Wildrose Alliance believes new new new royalties an improvement but fall short of being competitive

CALGARY, AB (March 12, 2010): Today, Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith and its elected caucus responded to the government's recently released Alberta Competitiveness Review.

"Today the government expects Albertans to give them praise for partially restoring something that they took away against the best advice and input," stated Smith. "They did not understand global markets, a changing economy or the complex nature of one of our most significant industries."

The Wildrose Competitiveness Strategy set out a plan to improve the energy industry's fiscal regime, develop a more streamlined regulatory process; develop a true partnership between taxpayers and the energy industry; open a meaningful and honest dialogue about the full impact of the energy industry; and give the private sector a real chance to bring forward new technologies to improve business and environmental performance.

"The Alberta PC government made some improvements to correct the economic disaster they created when they yanked the rug out from underneath Albertans and the energy industry, but this plan is far short of what is actually needed," added Smith.

Since announcing a plan to increase energy taxes in 2006-2007, more than 25,000 people lost their jobs in the energy, mining and forestry sectors, and an additional 41,000 Albertans in other sectors are without work. Land sale revenue dropped by $1.3 billion and almost $4.5 billion in tax revenue has evaporated - forever. Industry capital expenditures have dropped by almost $17 billion and drilling industry spending has dropped by almost 30 percent. Personal bankruptcies increased by more than 60 percent. Alberta is now running a massive deficit and the PC government, not "the rest of the world", is responsible for much of this.

In particular, the Wildrose Caucus would have expected that the PC government would also:

• Implement the changes immediately instead of delaying for almost a year;
  
• Implement the five percent royalty based on volume only;
  
• Look at developing programs to reward those who make real progress in reducing their environmental footprint; and
  
• Apologize to the industry for the mistakes the PC government made, and for the anxiety and upheaval that they caused Albertans.

"The PC government made a huge mistake when they introduced changes to Alberta's royalty framework and now they hope that higher commodity prices will help Albertans forget the damage they have caused," concluded Smith. "But the Wildrose will continue to remind people of the damage this government has created on virtually every major issue and show Albertans that we can earn their trust."