How come a small country like Norway is reaping better natural resources rewards than Canada? They don’t give them away, reader argues
Norway, population 5.6 million, sovereign wealth fund $2 trillion dollars. How can this be, one might ask? The answer is simple.
Norway, unlike Canada, does not give its non-renewable resources away. If you want them, you will pay a significant royalty to the owner, that being the people of the country where the resources are located.
In Canada, we allow off-shore companies to purchase our natural resources then we give them tax breaks and other incentives to extract the resources that enrich their shareholders, while our cities are starved for cash and burdened by huge infrastructure deficits.
I support the private sector and wealth generation, but there is something terribly wrong with this picture.
John Caruso
Greater Sudbury