Finally, the truth as Klein leaves office
Editorial appeared in Fort McMurray Today, September 6, 2006
Flashback to 2001.
Wood Buffalo Coun. John Vyboh, then the local provincial Liberal candidate, commented on Premier Ralph Klein's annual address to the province.
"I still don't believe they have a direction or a plan," he said Jan. 30. "Despite the premier trying to put the best face on it, we probably saw another sample of a 30-year-old government that's lacking ideas and visions."
Vyboh was handily beaten by Guy Boutilier. Twice.
But he was right. There was no plan.
Ralph Klein admitted as much last week. "They were right about not having a plan,'' Klein told a news conference. "The plan is being developed, but no one could anticipate the phenomenal growth that was taking place."
We'll get back to the issue of anticipation.
"We were prepared for sustainable growth, but not the kind of growth that occurred," said Klein last week.
The statement is something we've come to expect from the folksy premier. He says what he thinks. If something's bugging him, if something's on his mind, it comes out of his mouth, without any censor in between.
Fort McMurray residents know there was no plan. We didn't need Klein to tell us.
If there were a plan, it would have included twinning Highway 63 from Edmonton to this city's outskirts. It would have included upgrading the highway through town, or some kind of bypass route. It would have included wider bridges or more bridges across the Athabasca River.
All of these projects are now in the pipeline or under construction. A good plan would have seen all of these projects finished by now, however. Traffic would flow easily, instead of being tied up. A plan would have anticipated the need years ago.
People here knew about the growth. Consultant reports and studies for the last decade all called the situation correctly.
Following the generic oilsands royalty OK in 1996 -- a cutting of the tax on new projects that was approved by the federal government and Ralph Klein's administration -- tens of billions of dollars in investment was announced within a short while.
By now, that price tag is north of $50 billion.
The numbers were there. The projects were there. The growth projections were there, specifically the numbers of construction and full-time workers at the new oilsands plants.
Klein had an MLA in his caucus -- Boutilier -- whom he later promoted to a minister, who told him the same thing.
What was missing? A plan.
Wood Buffalo was growing. Ralph Klein had the input from people like Boutilier and civil servants. He visited Fort McMurray regularly for political fundraisers.
It's a fair assumption that Klein was pigeonholed by local Tories at these dinners and urged to invest in infrastructure here to cope with the massive growth.
While a premier is probably constantly lobbied for pavement and other projects when he travels Wild Rose Country from Magrath to Manning, no other region is contributing to the province's bottom like this one.
Why no plan? Can Klein plead stupidity? He certainly can't tell us he wasn't approached to assist with growth pressures.
Klein said last week he realized as little as six months ago the "phenomenal growth" here.
That statement doesn't pass the smell test.
What about the municipality's so-called "business case" presented at the Alberta legislature April 4, 2005? Provincial politicians and civil servants had the whole issue laid out for them.
This region has been repeatedly let down by the Alberta government.
Our contribution to the province's bottom line has not been respected. An almost maniacal pursuit of deficit-cutting ignored the needs of future growth.
It may end up hurting the provincial treasury as oilsands projects are delayed or cancelled if the infrastructure can't keep up. How many billions of dollars will that cost?
People here were hurt in many ways as a result of the lack of a provincial plan: from deaths and injuries on the overcrowded highway to substandard living conditions forced on people by the lack of affordable housing.
All of this was easily foreseen. All could have been dealt with by simple plans back in 1997 or 2000.
It never happened. Now that Ralph Klein is leaving office, we hear the truth.
What a disappointment.
© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.
Flashback to 2001.
Wood Buffalo Coun. John Vyboh, then the local provincial Liberal candidate, commented on Premier Ralph Klein's annual address to the province.
"I still don't believe they have a direction or a plan," he said Jan. 30. "Despite the premier trying to put the best face on it, we probably saw another sample of a 30-year-old government that's lacking ideas and visions."
Vyboh was handily beaten by Guy Boutilier. Twice.
But he was right. There was no plan.
Ralph Klein admitted as much last week. "They were right about not having a plan,'' Klein told a news conference. "The plan is being developed, but no one could anticipate the phenomenal growth that was taking place."
We'll get back to the issue of anticipation.
"We were prepared for sustainable growth, but not the kind of growth that occurred," said Klein last week.
The statement is something we've come to expect from the folksy premier. He says what he thinks. If something's bugging him, if something's on his mind, it comes out of his mouth, without any censor in between.
Fort McMurray residents know there was no plan. We didn't need Klein to tell us.
If there were a plan, it would have included twinning Highway 63 from Edmonton to this city's outskirts. It would have included upgrading the highway through town, or some kind of bypass route. It would have included wider bridges or more bridges across the Athabasca River.
All of these projects are now in the pipeline or under construction. A good plan would have seen all of these projects finished by now, however. Traffic would flow easily, instead of being tied up. A plan would have anticipated the need years ago.
People here knew about the growth. Consultant reports and studies for the last decade all called the situation correctly.
Following the generic oilsands royalty OK in 1996 -- a cutting of the tax on new projects that was approved by the federal government and Ralph Klein's administration -- tens of billions of dollars in investment was announced within a short while.
By now, that price tag is north of $50 billion.
The numbers were there. The projects were there. The growth projections were there, specifically the numbers of construction and full-time workers at the new oilsands plants.
Klein had an MLA in his caucus -- Boutilier -- whom he later promoted to a minister, who told him the same thing.
What was missing? A plan.
Wood Buffalo was growing. Ralph Klein had the input from people like Boutilier and civil servants. He visited Fort McMurray regularly for political fundraisers.
It's a fair assumption that Klein was pigeonholed by local Tories at these dinners and urged to invest in infrastructure here to cope with the massive growth.
While a premier is probably constantly lobbied for pavement and other projects when he travels Wild Rose Country from Magrath to Manning, no other region is contributing to the province's bottom like this one.
Why no plan? Can Klein plead stupidity? He certainly can't tell us he wasn't approached to assist with growth pressures.
Klein said last week he realized as little as six months ago the "phenomenal growth" here.
That statement doesn't pass the smell test.
What about the municipality's so-called "business case" presented at the Alberta legislature April 4, 2005? Provincial politicians and civil servants had the whole issue laid out for them.
This region has been repeatedly let down by the Alberta government.
Our contribution to the province's bottom line has not been respected. An almost maniacal pursuit of deficit-cutting ignored the needs of future growth.
It may end up hurting the provincial treasury as oilsands projects are delayed or cancelled if the infrastructure can't keep up. How many billions of dollars will that cost?
People here were hurt in many ways as a result of the lack of a provincial plan: from deaths and injuries on the overcrowded highway to substandard living conditions forced on people by the lack of affordable housing.
All of this was easily foreseen. All could have been dealt with by simple plans back in 1997 or 2000.
It never happened. Now that Ralph Klein is leaving office, we hear the truth.
What a disappointment.
© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.
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