every region of Canada.

But his worst sin, in my eyes, is giving the friggin' oil and gas away for a song and likely a directorship on some greasy energy corp as Peter Lougheed did before him.

I wonder how Alberta's giveaway of its reserves is viewed in other regions of the world where the entire political infrastructure isn't in bed with the exploiters.

That aside,[B] David Beers, that was a good read on Newman, who I bet, realized long before his book hit the street that Buloney and his pals would crank up the "I'm really wounded" act.

He may bill himself as a proud Canadian or an Irishman, but many of us see him as the American wannabe he has always strived to become.

His legacies are "jobs, jobs, jobs" and free trade, neither of which ever materialized under the great chin's watch.

Why should Alberta give money to a Province where you have to deal with a govt. employee to buy a six pack of beer. I say that Ontario should get their act together before they come knocking on Alberta's door looking for a handout'
And Alberta doesn't give it's oil away, it follows the same world cammodity price everyone else does.
When I was in grade 4 in 1960 I went to school in Alberta. We took a course called enterprise ( imagine that ). The whole year was spent on Petrleum. We visited drilling rigs, refineries and businesses active in the oil industry. We were not a rich province, but we were not a 'have not' Province either.
There were a lot of blood sweat and tears in building the infrastructure to support todays boom. There was no expertise in Canada so we partnered with Texans.
Ontairio has had a tremendous advantage over Alberta over the years. Access to the American market, great lakes, St Lawrence River, manufacturing plants .
When Ontario wants to share political power with us, maybe then we can talk. Until then, get your act together pussies.

Ron, the government liquour stores in B.C. and Saskatchewan are cheaper than the private liquor stores here.

Alberta does give it's oil away. In the early 90's Don Getty declared a royalty holiday of 33.3%. This holiday is still in place. They have not saved any money, the vaunted Heritage Fund is sitting at 12 billion dollars - the same level it was in 1985. They created billions of dollars of debt and have made a big fuss that now it is gone (ignoring a 9 billion dollar gov't pension liability). Albertan's are lottery winners telling other how to invest.

"Ontario share it's political power" Alberta is the tail that wants to wag the dog. Ontario has 10 million people it is absurd to suggest Alberta or P.E.I for that matter have the same political clout.

The only way for Alberta or B.C. to have influence beyond their size is through ideas. In Alberta's case it is spouting the worst policies of the U.S. Republican party in which a lot are proven failures(guns, private health, private prisons...)

Good ideas transcend the definition of left-right. e.g. Healthcare

Mel' Alberta'a royalty scheme is designed to encourage exploration and development of the oil industry. It's true tha places like Alaska and Norway collect aprox. 1.6 more in royalties. But Alberta is quite happy that the incentive they give results in increased investment.
P.E.I. gas three MP's for a population of 80,000 people. It's easy for the Liberals to buy their votes.
Liberals also ignore their Kyoto committments to let the auto manufacturing industry in order to buy their votes. ( Buzz Hargrove loves them. )
The spin off from the current economic boom is already spread across Canada. When Alberta is successful all Canadians enjoy the riches through transfer payments and orders for supplies.
Keep Ontario's grubby hands off their money.

The price of oil and gas will infuence drilling decisions, it isn't going anywhere. Alberta will be almost out of natural gas around 2020. Apparently we won't need any after that.

Perhaps if Free Trade and NAFTA didn't prevent us from having a domestic price to lure manufacturing business to create value added products our economy would do even better. Instead we are reverting back to a resource only economy.

As to others getting thier hands on alberta's money. The only people talking about this are the conservatives. The provincial conservatives are starting to sag after 33 years and they are trying to boost their numbers by setting up a straw man.

Just a quick walk down the reality path,

"Why should Alberta give money to a Province where you have to deal with a govt. employee to buy a six pack of beer"

Ontario is not a have-not province. It wasn't 10 years or 20 years or even 30 years ago either. Its always given its money to help other provinces, including Alberta.

