To the Editor:
I worked for the oil industry in Alberta for about 25 years as a draftsman and later graphics designer. Maps, land positions, financial pictures, strategies and prognoses all passed through my hands and, to a degree, I have some understanding of the strategies, costs and returns on investment. These sentences, however, have to do with what the media (TV, papers, Internet) is preparing us for.
Us? Yes, us Canadians. We are an independent, sovereign, self-sufficient land as far as energy is concerned. If the theoretical happened and the consumers refused to line up at the pumps, we would quite miraculously prove to the greedy insatiable barons in Alberta that there is no way to suddenly fly the excess oil to starving Europe, India or China. It is our land, mineral riches, trucks, pipelines, refineries and, in the end, fancy self-serve pumps.
Anybody remembers the corner stations with attendants wiping your windshield clean and checking oil and tire pressure? What happened in the last 40 years? Did we all sell out to the highest bidder? What does the threat of some midget nuclear armed state pulverizing Iran mean to us 10,000 miles away? Are we not a self-contained interdependent bunch of provinces and territories having each other’s welfare in mind? I personally think that collectively we should hide in shame and cry about how low we have sunk, offering ourselves on the silver platter to the multinationals, literally offering to be skinned alive. And a barrel of oil is nowhere near 150 bucks!
Does the leadership of this country, and provinces, cities and towns, have any bone left in their bodies? Am I as a retiree left with only one option, to cross the line and contribute to my neighbor’s economy in order to survive? Buying untaxed fuel refined in Alberta? I find it hard to walk 12 kilometres, and my knees will not make it one way. Anybody out there who is offended by my thoughts?
West Creston