If you lived through the last back-and-forth between a booming Alberta and the East then you'll know why Ontario's Premier set something off with his comment preferring a lower dollar benefiting Ontario then growing oil economy in the West. An Economic report suggests Ontario's Premier is merely recognizing Dutch Disease characterized by an oil boom and a manufacturing slump. Is that the diagnosis? Or is this a case of economic hypochondria? And what can we learn by taking the pulse of other countries with oil in their veins?

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Three of The Current

Has Dutch Disease infected the Canadian economy?

What's that line - deja vu all over again? If you remember those uncomfortable days back in the late 70's/early 80's when Alberta and Ontario mixed like ... well oil and no oil, then statements from Ontario Premier might have hit a nerve. His province is being ravaged by job losses in the manufacturing sector ... job losses he blames on a surging Canadian dollar, something fueled at least in part by Alberta's increasingly lucrative oil sands.

But Alberta Premier Alison Redford, Alberta's Energy Minister Ted Morton and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall beg to differ.

According to Serge Coulombe, this is more than just a political spat ... it's an economic disease. Serge Coulombe is a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa. He's the co-author of a report called Does the Canadian Economy Suffer from Dutch Disease? And he was in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.

Has Dutch Disease infected the Canadian economy?

Stephen Gordon has a different view of what Dutch Disease means for Canada. He's a professor of economics at Laval University and a blogger for the Globe and Mail. He was in Quebec City.

Has Dutch Disease infected the Canadian economy?

All of this brings us to Norway ... a country that seems immune to these problems. It discovered vast oil reserves under the North Sea in the late 1960s. But, unlike other countries that rushed to turn oil into profits, Norway was restrained. The man credited with crafting that restraint is Iraqi geologist Farouk Al Kasim.

In 1968, he thought he was emigrating to a country that had little use for his experience in the oil fields of Iraq. And the story of how he became one of Norway's top advisers on oil management is almost as remarkable as the policies he helped put in place.

Today Farouk Al Kasim travels the world advising other oil-rich countries on how to manage their industry. He is the President of Petroteam A.S. Farouk Al Kasim joined us from Stavanger, Norway.

This segment was produced by The Current's Chris Wodskou and Josh Bloch.

Related Links

• Ottawa's focus on Alberta oilsands is killing manufacturing jobs in Eastern Canada, economists say By: Antonia Zerbisias - Toronto Star
• Redford's energy vision clashes with McGuinty's view of oil-sands benefits By: Karen Howlett and Dawn Walton - Globe and Mail
• Jack Mintz: No Dutch disease here - National Post
• Is 'Dutch Disease' getting a bad rap? By: Stephen Gordon - Globe and Mail
• Fixation with manufacturing is missing the big picture By: Stephen Gordon - Globe and Mail
• The Iraqi who saved Norway from oil By: Martin Sandbu - Financial Times
• The Friday Podcast: Norway Has Advice For Libya - NPR.com
  
  

Other segments from today's show:

• International Criminal Court Track Record
• Thursday's Checking - In