Really an extraordinary piece of socialist economic tinkering by Conservative politicians who insist government has no role in picking “winners” by choosing what companies or sectors to invest in and says it’s cutting red tape 1/5 #cdnpoli https://twitter.com/tanya_fir/status/1280641624515547136

First, bizarrely Alta spending $18 million more & creating a whole new bureaucracy to do what it already does through Economic Development, Trade and Tourism—that is, run a network of international trade offices to attract foreign investment and promote Alberta co’s 2/5 #cdnpoli

Second, they are now picking winners— “ high impact “ and “ high value” companies ( magically chosen) to attract to Alberta with a host of nanny-state tools like grants, loans, loan guarantees, “customized concierge services” etc. 3/5 #cdnpoli

Third, they are opening/refocusing offices where investment’s not coming from, like Houston—which is fighting for it’s own life, not sending capital to Calgary in tens of billions. It’s export mkt. And new Houston rep is political hack who stepped aside for Kenney. 4/5 #cdnpoli

Will they spend billions more on deals, like Tories’ billions for Keystone XL? Or $26 billion liabilities for NWUpgrader? Or $50 billion in grants & subsidies Fraser Inst. says Tories have already given to Alberta businesses? Probably. 3 pipelines with public $ already. #cdnpoli