“Socialism is fine until you run out of other people’s money.”
That quote is usually attributed to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
Socialism, on the political spectrum, is often said to be the root thinking of New Democrats and Liberals in Canada. Also the American Democrat party.
As it happens, average voters often don’t think deeply when they vote. If somebody promises us free housing, well, what’s not to love? Affordable housing? I’ll take two! Cheaper cars? Sign me up for three! More doctors? Yes! Help the food bank? Naturally! Lower taxes? Of course!
We really don’t really think about what we are doing. As in, who pays for this generosity? Socialism, and its near cousin communism, pretty well says it will be paid by all the people who have money. As Thatcher said, this is all well and good, until the people who have money say, “Sorry. We are broke.”
Or they leave the country, taking all their money with them. Or they walk away from their mines. From their forests and logging operations. From their mills and industrial plants. Even from their farms and ranches. We know this, because it has already happened in the world.
Which sort of brings us to the nuclear energy issue that has returned to northern Alberta.
As happened before, and also happened with wind turbine farms, pipelines, hydroelectric dams, fracking and forestry here in Alberta, there are many people against nuclear. Well, it’s a free country.
The heartland of nuclear in Canada is Ontario. Main arguments there are not about whether to build two, new, largest plants in the world. It’s about where to store waste. And in New Brunswick, which has a nuclear plant itself, when it comes to building natural gas pipelines, the bugaboos about explosions in the middle of the night are front and centre when the topic appears.
The simple fact is, Ontario is running out of energy. In fact, Canada itself is running out of electricity. In some situations, we actually import from America. Notwithstanding all the wind and all the solar planned, existing, or even under construction, there just isn’t enough to meet total demand today.
No matter. Like running out of other people’s money, that’s just a problem for somebody else. Some other day. Right?
On one hand, activism, safety and environment movements have all impacted greatly on politics and in the end, have all contributed greatly to our society. Rivers once so polluted in many parts of the modern world are again clean and alive. Vehicles are less polluting and less likely to kill occupants in crashes. Airplanes are less likely to fall out of the sky. The Alberta energy industry is the safest and cleanest in the world, a far cry from even 50 years ago. The items go on and on.
It has to be said, it is not an easy path to a clean, happy and yes, a profitable world. It’s still a path that must be followed. We have to be successful to survive. Otherwise, when we run out of money, it will all come crashing down. We won’t even have a say.
Jeff Burgar