Mr. Chair, I will be splitting my time with the member for Edmonton Mill Woods.
I have been a proud Albertan and Calgarian since 1970 and have lived through the boom and bust cycles of the energy industry.
Alberta's energy resource sector is a source of high quality and well-paying jobs not just for many Albertans but for many Canadians who come to our province to live and work. That means there are an estimated 190,000 direct Canadian jobs linked to the energy industry with countless other indirect jobs that depend on the industry. These are fellow Albertans and Canadians who face financial insecurity at the moment international oil prices drop.
We must remember that oil is an international commodity. When prices are high, Albertans and Canadians thrive but every time we see boom and bust it is the international nature of the market that has devastating consequences on the lives of everyday Albertans.
Our boom first began in 1973, causing prices to soar from $3 to $15 U.S. per barrel. The sector proved to be an excellent source of well-paying jobs but demonstrated to be very volatile. By the 1980s, the price of oil was well over $30 U.S. a barrel. Again people flooded into our province to take advantage, again unemployment evaporated, again housing prices skyrocketed, and again everyone profited.