Thread by @AndersonBooz

1/ Dear Albertans:

The international price of oil is NOT an attack on #Alberta. It is a fight between the big players, and we are collateral damage. We are not significant to those players in part because we produce a comparatively small amount AND because

#abpoli #ableg

2/ the bulk of it goes to our nearest neighbor. So we are of zero consequence to the Russia/KSA contest.

When our leaders say it's an attack on AB, it's a lie.

It definitely hurts us, but we have no clout to stop it. We can't compete for the markets, and the pipelines

3/ don't make much of a difference to that big picture. We'd have to multiply our production massively before we break into the Russia/China/US club, and even then we don't have the ease of market access. Our main market remains our biggest competitor.

4/ So the answer if one wants that situation to improve is in large part a diplomatic one.

I say "if" because it's not a given. We could decide the risk (which some politicians seem to be discovering with some surprise, having dismissed warnings over the decades)

5/ is not worth the investment. Certainly many Albertans are looking at the decisions of @UCPCaucus over the past months and questioning the wisdom of sinking more investment in one area while attacking other areas.

But we are not fighting an external enemy intent on gutting

6/ our O&G. Which is why the War Room will continue to be useless.

We are fighting our own historic chouces. But the govt prefers to direct your attention elsewhere.

That means we don't have the serious conversation we need to have about priorities.

We will never control

7/ the international price of oil during the remainder of its days as the most in demand energy source.

We need a discussion about what that means, not a false narrative about being under attack.

/end