Secession Thread II - Canadian version: Canada, "the Argentina of the 21st century"

[notyoueither]

*Throws down the gloves*

CalgaryGrit assumes that Canada has any clout as it is. It doesn't. A smaller country holding the Yanks cockring, and willing to give it a tug, would have far more.

As for Canada having any say in what Alberta does if push came to shove... can you say 'endanger oil and gas supply of the USA'? I knew you could.

He is right though that Calgary would become a corporate ghost town and shrivel back down to the size it deserves from the viagra enlarged dink it has become. Is that a bad idea?

Alright, I have to grant that he is correct that the author of the OP article and the loon academic who inspired it are... nuts. Canada does have zero defecit, and the lowest unemployment numbers of the past thirty years (or so they tell me) strong growth, etc, etc...

Come and get me, Spiffor!

[Asher]

He is right though that Calgary would become a corporate ghost town and shrivel back down to the size it deserves from the viagra enlarged dink it has become. Is that a bad idea?

That's the part he was most wrong about. Calgary has Canada's 2nd highest amount of corporate HQs mostly because of the energy industry. That energy industry won't disappear if Alberta leaves Canada...

That's just more wishful thinking from a jealous Edmontonian.

[notyoueither]

The Bank of Montreal sure as hell would, and they'd do it on fear or rumour.. Just ask... Montreal.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Asher


That's the part he was most wrong about. Calgary has Canada's 2nd highest amount of corporate HQs mostly because of the energy industry. That energy industry won't disappear if Alberta leaves Canada...

That's just more wishful thinking from a jealous Edmontonian.

Asher, dear, a lot of companies come carpet bagging to Alberta for, guess what? Low taxes. They have a HO in Calgary with 15 people. They have an operations centre in Vancouver, Winnipeg or Toronto with 500.

What do you think happens to those companies when Calgary is foreign territory, and they are regarded as foreign companies when they operate in Canada?

You think anyone other than the oil and gas guys, and the Alberta Treas. Branch sticks around?

[Asher]

Quit being so obtuse, nye...the vast majority of corporations in Alberta wouldn't flee if Alberta left. Why would they?

It would be easier to open a satellite office somewhere else in Canada and make it a subsidiary.

Why is it that people make the case that if there was no oil, Calgary would be a ghost town..now people are saying if there was only oil, Calgary would be a ghost town...

Maybe the truth is somewhere inbetween? We'd be fine either way.

Edmonton, however...well, Edmonton has absolutely nothing aside from oil and Bioware.

[notyoueither]

And better people than Calgary will ever have until generations after your passing.

Anyways, I think you are incorrect that banks and airlines would stick around in the event of bad political **** hitting the fan.

Don't ask me. Ask Montreal. By your reasoning they had no reason to leave there in the first place, but they did. In droves.

[Asher]

Banks and Airlines aren't exactly a mainstay of the Calgary economy...

[notyoueither]

They, and others, are a large part of the head offices that you keep crowing about.

[Asher]

Which major banks have a head office in Calgary, and how many people do they employ..?

The only real airline based in Calgary is WestJet, and IIRC, they only employ ~1,500 in Calgary.

[notyoueither]

Hmmm. I thought it was BMO. I am finding it difficult to find anyone claiming to be from Calgary. There is a CoCalgary site claiming Bank of Nova Scotia.

I know one of the chartereds moved there. Maybe they have moved out again due to the bad climate.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Asher
Which major banks have a head office in Calgary, and how many people do they employ..?

The only real airline based in Calgary is WestJet, and IIRC, they only employ ~1,500 in Calgary.

And 1500 jobs can be easily pissed away?

What about CPRail? Shaw Communications? Dow Chemicals?

[Max Webster]

Cool.. two albertans duking it out. I got to get me some popcorn this should be fun.

NYE... Whats the state of the cattle industry in Alberta? Do you see first hand the effects of the US embargo? How are the farmers getting by without any income from their cattle sales?

I heard the Bush adminstration is pushing to have the US markets opened up to Canadian Cattle.

[notyoueither]

Don't suck up to me, Ontario boy! You're supposed to be laughing, remember?

The cattle ranchers are on life support. There isn't enough slaughter capacity up here (yet) to ship enough boxed beef (allowed) and the border remains closed to live animals going south (where the slaughter capacity got moved some years ago).

The Yanks have ****ed themselves in the left ear on this one. Slaughter houses are being rebuilt up here so that the industry never has to deal with the idiots in Washington (or a Montana court house) again. 1000's of American jobs have been zapped. Many jobs in Canada are being created. So, there is a silver lining.

[Spiffor]

This thread is absolutely fantastic. Asher not only managed to piss off the Canadians from outside Alberta, he also managed to piss off the one other resident Albertan!

[notyoueither]

Pissed off? This is dinner table chatter.

Now you, my sweet little froggy. Come here!

I want you!