Full-value royalties :: Alberta NDP

For years, Brian Mason has been the only leader standing up to big oil companies and demanding Albertans get a bigger share of royalties.

The Liberals and Conservatives both accept bargain basement royalty rates, lower than almost every other country in the world, because those parties accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from big oil companies.

Albertans deserve better than bargain basement royalty rates. Big oil companies are paying pennies on the dollar for the billions they make from the tar sands. Had the Liberals and Conservatives not grown so dependent on political donations from the oil and gas sector, we could have been getting a larger share years ago.
- Brian Mason

The Liberals and Conservatives are on the side of big oil companies:

In 2006, Liberals and Conservatives received over $1.7 million from corporations - unlike the NDP, who received less than 3% of donations from businesses.
The Liberals and Conservatives support royalty plans that give billions to big oil companies, while leaving crumbs for ordinary Albertans.
The Liberals and Conservatives both support setting tar sands royalties at pennies on the dollar. That means almost two billion dollars in lost revenue to the people of Alberta every year.
Even after the Liberal or Conservative royalty plan is implemented, Albertans will collect lower royalties than almost every other country in the world. Only Ireland collects lower rates than Alberta.

Brian Mason is prepared to take on big oil corporations

Alberta's NDP would:

Establish an all party committee of the Legislature to study royalty rates and report back within three months.
Give the all party committee access to all relevant government information on royalty rates and the oil and gas sector.
Mandate the committee to examine the feasibility of Alaska royalty rates for Alberta. Alaska has royalty rates 60% higher than Alberta, even though Alaska oil is more expensive to extract, and has to be shipped further to market.

If Alberta adopted Alaska royalty rates, it would generate over $4 billion in extra revenue over the Liberal and Conservative plans (assuming $100/barrel oil prices).

Scrap special penny-on-the dollar arrangements for tar sands corporations - no other industry has such a sweetheart deal.
Use increased revenue of up to $20 billion over ten years to promote green energy - fund environmentally friendly energy projects like solar, wind, and geothermal power at the household level, as well as energy conservation projects.
Stop the shipment of raw bitumen out of province to be processed elsewhere. Introduce legislation to ensure that all bitumen mined in Alberta is upgraded in Alberta.