Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan said American shareholders, not Eastern Canada, are to blame for taking Alberta's oil and gas industry profits away from Albertans. McGowan's comments came in response to an Edmonton Journal article where an Alberta independence advocate said Albertans are tired of being a "resource colony for Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.""He’s right that we’re a resource colony, but he got the colonizer wrong. More of our resource wealth is exported to the USA than Ottawa," wrote McGowan in an X post on Wednesday..The AFL released a report on Wednesday that detailed how, despite the oil and gas industry experiencing a profit spike from 2021 through 2023, yet Albertans oil got drops from the money well, while the funds flowed to the company shareholders, The report claimed that industry profited $135.2 billion from 2021 to 2023, which is up from the $64.2 billion that came during the previous boom in 2011 through 2014. AFL's concern is that worker profit shares equaled 24% during the most recent boom, compaired to 52% in the one prior. Amplifying the concern is that, according to AFL, on average, Alberta's "big four" oil companies, Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, and Suncor Energy, are 60% American owned and 27% Canadian. ."The UCP government has put a lot of time and effort into lobbying for oil and gas to become even more profitable, but the wealth has bypassed most of us here in Alberta,” reads a quote from McGowan in an AFL press release.“Rich American shareholders have never fared better while Alberta workers are left with the crumbs from the table. This is not responsible economic management. It verges on theft. These resources belong to us, not to the United States.”The report listed four recommendations: invest in sustainable fuel projects instead of "industries that have contributed the most to climate change"; raise Alberta's corporate income tax to 12%; review Alberta's loyalty framework; and implement a permanent windfall profit tax.