" P.E.I. gas three MP's for a population of 80,000 people. It's easy for the Liberals to buy their votes."

Its 138,000 people according to the census of 5 years ago

"Buzz Hargrove loves them"

Actually he doesn't.

"Keep Ontario's grubby hands off their money."

They've never touched it.

;^) :'o =^) (8') (B^) B,) =') 8') B'o

Whoops! Sorry. I was just reading along, when I was overwhelmed by a wave of shallow meaningless typing. It seemed appropriate somehow.

Having grown up in Alberta, I have the memory of a lot of hard-working farmers, mostly immigrants, austere, long-suffering, waiting for their ship to come in (I agree, it would take a long time given their geography--please permit the screwball metaphor). When it did, though, Albertans became a lot like anyone else who wins the lottery. They celebrate like there's no tomorrow, and imagine, rather in the image of G.W. Bush, that the laws of physics don't apply to them (except insofar as they must be applied to get more oil out of the ground).

Albertans have always seen themselves as one of the runts of the litter. Compared to British Columbia it was a sort of "hillbilly" country, believing in itself, but nonetheless lacking confidence, like a callow adolescent. Then, as the oil came on stream it grew up fast, from the paternalistic religiousity of Social Credit under Aberhart and Manning to the paternalistic corporatism of Lougheed (and who was that Eskimos halfback who ran the show before him?).

I kind of shudder to think of Alberta running out of oil and gas, trying to return to a dominantly wheat economy in a drying landscape and climate (the rivers from the Rockies are already generally lower than they used to be). Some of the corporations will make out like bandits on the tar sands, but I have trouble believing that the average Albertan is going to be able to maintain the lifestyle he's enjoying today. Good luck to them, though. . .

Christ, we're a goofy species.

After reading the article a couple of days ago one thought kept coming back to me. Why not Jack Layton? We know what Martin stands for; criminals and corruption (Fox and Dingwall). We know what Harper stands for; no choice and capital punishment. So why is Jack Layton not taken seriously? Why is the NDP a fringe party with a perennial 25% of the vote? Even the media ignores him. Could it be the perception that Layton does nothing without Hargrove`s okay, just like here in BC where James does nothing without Sinclair`s okay? If ever we needed an alternative the time is now.

For the record, former premier Bill Bennett remains on the Disciplined Persons List maintained by the British Columbia Securities Commission. He was found to have indulged in insider trading, as was his brother Russell and longtime friend Herb Doman. Bennett is banned from trading stocks, or from being a company director, until Aug. 31, 2006. You can read further at: bcse.gov.bc.ca/disciplined_person.asp?id=973

As for Socred scandals, the Sommers Affair, involving kickbacks from the forestry industry, was but one of a long line. Some were minor -- does the name Top Hat Escort Agency ring any bells? -- others less so. I've always been particularly fond of the image of a sitting premier (Vander Zalm) hiding on a balcony at the Bayshore in Vancouver with a paper bag filled with $20,000 US in nonsequential bills. Turns out the knock on the door that led him to hide was just room service. As for the NDP, don't get me started ...

Birch' don't woory your pretty liitle head about Alberta, there is no end to their iches. They are only scratching the surface right now. Shale oil, coal, vatural gas, tar sands.
Your wishful thinking is bogus. Nice try though.
asveltr275' Harper stands for no choice and capital punishment ??? He definitely stands for choices, and Canadians don't like having to make choices,they want government to do all the thinking for them. They are pussies.
frank' okay 3 MP's for 138,000 people. My point is that we are under represented based on population. Can you deny this ? And yes, the grubby hands of Ontario have touched Alberta'a wealth. Remember the National Energy Program brought in by that jerk Trudeau ? I guess you are too young to remember that. You better brush up on your history. I don't like your reality path.

mel' See above comments on Alberta's endless prosperity and wealth of resources that Canadians lust after.

loved your comment, BC Mary. Good one! Peter Newman kinda reminds me of Charles Darwin claiming to be shocked by the church's response to his goofy theory, when he professed surprise that some people, apparently included Muloney, suggested that he betrayed his friend, by tabloidizing the less noble part of Muloney's personality.

