Oil boom no help to average Albertan

水管工

EDMONTON - The average Albertan isn't benefitting from the oil boom, people attending a wage conference sponsored by the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Parkland Institute were told Saturday.



! X4 U3 p4 H' UWhen you factor in the rate of inflation, in some cases the average Albertan is actually making less money today than he or she was a decade ago, Diana Gibson, Parkland's research director and Tom Fuller, AFL's driector of projects told them.

: t# Y1 c" {3 V; c0 o3 Z5 d3 K, @Gibson said the money being made from this modern-day Klondike gold rush is being pocketed hand over fist by big oil, big business and the executives that run them, at least that's what these corporations' annual financial reports tell their shareholders.


+ }' T$ @6 g3 R4 g7 C: NSo Albertans shouldn't blink when these same companies publicly cry that they're poor and start threatening to pull their investment dollars out of Alberta if the government decides to increase its share of royalties, she said. They're bluffing, playing on the fears of Albertans who still remember the bust that followed the last economic boom, 25 years ago, Gibson said.

6 b" B) I3 y+ a& s" eAnd if they actually do pull up stakes, the reality is that with our attractive investment climate, someone else will quickly take their place, Gibson added.