We Should Have A Fund Like This

Heritage fund, BS fund, lay off teachers, charge for health care, P3 here P3 there, sell everything that makes money and congratulate King Ralph for getting rid of the deficit that never would have existed in the first place if we had paid the bills instead of sinking money into the heritage fund rathole.

It says they haven't sunk money into the Heritage Fund rathole since 1987 though. Maybe they shouldn't have sold off everything that made money.

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"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done." - Alan Turing

Creating a fund like this would imply that the present government actually has some concern for the welfare of the citizens of BC.

I think if the National Energy Policy of the early 80`s were allowed to work, all of Canada would have been debt free by the mid 90`s!

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Dave Ruston

BC has the most expensive 'public services' -if you can call them that - in the country, maybe one day they'll balance all the books, but creating a fund by borrowing more money doesn't make sense. And they would have to borrow, there's not enough revenue from oil & gas. Would a reasonable person use a credit card to create a savings account? Obviously not.

The FTA was about rolling back the NEP. Definitely too bad we don't have it anymore. Gas prices definitely wouldn't be as high as they are now.

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"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done." - Alan Turing

The NEP would have worked had the Liberals under Trudeau not attempted to make it a one-way transfer, west to east. Albertans are not so much against the NEP because they got screwed out of so much money, but because there are those who live in Alberta who remember that, when oil came in, it was left to the Americans to come up with the cash to develop. Bay Street wanted nothing to do with it. Then, with the oil a-flowin', and OPEC cranks up the price (the east brings in significant quantities of oil from OPEC - go figure!), the East hatches a grand plan to actually use Canadian oil! But not at OPEC prices.

As to whether gasoline would have been cheaper had NEP worked, I highly doubt it. The only way to get cheaper gasoline prices is to lessen dependency on it. We need alternate fuels to throw the market wide open. Of course, that means we need new engine systems as well......

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RickW

I don't get how people can say that the rest of the country had been supported on the back of Alberta. I live in BC & nobody seems to think that when it comes to lumber, the rest of the country's lumber needs are supported on the back of BC. Or when it comes to french fries the french-fry needs of the rest of the country (& the world) are supported on the backs of New Brunswickers. I don't get it. It sounds like selfish Alberta separatism to me. Too bad NEP was killed in its infancy, it would have made Canada basically a miniature OPEC if it was only given a chance. (Organisation of Petroleum-Exporting Canada!) No wonder it freaked out the Americans! <p>---<br>"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done." - Alan Turing

I really believe that the Alberta against the rest attitude was created just like the Quebec against the rest, for the benefit of politicians and if you can keep Canadians fighting within we won't notice the invaders. Consider the time and energy we spent trying to keep Quebec in confederation, and the energy Quebecers used trying to be acknowledged. Prior to the politicians raising the issue we were fairly happy and prosperous. When you use your creative energy infighting you can't develope innovative ideas, produce and progress.

So the sooner we start appreciating each other the sooner we can head to the future stronger and develop good policies for everyone! We have a great country, not just great provinces, collectively we are the absolute best country in the World, separately we are just 10 provinces and 3 no- 4 territories.(Just formed a new one). Let's start thinking like winners instead of second rate, comparing ourselves to somebody else all the time, because frankly in my opinion, there is none to compare.

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If I stand for my country today...will my country be here to stand for me tomorrow?