Question #3 addresses economic diversification. This tends to be something I believe is important.
All parties in Alberta have paid lip service to the idea that our economy must move away from its dependence on petroleum. But I have yet to hear of anything concrete.
I also fear that any attempt to develop other sources of revenue in our province, especially those exploiting natural resources, will end up in the same hopeless mess that petroleum is in now.
Even though Alberta's gas and oil reserves are found beneath our feet, we have little or no control over its exploitation and distribution. I see most of our petroleum industry owned and controlled by foreign interests. The price Albertans pay for gasoline processed from our Alberta oil is seemingly decided by folks in Houston, Denver, and Beijing -- not Calgary.
Oil companies take home some huge profits from our oil and gas reserves, higher than almost everywhere else in the world! What's to prevent any new industries, created to diversify our economy, from going the same way?
Question #3; If your party forms Alberta's next government, how will you ensure that your efforts to diversify our economy will not turn into another foreign ownership fiasco like the petroleum industry?