Brief Peek at International News
December 22, 2005
10:48 a.m., MT

From the "Doesn't Bushnev Wish" department: Constitutional Court Acknowledges Infinite Authority of President [story isn't nearly as juicy as the headline suggests]

And from the "Politics of Envy" department: Alberta's Riches Spark Resentment in Rest of Canada. An extended excerpt:

With the increase in world energy prices, Alberta's growing capacity to attract professionals and investors and to shape Canada's economic agenda is stirring resentment elsewhere in the nation, sparking a fight that could do more to shake national unity than 40 years of separatist strife in French-speaking Quebec. ....

Alberta's oil riches, and what to do about them, have become a campaign issue in Canada's Jan. 23 national election. The province's oil sands -- which contain reserves, estimated at 175 billion barrels, that are surpassed only by Saudi Arabia -- will generate C$634 billion ($543 billion) in additional income over the next 20 years, three times its gross domestic product, according to a report by the Canadian Energy Research Institute.

Sharing the Bounty

Two of the four parties in the federal election, the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party -- neither of which have any seats in the province -- are calling for new oil taxes in part to share the bounty. The other two parties, Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals and the Conservative Party, suggest that oil could be used as a leverage to win trade disputes with the U.S.

Is that another bout of secession fever coming on up in the Great White Northwest?

Sunni

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