[Alberta's Child]

So much of that province's fortunes are tied to its blessings - the resource, the global price of the resource being well past the cost of extraction and the kindly division of powers that gives the province exclusive benefit to the resource - that holding it up as an example of anything for the rest of us is a bit of a leap.

This sentiment is apparently quite common among Canadians, but is utter baloney. Two specific points refute it . . .

1. Some geologists estimate that Saskatchewan's oil and gas reserves could be even greater than Alberta's, but that province is an economic basket-case because it is one of the most business-unfriendly jurisdictions in North America.

2. Some of the most robust growth in Alberta's recent history occurred in the mid-1990s, when the price of oil was much lower than it is today. Alberta's economy was humming along even when oil was trading at $12-$15 per barrel in 1998-99.

[caveat emptor]

Check out the thread. I mainly posted it to introduce Kate McMillan to FR. (Good blogger. Recommended by Mark Steyn )

[-=[_Super_Secret_Agent_]=-]

"1. Some geologists estimate that Saskatchewan's oil and gas reserves could be even greater than Alberta's..."



Source?