| Forget diamonds, forget water, forget lumber. Oil is the most influential resource in the world. Wars are fought over it, nations are funded by it and many a cocky leader has been fuelled by it.
Look no further than Alberta for that last example. Or Venezuela. Ralph Klein has made news time and again for his remarks about Alberta’s wealth in the wake of soaring oil prices. His coffers are swimming with money and he’s got every Canadian politician drooling over our province’s wealth. Klein’s oil-funded bragging is mimicked by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose government is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter.
Klein is one of the most controversial figures in Canadian politics and Chavez is his counterpart in Latin American politics. While Klein is often lauded for his business-friendly policies, Chavez has become the darling of the left for his commitment to "democratic socialism" and his continuing demonstration that capitalism may not be the only way forward.
The two men are completely different, but they do share some qualities – both love power and the spotlight and assume that their oil wealth offers them refuge from diplomacy. Klein tends to say it like it is and the same has been said for Chavez, who is an outspoken critic on everything from U.S. foreign policy to the World Bank. Both men lead governments that are buoyed by high oil prices, affording them the possibility of achieving their vision for their electorate. But what are they each doing with all their oil-funded potential?
In Alberta, where the oil and gas industry accounts for approximately 28 per cent of provincial revenue, Klein is paying down the debt. He’s also handing out $400 prosperity cheques to every Albertan. This year’s budget saw provincial spending on health care, education and policing. While some welcomed the spending, others slammed Klein for his choices, accusing him of a lack of vision and little imagination in his spending. Many have also criticized the prosperity cheques for diverting much needed resources from social spending.
Klein’s critics would be proud of what Chavez has chosen to do with his oil wealth. The former paratrooper was elected by a landslide in 1998 on promises to aid Venezuela’s poor. Driven by this mandate, Chavez has used Venezuelan oil money to fund massive missions to combat poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy and disease. He has opened thousands of free medical clinics and implemented food and housing subsidies for the poor. His critics, hailing from the Venezuelan upper-middle and upper classes, reminisce about the days of conservative business-friendly budgets like that of Klein’s government.
What else do Klein and Chavez do with their oil? In 2005, Klein repeatedly warned Ottawa to "keep your hands off" Alberta’s wealth. The trickle-down effect became his mantra, in that he argued Alberta was doing its part to build Canada’s wealth by creating jobs across the country that would bolster the federal government through tax revenue. Klein also pointed out that oil money is being used to fund medical and technological research that stands to improve the lives of all Canadians. Perhaps to appease economist Tom Courchene’s worry that Canadian sovereignty could be in peril if too much talent and capital chooses Alberta as its destination, Klein came up with the Alberta Centennial program, under which individual bursaries of $2,005 will be handed out annually to 325 post-secondary students across Canada.
Rather than make enemies by hoarding his oil wealth, Chavez sees it as a card to build allies with. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Chavez offered tons of food, water and one million barrels of extra petroleum to the United States. The Bush administration turned down his generous offer, but in 2005 the State of Massachusetts accepted an offer from a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-run petroleum company that would enable its low-income families to access a 40 per cent discount on heating oil.
So Klein and Chavez play their oil cards differently, but it is from these differences that both men could stand to learn a few things. Chavez could teach Klein how to invest in his people and embody vision when he spends Alberta’s oil money – the province needs to look after its low-income residents and properly address the province’s skyrocketing rates of homelessness and child poverty. Klein’s government also needs to re-evaluate its commitment to post-secondary education, as rich Alberta still has the second-highest tuition rates in the country.
Klein could teach Chavez a thing or two about longevity in politics. Since being elected into office, Chavez has had a miserable time convincing the world that Venezuela wants him there and consequently has suffered through one coup attempt and a failed recall referendum alongside two elections. Many of his troubles arise from the discontent he has generated among the upper classes of Venezuelan society – his politics have given rise to some powerful enemies. In Alberta, it is often these same classes who are Klein’s strongest allies and who propelled him to a popularity that has seen him elected for four subsequent terms.
Klein and Chavez are two very different men, but they’re empowered by the same resource. What they are choosing to do with this power offers us a rare glimpse behind the smoke and mirrors. |
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