LAKELAND - Despite hearing concerns from constituents in the Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul area, MLA Scott Cyr says the $5.2 billion deficit planned by the province is the responsible thing to do in these turbulent times.
“If a tariff war happens, there's going to be consequences to that for Alberta. In this case, there's a $4 billion drop in royalties, and then we have another $2.2 billion drop anticipated for investments. That's a $6.2 billion drop,” said Cyr, comparing the deficit to a mattress for a soft landing.
Even if the tariffs don’t happen or are resolved quickly, Cyr believes the instability will have an impact on the business climate in the province.
“One projection from the federal government is saying about a million people out of work,” said Cyr.
Asked if stopping exports to the United States would come on the table in light of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s threats to turn off the power to the United States, Cyr said oil is harder to turn on and off than electricity.
“That will work until they get new suppliers. Suddenly, we've got Venezuela and California taking our market share up. That's a real problem once they've retrofitted their plants to take on that heavy oil. We don't get that market back once we've lost it. Whereas electricity is one of those things where they can ship it almost anywhere,” said Cyr.
Ontario also imposed a 25 per cent electricity export tax which went into effect on March 10, before being suspended on March 11.
In regards to an export tax on oil, Cyr said, “in the end, we're not going to have a market to sell it to. So, we're going to have a lot of people in our area without work. That's something that I would find distasteful. So, when it comes to the tariffs, I'm hoping that this is a short-term blip in our in our history and we get back to the friendly relationship.”
