Canada’s Land Of Tar Sands Just Elected A Left-Wing Government!

[Divernan]

Whoo Hoo! Bet it was those bomb trains and fracking spills which turned the tide!

If you don’t know much about Canadian politics & want to understand how unprecedented this is, think of it as a comparison to Texas. As Bloomberg’s Dave Weigel put it on Twitter, abbreviations extended: “Imagine if Democrats took not only Texas Governor, but supermajority control of [the] Legislature and all state offices. That’s what [Alberta’s election] is like in Canada.”
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/06/3655798/canada-did-what-now/

I'd love to have posted this in latest breaking news, but gasp, it's around 14 hours old. In fact IchingCarpenter posted aabout this around 2 a.m. but at that hour it sank like a stone.

This is big frackin' news! If Canada can come to its senses and vote against Big Oil/special interests, there's hope for the US, and BERNIE!

See also, Iching's link:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/05/06/world/ap-cn-canada-alberta-election.html?_r=0

[Buzz Clik]

1. You figure that they'll be shutting down the oil sands and stop exporting oil?

[Divernan]

2. I expect them to tighten and enforce regulations, including hefty penalties

for violation thereof. Don't you agree that would be the place to start?

To me that's the sine qua non, i.e,
Sine qua non (/ˌsaɪnɨ kweɪ ˈnɒn/; Latin: [ˈsine kwaː ˈnoːn])[1] or condicio sine qua non (plural: condiciones sine quibus non) refers to an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient. It was originally a Latin legal term for "[a condition] without which it could not be", or "but for..." or "without which [there is] nothing".

[Buzz Clik]

5. Agreed. Non-enforcement of environmental regulations is unacceptable.

That would be a good place to start.

[u4ic]

7. Royalties will play a huge part

The previous Conservative gov'ts have pretty much given the oil away for nothing. While a country like Norway profited from royalties, Alberta collected very little.

I expect another royalty review - and one, this time, in the province's favour, not the oil companies.

[TheKentuckian]

3. I guess angry corporate cons from the Great White North will be in snark overdrive now.

[Divernan]

4. Going to cost Big Oil $$$$$$$$$$$

"The main message is a social democratic party isn't all that radical any more. Americans are freaked out by socialism but when Tony Blair was in power in the U.K. they related to him as a strong ally," Wiseman said.

Alberta, Canada's most conservative province, elected a left-of-center government, ending a 44-year-old conservative party dynasty,

Notely has vowed to raise corporate tax rates and conduct a review of the province's royalty structure to ensure that Albertans are getting a fair return for their oil and gas resources. Alberta has the world's third largest oil reserves, with 170 billion barrels of proven reserves.

Prentice was previously one of Harper's most trusted cabinet ministers and was considered a candidate to replace Harper one day.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/05/06/world/ap-cn-canada-alberta-election.html?_r=1

[ibegurpard]

6. There has been literally NO coverage

of this in the corporate media today. I scoured all of the US media sites (CNN, MSN, FOX) and nothing. It's all you read about on the CBC and it's getting play on the BBC but nothing here. Why do you suppose that is?

[Oilwellian]

8. That really is amazing

A classic example of how manipulated and deceived Americans are. Nonetheless, this is a major blow to big oil and I look forward to the ensuing battle. May mother earth win one.