IN THE NEWS

 

By Marianne Cole

CCTA Back at Work 

With things hopefully easing up and/or people adjusting to special safety measures, the CCTA Board has made a decision to resume our monthly meetings. Our first meeting will be held on Monday, September 14, 2020 at 7:30PM at the Arbutus Hall. Social distancing will be in effect and we welcome everyone back to discuss issues facing our County.

Proposed Tax Revisions  

Of greatest concern is the recently suggested reassessment of the taxation model for taxes to be paid by oil/gas companies to rural municipalities on pipelines, oil/gas leases, and various associated installations. Clearwater County could stand to lose between $300M and $1.6B in revenue depending on the format chosen by the UCP government. In return, residents here could face an increase of between 50% and 257% in residential taxes… AND/OR lose significant services.

The proposed changes would present a HUGE problem for Clearwater County along with all other rural municipalities in Alberta. Letters of concern have been sent to our MLA, Premier, Finance Minister, Opposition Leader, and Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). A reply has only been received from our MLA Jason Nixon.

The initiative for this change came from Alberta’s “Top 5” oil/gas industry companies with support from CAPP. Some interesting (???) information on these companies is included here.

2018 SALARY/COMPENSATION PAID TO TOP 5 OIL/GAS COMPANIES IN ALBERTA (The Narwhal, Sharon Riley, June 12, 2019)

1. Suncor Steve Williams (now retired) Salary: $1.466 Million; Total compensation: $14.5M

2. Cenovus Alexander Pourbaix Salary: $1M; Total compensation: $6.6M

3. CNRL Norm Edwards Salary: $1M; Total compensation: $10.6M

4. Imperial Oil Richard Kruger (An American citizen) Salary: $1.2M; Total Compensation: $7.8M

5. Husky Robert J. Peabody Salary: $1.5M; Total Compensation: $7.9M

2019 CEO TOTAL COMPENSATION (The Calgary Herald, Amanda Stephensen, June 26, 2020)

1. Suncor Mark Little $11.72M

2. Cenovus Alexander Pourbaix $9.06M (increase of 38% over 2018)

3. CNRL Tim S. McKay $8.17M

4. Imperial Oil Richard Kruger $8.09M

5. Husky Oil (Collective compensation for top 5 executives) Just over $15M

Foreign ownership figures from Straight.com/finance report: The big five oil and gas producers are all majority foreign owned:

NON CANADIAN SHARES: Husky - 97% Imperial - 94% Cenovus - 72% Suncor - 66% CNRL - 55% So, NO, the TOP 5 are NOT CANADIAN OWNED

We recognize that the oil/gas industry is facing difficult times but so is everyone else. “Robbing Peter to pay Paul” is not a beneficial solution. There is absolutely not guarantee that the financial benefits these companies might enjoy with the proposed changes will, in turn, benefit rural Albertans. In fact with 69 rural municipalities, at an average of 10,000 residents each, 690,000 Albertans could be negatively affected for the benefit of a few. We sincerely hope that these suggested tax changes DO NOT come into effect. 

 Review of the MDP  

The County just sent out a special newsletter with information about the review of the Municipal Development Plan. This is a very important document that governs the use of land in Clearwater County and development guidelines. It is absolutely crucial that people have a say in the rules that will control land use in our county. We encourage everyone to read the newsletter very carefully and voice their opinion on this matter. At this stage the county is taking opinions that they will include in developing the document. Then there will be public meetings to evaluate the guidelines before the final draft is completed. We really need to have our voices heard.

County Happenings  

Site work is progressing at the new Leslieville Fire Hall/Public Works location. Facility completion is hoped for by late fall 2020. Work is also progressing on the installation of services in the proposed “Commercial Core” In Nordegg. This development is to the south, up the hill from the Visitors’ Center and in the area of the church and old CIBC bank. 

September Smiles:

1. What will happen if you continue “stress eating” as a result of Covid19?? The buttons on your shirt will start social distancing from each other.

2. Why did the chicken cross the road? Because he was trying to social distance.

Coming events: 

Monday, September 14, 2020, 7:30PM, Arbutus Hall, Regular Meeting

October meeting date to be determined at September meeting as the regularly scheduled meeting would fall on Thanksgiving Monday.