Mr. Wilkinson, please explain yourself
Like most of us in the Valley, my coffee buddies and I are upset with Alberta’s provincial liquor agency boycotting B.C. wines. My coffee buddies’ solution is to just build the damn pipeline. Not so fast. This problem is not just about pipelines. It is about the control of B.C.’s economy, B.C.’s environment and complicity in tar sands greenhouse gases.
If you are like me, you wonder why bitumen is not refined in Alberta. The oil industry seems to prefer shipping raw bitumen to foreign markets, rather than process it locally into products to sell in Canada. The cost of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion would be better directed to an Albertan refinery.
I lived in Alberta during the introduction of the National Energy Program and the birth of Petro-Canada. The anger in the air was palpable. I thought at the time PetroCan was a great way to keep the oil industry honest.
Petro Canada was to have implemented the government’s energy strategy after the scare of the Middle East energy crisis of the 1970s made the Liberal government realize how dependent we are on foreign oil and multinational companies.
Petro Canada became partners in several land leases and could have funded the cost of an Albertan refinery. Today’s situation could possibly be different if Petro Canada had been maintained as a state controlled company.
Albertans voted in a landslide to banish any Liberal MPs and send Brian Mulroney’s Conservatives to Ottawa. In 1990, Mulroney privatized Petro Canada to reward Albertans for their vote and as a sop to his multinational oil company buddies. Conservatives worldwide need to understand that divesting public corporations comes at a social cost.
Without the ability to process bitumen in Alberta, pipelines become a necessity. I suspect that the Kinder Morgan project will proceed after B.C. Premier John Horgan can apologize that he tried really hard to stop it, but was overruled by the feds.
Which brings us to Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson’s policy of privatizing BC Liquor Stores. Maybe BC Liquor Stores could support our local wine industry to weather the Alberta boycott.
While I do not know how much the liquor stores contribute to the Liquor Distribution Branch’s $1 billion annual profit, I assume it is substantial. That amount would go a long way to pay for education or health care. Does Wilkinson have any justification for his policy other than catering to free enterprise or union busting? Most voters prefer sucking profits from liquor sales rather than from ICBC or BC Hydro.
Former Ontario Premier Mike Harris figured out right quick that his election promise of privatizing the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. would put a $2 billion hole in his promise to balance his budget.
Please Mr. Wilkinson, explain yourself.
John Dorn is a retired tech entrepreneur living in Summerland.