The Conservative minister for municipal affairs made a very peculiar response to a question by Laurie Blakeman, Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Centre. She was posing a question about how the revenues from taxes disproportionately went to rural Alberta. In Alberta some rural jurisdictions receive almost up to $2,000 for each of
Continue readingTag: oil and gas
Carbon49 - Sustainability for Canadian businesses: Obama’s State of the Union Address on Climate Change
“If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” says Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address which devoted a substantial portion on climate change. Direction is set for more oil and gas drilling, but also more funding for electric cars and energy efficient buildings. The
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Its All About Oil
This nice piece from The Oil Drum explains why all that talk about how unconventional gas and oil will save us is mostly hype. It has this nice graph: …and answers the question: if we’re in a new age of oil abundance, why is gas still $1.20 a liter?
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Marc’s Enbridge Testimony
Testimony to the Joint Review Panel on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project By Marc Lee, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives January 16, 2013 My name is Marc Lee, and I have served as an economist for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives for more than 14 years. Most recently I
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Marc’s Letter from 2040
The following comes from a short talk on a vision for a zero-carbon BC that I gave at a couple events this Fall. Many have asked for the text so I’ve posted it here, and we may try and turn it into a video. That said, I have been reluctant
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: State of the BC Economy
As we close out 2012, BC finds itself in some precarious economic waters. To recap, a massive housing bubble that built up through the naughties (2000s) finally burst in 2008, feeding a financial crisis, as extremely loose (some would say fraudulent) lending practices pushed housing prices up to spectacular, never-seen-before
Continue readingcalgaryliberal.com: Three Reasons You Should Vote for Harvey Locke
A lot of talk has been made of strategic voting in the last week. While Harvey Locke does have the best chance (see this poll for the latest information and Locke’s appeal here) there is something to be said about him as a candidate. There is no…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Exchange Rates, the Price of Oil and the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel
This is a guest post by Paul Tulloch, of LivingWork.ca and frequent commentator on this blog, reporting on some significant and timely work he prepared for the northern gateway pipeline review panel, analyzing correlations betwen the price of oil and the Canadian dollar. Exchange Rates, the Price of Oil and the Enbridge Northern
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: BC’s Natural Gas Strategy nothing more than a fairy tale
I have an oped in Saturday’s Vancouver Sun. The editor wanted me to focus on the claims of economic gains for BC, so the piece ended up being a complementary piece to the Behind the Numbers report on GHG emissions and the Natural Gas Strategy. The title was his choice not
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Is BC breaking its GHG law by pursuing natural gas development?
Today CCPA’s Climate Justice Project released a new report by yours truly, BC’s Legislated Greenhouse Gas Targets vs Natural Gas Development: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. It was just five years ago that BC brought in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets Act, a signal that BC was serious about climate action. The
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada’s Emissions Deception
The federal government released an updated Canada’s Emission Trends 2012 report today. In a remarkable shift in federal rhetoric just this past week, the Harperites now appear to be more sensitive to concerns about the Enbridge pipeline and climate change more generally. But appearances can be deceiving and there is good
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Taking Over Nexen
The China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s (CNOOC) bid to acquire Nexen is a large and complex proposal. Canadians should call for a more thorough and transparent review than other foreign takeovers have received under the Investment Canada Act. A preliminary outline of possible costs and benefits follows. The Downside: Chinese
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Bloomberg Stunner: How Chesapeake Energy Paid Less Than a 1% Tax Rate On $5.5 Billion in Profits
chesapeake-energy.jpg Chesapeake Energy, a company that is no stranger to financial scandals, has found itself on the front page of the financial papers again. This time, the subject is taxes. Or how Chesapeake barely pays them. Over its 23-year history, Chesapeake Energy, the second largest producer of natural gas
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Aspen Ideas Festival Fracking Debate Livestream – Tune in Sunday
Screen Shot 2012-06-29 at 12.12.38 PM.png This Sunday, July 1, FORA.tv is hosting a free, online debate at the Aspen Ideas Festival, "No Fracking Way: Is The Natural Gas Boom Doing More Harm Than Good?" The debate will feature Deborah Goldberg and Katherine Hudson arguing for the motion, Joe Nocera and Susan
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fracking Industry Enjoyed Privileged Access To Controversial New York DEC Environmental Review
Don't Frack Sign.jpg Documents obtained by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) show that bureaucrats within the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NY DEC) granted the oil and gas industry premature access to highly controversial draft regulations for shale gas fracking in the state. New York placed a moratorium on
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Dutch disease actually Canadian disease
Resources(\”staples\”) trap is Canadian Disease
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Dutch Disease on the Rideau
The following is another guest post by Robyn Allan: A report recently released by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute claims Canada does not suffer from the Dutch disease. Unfortunately, the studies the authors draw on for this conclusion are riddled by it. The Dutch disease is a situation where rapid export of
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A Green Industrial Revolution
Today the CCPA released a new big picture report by myself and student researcher Amanda Card calling for a Green Industrial Revolution. The report builds on work done for the BC-focused Climate Justice Project, bringing to bear a national analysis of green and not-so-green jobs. We take a close look
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Debating Boyd on Resource Royalties
Saskatchewan’s Minister of Energy and Resources replied to my op-ed and letter on Dutch disease and resource royalties. On Friday, he was promoted to Minister of Everything. Columnist Murray Mandryk wrote, “Given the amount of power Bill Boyd now has in his super-economy portfolio, he may be one fluffy Persian
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Duel of the Saskatchewan Expatriates
Last week, I had the following letter in The Globe and Mail: Oil sands royalties The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers’ most recent Statistical Handbook indicates that, in 2010, this industry sold $101-billion of oil and gas but paid only $12-billion in resource royalties. Even Senator Pamela Wallin’s higher figure
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