This is a copy of an email sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
I just heard about a proposal to have the government (taxpayers) pay for the clean up of the mess created by the extraction of oil by oil companies.
After all the profits created by the extraction of our natural resource for the benefit of those companies and their shareholders, it is absolutely essential they provide the funds for this clean up. For us to pay for this would be just plain wrong.
I lived in Alberta for 30 years and experienced all the ups and downs of an oil-based economy – the wealth flowing into shiny trucks boats and mansions when times are good and the cries of “poor me” when times are bad, with no planning and no provision for the down times which every one knows is part of the cycle.
Peter Lougheed was a true visionary who tried to create a stable economy with a rainy day fund (the Heritage Trust Fund) which successive governments squandered.
By the way, this plan was copied by Norway who are now the true model of planning and dealing with success in a measured and responsible way.
James S. Roberts