Ron, Ron, Ron

"Harper stands for choices" yes which insurance company do you want telling you what ailments you can afford to get.

"..we are under represented" if Ontarion were alloted the seats they would deserve under the present formula they would have 10 more seats than they do now. Who's under represented. One more reason proportional rep makes sense.

In the early eighties the price of oil dropped in half, interest rates were high, Reagan brought in a tight money policy and Alberta's economy was(and is) not diversified. The NEP just happened to coincide with these events. Which do you think had the largest effect.

Of course a few people will talk of the wealth thing. The only politicians talking about it are conservative. Again to build a straw man to cover the fact the Ralph is bored and the conservatives have been in power too long in Alberta.

Ron, you do help keep things interesting.

I must be getting long in the tooth. Many years ago, articulate, perceptive and intelligent people like Peter Newman were a dime a dozen in our public life, and the populists out on a fringe usually occupied by eccentrics like Uncle Fred, of whom we spoke of only when forced to, who kept sparrows in his beard and a canoe on the roof. At least his rantings in the park on Sunday afternoons gave him something to do. Now, he'd stand a good chance of political office in the West. A canoe on the dome of the Legislature....

Well I guess I do have to say Newman's tactics were slimye ones. Almost bordering on false pretense. Will I read the book? Ben Oui, as soon as it comes out in paper back.

Right Ron, more like the last true facsimile Americans!

"the last true Canadians"

Sounds like Ralph Klein when he talks about appealing to "real albertans".

Redrivergirl: what is this natural antipathy you speak of. It worries me. It always has.

I was born and raised in British Columbia and I never had the slightest antipathy toward the East, or specifically Toronto. Why would I?

It's beyond my understanding, that I should teach myself to hate any part of Canada. And yet, many British Columbians do. I have never understood that.

3 years ago, for health reasons, I came to Toronto to live with my daughter and her family. I only mention this because, whenever Ontarians ask me where I come from, and I say "British Columbia", invariably they brighten up, smile, and say something lovingly complimentary about its beauty.

There is absolutely none of that acquired antipathy which (if you ask me, and I know that you didn't), makes British Columbians sound like 2nd-rate whiners and losers.

I spent the past summer on the beach in B.C., and met some new friends. Each of them took pains to insert into their conversations, how much they "hated Toronto." Did that impress me? Yes. Did it make me feel good? No. It totally pissed me off. It was a subliminal, personal insult which I honestly didn't know how to handle.

My Canada includes the whole shebang, coast to coast to coast, and so very glad I am for that.

So I ask you, Rivergirl, what's it about? Where does the antipathy come from? Shouldn't we try to smooth it down a bit? Please explain.

As a proud British Columbian, who the heck am I supposed to vote for in the next election. While I liked Harper's economic sense, I've been rely frustrated with their lack of any national vision. Their opposition to social change, and now there fake attempts to seem moderate is making me yearn for the days of REform, when at least I knew those Hill billies were fighting for senate reform and western rights,

The Liberals, I'm sick of, although as long as they are a minority government and keep reducing the debt, I can stomach, although I won't vote for them.

And while I like Jack Layton, and actually voted for an NDPer last time around (or sold my soul to the devil, beign traditionally right of center), with rumours that Svend, steal a Ring, run off and stand in front of tanks, and now engaging in fraudulent rubber bullet law suits, is making a come back in Vancouver Center (ie. securing Hedy another term), I really want an alternative!!!!

I'm curious whether David, who has written critically about advertorials in the past, asked Peter about his "Establishment" series in Maclean's, which is sponsored by Cadillac. I haven't heard anyone comment on this potentially pernicious evolution of the advertorial -- a first, so far as I know -- in which a major sponsor has attached a logo to stories that are at least somewhat journalistic Is this now an acceptable media norm? And if so, where I can get a piece of that action? I see myself as a Remy Martin kind of writer.

