March9

6 M a r c h 9 ' 1 7 C o r o n a t i o n / S t e t t l e r , A b . E C A r e v i e w
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Published by
Coronation
Review
Limited
ON THE OTHER HAND
Wow! Property
Rights restored?
by Brenda Schimke
When and how did we, the ordinary
working-class citizen, adopt the belief
system that government regulations
are bad for us? We didn’t believe it in
the 1970s when middle class prosperity
was growing. Yet by the dawn of the
21st century most people identifying
themselves as conservatives have
become believers of this corporatesponsored
myth.
“
Fair and appropriate
regulations ensure a
functioning market
economy which supports
free enterprise as it
protects people, living
things, property rights and
the environment from
corporate abuses.
We’ve been sold a false bill of goods.
Corporations and the powerful lobby
groups representing the richest of the
rich had the money and resources to
bombard us with this myth until we
embraced it as our value.
I have attended Alberta Surface
Rights Association meetings where
much time is spent discussing abandoned
toxic well sites, pushy land
agents, polluted drinking and surface
water, corporation’s expropriation
rights, the industry-bias Alberta
Surface Rights Board, inadequate compensation,
private property rights, and
water wells being damaged by
fracking.
Yet those attending these meetings
are often the same ones who support
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MAIL BAG
72 pt
East Central Alberta
EVIEW
60 pt
48 pt
36 pt
v i e w p o i n t s
right-wing political parties that
demonize government regulations.
Karen Johnson, Acting Property
Rights Advocate, said in her annual
report that the current land use legislation
is geared towards facilitating oil
and gas development.
She would be the first Advocate not
to lose her appointment by making
such a public statement. She goes on to
suggest that Alberta property rights
framework (i.e. regulations) needs to
be modernized.
“Often a landowner has no choice
but to tolerate the activities of an
operator even when rent has not
been paid for years”, wrote Johnson
in her annual report. “A landowner
should be able to impose meaningful
penalties such as eviction for noncompliant
operators.” Wow,
property rights restored!
Lax regulations on any corporatedominated
industry are simply
another tax-funded corporate
handout. When all is said and done,
private citizens always turn to the
government to bail them out when
corporations stop paying the bills
and leave environmental messes on
private property.
Freedom and democracy requires
the government to play the vital role of
providing a level playing field. Fair
and appropriate regulations ensure a
functioning market economy which
supports free enterprise as it protects
people, living things, property rights
and the environment from corporate
abuses.
Next time a politician carte blanche
says regulations are bad, ask which
ones he/she is specifically referring to
and why?
Surely most landowners would
wholeheartedly agree with Advocate
Karen Johnson and applaud any
changes made to strengthen regulations
protecting our property rights.
Totally disgusted
Dear Editor
I am responding to a letter in your
paper from last week. I am totally disgusted
with the Clearview School
Boards reaction to a child with
Autism.
Why are they not willing to work
with this student and his parents,
instead of banning him from getting
an education.
They have known since he started
school that he has had this disability.
Now all of a sudden, because he was
banned from taking an exit from a situation
to which he was not able to
handle, he is banned from going to
school. Thus causing him more frustration
and feeling discouraged.
I am a grandparent of a child of
Aspergers. During his school year, at
times, it was very confusing for him
but AT LEAST he had teachers and
school staff that supported him .
He has now graduated, finished
cadets and is a working member of
society.
Maybe the board should take a
lesson from him. Reinstate this child
so he also can get an education.
Turn to Rise, Pg 7
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PRAIRIEVIEW
Wealth creation
by Herman Schwenk
Socialists just don’t get it! They seem
to think if it weren’t for the billionaires
of this world, we would all be enjoying
a better and equal standard of living.
Their theory is that every dollar that
a billionaire has accumulated and
squirreled away is a dollar that was
taken away from some poor soul living
below the poverty line.
They are convinced that if billionaires
had less money the rest of us
would have more.
I will agree that corporate executives
can be greedy. There is no way
that anyone needs that kind of wealth.
However, I don’t think the economy
would be any different if they had far
less wealth. The big problem for the
rest of us, and especially the socialists,
is the optics of their wealth.
It just doesn’t seem fair.
The simple fact is what makes the
economy work in a country is the
wealth creation ability of that nation.
Socialists think that all a government
has to do for a sound economy is
to create jobs. Well, it is a futile exercise
if a large number of those jobs
don’t create wealth one way or
another.
Governments are not wealth creators,
rather the services provided by
government are wealth consumers.
The money to provide those services
has to come from somewhere.
Both our federal and our provincial
governments are spending large sums
of money on jobs that do not create
wealth .
A government has to have a bureaucracy
and the country has to provide
infrastructure, as those are necessary
services, however the money must be
spent wisely.
So where does the money come from
to pay for these services?
The majority of it does not come
from the pay cheques of an overpaid
bureaucracy or from implementing a
new tax that will make industry even
more unproductive.
For a period of over 70 years the
Soviet Union provided a job for every “have province”.
one in the Federation but in the end
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every one was living in poverty except
the people that were running the
government.
In my opinion, it takes investorowned
corporations and private
industry to create the environment
that will produce real wealth.
Industries that develop resources
and industries that manufacture goods
for public consumption and export are
examples of industries that produce
real wealth.
It is the efficiency in the production
from these industries that creates the
wealth for governments to derive the
revenue they need to pay for government
services.
Competition among industries creates
the efficiency for wealth creation.
The reason that government-run business
is inefficient is because there is no
competition, so the incentive to be efficient
is lacking.
Governments that spend money
“
It takes investorowned
corporations and
private industry to create
the environment that will
produce real wealth.
faster than the country can generate it,
end up with deficit budgets and a stagnate
economy.
A good example is the Government
of Ontario with its “Green Energy
Act”. It has invested in an industry
that has consumed wealth to the point
where many of its citizens can no
longer afford to pay for electricity.
As a result, the province now has the
highest sub-sovereign debt in the
developed world. Say what you want,
had the Ontario Government let the
billionaire executives run the economy
instead of focusing on the impossible
goal of reducing C02 emissions to control
climate change it would still be a
Turn to Worse, Pg 12
Joyce Webster
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