Why Lougheed is wrong

Jeffrey Simpson quotes former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed on the oil sands projects:

Call a halt, Albertans

The government should NOT interfere in the workings of the market.  In this case, the market will slow the pace of development because of rising costs and shortages of materials and labour.   It will slow without intervention. 

Government could remove some of these obstacles to allow growth to continue unabated, such as spending billions on infrastructure to and around the Fort McMurray area, and the federal government could open up the borders to foreign labour or force more people off the unemployment roles in Eastern Canada who could then move to Alberta to work.

But taking action to assist the pre-existing market forces to slow the pace of development is detrimental - business will see the government as anti-development and will choose to spend their capital elsewhere more readily than if simple market forces take effect.

Mr. Lougheed's problem is that he thinks that someone should be planning.  A lack of faith in the Invisible Hand, in my opinion.