Edmonton Sun's Rick Bell Says;

Ed rolls over for Big Oil

Last Updated: March 11, 2010 8:28pm

One for the money, two for the show.

In the rush hour of downtown Calgary, in the shadow of the shiny office towers, all that’s missing is the white flag over the premier’s southern Alberta HQ.

The oilpatch boys are happy.

All right, they’re shouting at full volume: “Oilpatch rules!”

But their anger over higher royalty payouts to the provincial coffers and their stepping out with the Wildrose Alliance, a party now threatening Premier Ed at the polls, pays big dividends.

They now say they are back in the game. They like the tone and the substance of Thursday’s royalty rollover.

All the political spin from the Tories is about jobs and being competitive but, in the end, Ed caves.

He sure doesn’t look thrilled.

The maximum royalty rate for natural gas at high prices is slashed. It’s also cut for conventional oil, the oil not in the oilsands.

A 5% royalty rate for the first year of new wells is permanent. The big-money oilsands isn’t touched. No one is griping.

In a couple years, the deal for natural gas and conventional oil will bring in just over $400 million more to the province than Ralph’s old royalty system, but almost $800 million less than the current calculations.

There you have it.

How did we get here?

Back in the boom of ’07, the oilpatch is peeved off with the premier and his quest for a so-called fair share of oil and gas dough for Albertans. Some call him a commie.

By the time Ed’s royalties kick into gear in ’09, the price of oil and gas tanks.

Neighbouring provinces also lowball royalties.

It is the perfect storm and a perfect opportunity for the patch to score a better arrangement.

Ed’s Tories become the demon. They become the big cause of a slower Alberta oilpatch, not lousy prices.

The Wildrose Alliance take up the oilpatch cause and score big.

Ed fiddles five times with his new royalty scheme and looks indecisive, pleasing no one. Polls look ugly. He loses a byelection to Wildrose.

“The world has changed,” says Ed. No kidding, in more ways than he’ll talk about publicly.

Rockin’ Ron Liepert, the energy boss, sticks to the script and talks about creating a bigger pie of prosperity.

The Tories bank on this move to help save their political bacon. This is about pulling the oilpatch thorn out of the Tory side. They have cash to give and they have influence to wield.

They also have somewhere else to play, the Wildrose Alliance.

That party’s number one, Danielle Smith, says Ed should offer up an apology.

She even makes comparisons between Ed and Trudeau’s National Energy Program.

Danielle has to admit Ed has made “good strides” with the oilpatch and sounds like he’s listening. But she doesn’t believe Ed’s actions will “cut it with Albertans.”

“We’ve seen so much incompetence from this government. There’s dozens of things that need to be corrected,” she said.

Then, Danielle clears away all the crud and hits the Tories where it hurts.

“It is clear from the decisions we’ve seen,” she says, “Wildrose is leading the agenda. The reaction we’ve seen is in response to the fact they’re seeing political ramifications. This may or may not turn it around for them.”

That’s the point. Ed is still Ed. Many just don’t like him and never will. Then again, will the oilpatch companies, big and small, take the win and leave Ed alone?

The premier and his people don’t dare utter a peep about our fair share, the buzz words supposedly so damn important once upon a time.

No surprise.

Thursday’s announcement isn’t really about us.

rick.bell@sunmedia.ca