What is the United Conservative Party’s position, pray, about Vancouver blogger Vivian Krause’s bombshell assertion she always understood the environmental conspiracy to landlock Alberta’s oilsands she promoted so energetically had nothing to do with the U.S. oil industry advancing its interests at Canada’s expense? Wherever it came from, the notion
Continue readingTag: Alberta Oilsands
Alberta Politics: Report forecasts future of Alberta’s oilsands as more production, fewer jobs, and less spending
Thanks to technological advances and modular facilities, leading oilsands companies are increasing bitumen production while cutting the numbers of people they employ and spending less money, says a new Corporate Mapping Project report published this morning by the Parkland Institute. More than 34,000 oil and gas workers in Alberta have
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta War Room finally lets loose a salvo … then hastily retreats
For a moment yesterday, it almost seemed as if Alberta’s $30-million-a-year Energy War Room was finally going to live up to its pugnacious nickname and make war on the “enemies of Alberta” and their campaign of “lies and disinformation” about the cleanest, most rule-of-law-abiding, most democratic oil in the whole
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP assails Alberta Energy War Room for ‘gross incompetence’ — but is that such a bad thing?
Having swallowed much of the United Conservative Party’s unlikely conspiracy theory about what supposedly ails the Alberta oilpatch during its term in office makes it harder for the NDP to convincingly criticize the Kenney Government’s $30-million-a-year “Energy War Room.” To give the Opposition its due, though, yesterday they tried. Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jim Stanford Part II: An Australian cautionary tale for Alberta and Canada
What do Albertans imagine will happen if we manage to build more pipelines to tidewater, as the ocean is known out here on the Great Plains of North America? Going into last April’s Alberta provincial election, there was a clear consensus by both Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party and Rachel
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Stephen Harper’s proposed restrictions on bitumen exports caused no uproar – so why the fury at Justin Trudeau?
Late last week, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer was once again accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Government of wanting to phase out the oilsands, as he put it, and passing laws to put that putative plan into action. Notwithstanding a lack of persuasive evidence, the popularity of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What would Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May do in Rachel Notley’s shoes? Not the same thing as Alberta’s premier
What would have Elizabeth May have done in Rachel Notley’s shoes? The leader of the Green Party of Canada says she would have summoned up the memory of Peter Lougheed, founder of Alberta’s 44-year Progressive Conservative Dynasty, but not the way the province’s first NDP premier has. “I think that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: In cutting oil production, Rachel Notley gives a bravura performance – but will it play in Ponoka?
As expected, Premier Rachel Notley announced tonight that her government will order an oil production cut of 325,000 barrels a day, 8.7 per cent of the province’s production, to squeeze some of the air out of the bitumen price differential that has bedevilled Alberta for several years. The short-term production
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Big Oil wants a milk break … and supply management’s foes are all over the media – except when they’re not
On Tuesday, the president of Cenovus Energy Inc., one of the Big Five players in the Alberta oilsands, called for temporary production cuts across the Canadian oil sector to push the sinking price of oil back up again. It’s all about supply and demand, as the well-educated readers of this blog
Continue readingAlberta Politics: While Albertans panicked about state of the oilsands, the Big Five bitumen-extraction corporations made billions
While Albertans have been in flap over the state of the province’s oilsands industry, the Big Five Oilsands extraction corporations have been raking in billions. “Despite the 2014 oil price crash and the ongoing hand-wringing over pipelines and the price differential, the reality is the Big Five oilsands producers have
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic tantrum provoke a moment of cognitive dissonance for Canada’s ‘ethical oil’ crowd?
Saudi Arabia has given the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to pack his bags and go home because, the Saudi Foreign Ministry complains, Canada is meddling in the internal affairs of the oil-soaked feudal theocracy by expressing concern in Tweets about its arrests of human rights activists, clerics and journalists. Last
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Blasphemy, Alberta style – former Liberal opposition leader sees clouded future for Alberta and its oil industry
PHOTOS: Kevin Taft, leader of the Opposition Liberal Party in the Alberta Legislature from 2004 to 2008, shortly before his book launch at the University of Alberta last night. Below: Former Edmonton Journal senior editor Sheila Pratt, who shared the stage with Dr. Taft. It was blasphemy, Alberta style! Last
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: In a democracy, quiet is rarely a good sign, and Alberta’s relationship with Big Oil is very quiet indeed
PHOTOS: Part of the Jackpine Oilsands Mine north of Fort McMurray, formerly owned by Shell and now operated by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (Photo: Pembina Institute.) Below: Author Kevin Taft. Guest Post by Kevin Taft Kevin Taft is a best-selling author, well-known speaker, and former provincial politician in Alberta. He
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The view from different planets: connecting dots between fire and climate change proscribed only on Planet Alberta
PHOTOS: A wildfire in B.C. (Photo: B.C. Wildfire Service). Below: The Fort McMurray Fire (Photo: CBC/Tia Morari); Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May (Twitter). Apparently Alberta and British Columbia exist on different planets. Literally, I mean. Not metaphorically. How else are we to explain the political discourse among, essentially,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Oilsands phase-out freak-out explained: Conservatives see the road back to Ottawa going through Edmonton
PHOTOS: G7 leaders including Canada’s then prime minister, Stephen Harper, wander down the garden path in Schloss Elmau, Germany, in June 2015. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Alberta Federation of Labour leader Gil McGowan, Opposition Leader Brian Jean and would-be Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. OTTAWA “Funny,” Alberta Federation of
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Desmond Tutu and the “Animals in War” Memorial
Everywhere you turn in London there’s a statue or monument commemorating an epic battle or a long dead sovereign. While interesting, none is as compelling as the Animals in War memorial. It reduced me to tears. The Animals in War memorial consists of two mules struggling to approach a gap
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Between Hawks and Pragmatists, Currents in Oilsands Policy
Among proponents of the Alberta Oilsands, there exists two broad camps that are differentiated from each other on the basis of how best to advocate for the sector’s continued growth in the face of mounting opposition. For the purposes of this post, I label them oilsands hawks and oilsands pragmatists.
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Maximize Oilsands’ Wealth, Upgrade Abroad
I share Robyn Allan’s concerns that when it comes to the Alberta Oilsands, debates over important policy issues often descend into “name calling.” However, I would also include mischaracterizations and hollow rhetoric, which Allan seems to have no problem engaging in. Framing whether Canada should upgrade more bitumen at home
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Maximize Oilsands’ Wealth, Upgrade Abroad
I share Robyn Allan’s concerns that when it comes to the Alberta Oilsands, debates over important policy issues often descend into “name calling.” However, I would also include mischaracterizations and hollow rhetoric, which Allan seems to have no problem engaging in. Framing whether Canada should upgrade more bitumen at home
Continue readingStraight Outta Edmonton: Maximize Oilsands’ Wealth, Upgrade Abroad
I share Robyn Allan’s concerns that when it comes to the Alberta Oilsands, debates over important policy issues often descend into “name calling.” However, I would also include mischaracterizations and hollow rhetoric, which Allan seems to have no prob…
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