“You don’t want to believe, but that’s not us up there anymore. We are like turning into regular people.”
Sylvester Stallone (Rocky) talking to Carl Weathers (Apollo Cree) in Rocky IV.
In the movie, Rocky is referring to the fact that the pair of aging boxers are no longer capable of the incredible athletic feats that were once the norm, and they need to accept it and move on.
In some ways the province of Alberta is a lot like these two boxers. Without the high price of oil and natural gas, Alberta and many of its residents are starting to know the struggles faced by people and governments in other parts of the country who have had to survive without the benefits and revenue of $100 a barrel oil.
But that doesn’t mean Albertans should accept the new norm gracefully.
If we learned anything from the Rocky movies, it is to keep fighting until the final bell because you never know what is going to happen.
However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have to find new, innovative ways to stay competitive in a changing world.
A few weeks ago I wrote an editorial about the Alberta government’s plan to introduce a carbon tax as part of its Climate Leadership Plan and the more I think about it, the more I think the government is on the right track.
Let’s face it, even at the best of times, when oil is trading at $100 a barrel or more, a large part of Alberta’s provincial economy is based on a product that, when extracted, processed and burned in our homes, factories and vehicles, is harmful to our environment.
Necessary, but harmful.
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to pay anymore for driving my car or heating my home than anyone else. I know every time I drive by a gas station I look at the price and anytime it takes a jump, I swear silently to myself, and depending on how much of an increase, not so silently. But we need to do something to start trying to reduce our carbon footprint. I know everyone, doesn’t believe CO2 emissions are contributing to the trend of increasing global temperatures, i.e. Global Warming, but the fact is the majority of the world does.
This is why a number of people such as Preston Manning, Suncor’s CEO Steve Williams and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), support a carbon tax, even though at first glance it would seem against their best interest.
One of the reasons why they are supporting a carbon tax is they believe it would help the industry improve its environmental performance, and more importantly its image, allowing Canadian oil to reach more international markets at the higher world oil price.
Hopefully, they and the government are right because what we have been doing hasnt been all that effective in opening new markets for our oil. And what I’ve learned from the Rocky movies is when something isn’t working, it is time to change our training techniques. Cue the training montage.