Bennet Jr. got off on the burden of proof issue. He was facing criminal charges which means ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ or 95% certainty. While telephone company records proved the timing of certain calls, there was no witness or observer to prove that the details of what was discussed amounted to insider trading beyond reasonable doubt. See Tom Hawthorn’s post regarding the action taken by the British Columbia Securities Commission [[url]www.bcse.gov.bc.ca/disciplined_person.asp?id=973][/url].

Albertans are probably the most American in attitude of any province. A friend from New Brunswick worked there for four years and couldn’t wait to leave. He commented, “Albertans have a chip on their shoulder, they are suspicious of outsiders and don’t care about anyone beyond the end of their own finger”. I replied that part of that sounds like a good description of Quebecois.

Paul from East Van is dreaming if he thinks another National Energy Program-like policy would answer anything. It would probably provoke a civil war.

As for Mulroney, he was my number two most despised Canadian before Conrad Black gave up his Canadian citizenship to become a British Lord. So that now makes Mulroney #1. And as for Lord Black of Crossharbour, he seems to finally be getting his due for the robber baron he is.

Interesting discussion, but it all seems to gravitate to political history and clash of personal political views. What about Newman’s comments on selling off public resources and enterprises? How can we talk about managing our resources and economy when then major players of our economy are no longer controlled in BC? (WestCoast Energy is now Duke Energy, MacBlo is now Weyerhauser, Terasen may become KinderMorgan). Wake up!

A few years ago I talked to a young lawyer who spent a few years doing marine law in Trinidad. He said it was amazing how quickly US interests moved in and locked up control of newly-discovered offshore oil. That’s why Newman’s observation is so scary:
"Look. There's a reason Cheney planned to go to Fort McMurray [by the tar sands]. He wanted to go to look over his real estate.” (emphasis added)

Go to
“TERASEN SALE MUST BE SNUFFED
Control of our energy should be Canada's top priority. By Murray Dobbin
[url]http://thetyee.ca/Views/2005/09/19/TerasenSale/,”[/url] read it, and send some e-mails!

Well BC Mary, the best I can figure, it started when the 'West' was being 'settled' by pioneers and all their farming equipment etc came from the East. There was a lot of chicanery and they were kind of held hostage to companies from the east. Then in the 40's and 50's Westerners were upset for things like having to pay a lot more for appliances etc when just a few miles away in the US they could have gotten them for much less, but weren't allowed to do so without paying a lot of duty. All the head offices etc were in Toronto. Over the years politicians have been exploiting this to their own advantage, until it was perfected by Manning etal who are doing the typical Neo-Con split a country and divide the spoils among your friends. I actually heard Manning stumping for STV the day of the election, saying 'the East thinks you are too dumb to figure out STV'. (that ought to give us all pause!)

It's as old as the hills and it has been really fine tuned in our new colonization.

Basically, it's unexamined resentment and bigotry. It's a 'poor me, I'm so hard done by' story that is becoming mythologized for political gain.

I think one reason so much of this neo-con BS is accepted and pushed forth is it exploits resentment and bigotry, sexism, racism etc, but also it excites some people's sadism.

I understand that W.A.C. Bennett, Bill's father, was one of the first to put forth the theory of deficit financing in government. In fact, he sold the idea to one of the U.S. presidents!
I recently read Newman's book and I really don't know what the hoopla is about.... Everybody knows about Mulroney's "open for business" speech in New York. At least Trudeau had a vision of Canada controlling its own oil when PetroCan was formed. The book should have been called "Canada's Patronage Crimes". Can anyone be surprised considering the bottomless pit of tax money literally stolen daily from Canadian taxpayers?

Isn't that was meant by "Contingent Liabilities"?

Old Wacky was very clever, and puts to shame the gauche manipulations of his modern counterparts.