Dr. Roger Gibbons with the Canada West Foundation says that measures suggested by the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute would be especially punishing to Alberta and Saskatchewan. There simply must be a better way.
According to the rather rosy predictions of the Pembina/Suzuki model, the Alberta economy will be at least $22 billion smaller (in 2005 dollars) in 2020 than it would be otherwise. Keep in mind that it will be smaller than it would be in the years leading up to 2020 and in the years after, so the cumulative impact is much greater. And this is the best case scenario.
Lying behind the slower growth is a migration of investment capital out of Alberta and a net tax transfer of over $1,000 per Albertan year after year. Things do not look quite as bleak for Saskatchewan according to the Pembina/Suzuki model, but any hopes it has of using its fossil fuel resources and uranium deposits to keep its current prosperity going will have to be thrown by the wayside.
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