B.C./Alberta: let’s be friends

Dear Editor: Even though I just returned from my old hometown of Calgary without any lifethreatening injuries, I’ll tell you that the animosity being directed by Albertans against B.C. has reached a fever pitch.

I am one of those Calgarians who, 15 years ago, bought a summer home in Kelowna with the intent of making it my full-time residence post-retirement, so a classic speculator in the warped lexicon of the NDP/Green party.

Now that I live here full-time, I bear the brunt of the hostile (and mostly accurate) criticisms of our provincial government from old friends and colleagues.

During my three-day visit to Calgary, I talked to 10 people who routinely visit B.C. (mostly the Okanagan) in the summer: four bankers, a lawyer, two doctors, a university student and two retired friends. Of those 10, only two are planning B.C. trips this summer.

I took a university statistics course and recognize a sample size of 10 doesn’t make a very scientific poll, but for 80 per cent of this test group to forego their vacation in our province this summer must be scary for anyone involved in the tourist industry.

And of course, there is a ripple effect for all of us if the local economy is battered by a tourism contraction. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these visitors often scout out real estate — not for speculative purposes but as a summer/retirement home.

The evidence is already in that this inane speculation tax is curbing development and impacting construction trades. When I asked one of my retired friends who has been considering moving to B.C. if he is still looking for a home out here, he just laughed at me. We’ve heard the talk of Alberta potentially curbing oil and refined product shipments to B.C. Here is another concept being discussed at wine and cheese parties in Calgary where the wine of choice is an angry, little varietal called “Anything but B.C.” that leaves a strong retaliatory finish on the palette.

Some folks want to tax all B.C. natural gas that flows into Alberta. About 20 per cent of B.C. gas production must make its way through Alberta to find a market. This would cripple the B.C. gas industry, leaving more B.C. citizens unemployed. One might think Alberta would never impose such a tax because most of the B.C. gas producers are Alberta-based companies.

But. taxing B.C. production would result in higher natural gas prices in Alberta, and most of these B.C. producers also have gas production in Alberta to offset the impact of the tax on B.C. production.

At one Calgary party I was handed a 10-point manifesto from a group of friends outlining Alberta’s requirements should it separate from Canada and join the U.S. Alt-right wingnuts, you think? No, right-of-center moderates who have been pushed to the brink by the asinine policies of John Horgan and Andrew Weaver. Stop this pipeline and speculation tax silliness. Let’s all be friends again. Tim Simard West Kelowna