Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Nathan Tankus examines the risk that the Trump regime can arbitrarily steal money from American bank accounts. Roy Edroso discusses how Republicans are pushing…
oil sands
Why there should never have been an oil sands industry
I believe in free markets, at least for most commerce. As do most Albertans. Partly... The post Why there should never have been an oil sands industry first appeared on…
Interview with journalist Paul McKay about pipeline economics in Canada
https://earthgauge.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/paulmckay-part1-forair.mp3 https://earthgauge.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/paulmckay-part2-forair.mp3 Time and time again, we hear from politicians that we need more pipelines to get Alberta’s oil to new markets. But Paul Mckay, an award-winning journalist who has…
Vancouver Sun Letter
For what is likely to be my last letter to the editor of 2016, see today’s Vancouver Sun (fourth letter from the top). The gist of my argument is that…
They did what?! Reaction to the NDP Royalty Review from across the political spectrum
Here is what energy industry executives, progressive advocates and opposition politicians had to say about the Royalty Review panel report released on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016: “Our new royalty framework…
NDP environment minister, premier blamed for withdrawal of Senator Lindsey Graham from presidential race
PHOTOS: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham dropped out of the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential candidate this morning. Well-informed sources point to Environment Minister Shannon Phillips and the…
Who said what about the NDP’s ambitious Made-in-Alberta Climate Change Plan
Pigs continued to fly in Alberta politics today as energy industry leaders and environmental groups joined Premier Rachel Notley and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips at a press conference…
Big oil, pipelines, Trudeau, and energy security for Canada
Why does the Canadian government continue to subsidize the oil industry with billions of dollars a year when the environmental crisis demands the opposite, and when investment in energy efficiency,…
Repeat after me: Alberta isn’t Greece
Last week it was Andrew Coyne; this week it’s Jack Mintz. Seems all the National Post’s favourite conservative commentators have suddenly decided to offer their Very Serious Advice™ to Alberta’s…
Podcast: What’s next for Alberta?
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/podcast150515-alberta-election.mp3 This episode focuses on what else but the recent Alberta provincial election that saw the social democratic NDP sweep into power after 44 consecutive years of Conservative rule. To…
Calling capital’s bluff in Alberta
The votes had barely been counted in Alberta when stories purporting to herald capital flight, particularly from the oil sands, were already appearing in venues like the Financial Post. As…
The International Game Of Chicken
The current low oil prices have been characterized as a high stakes game of “chicken” between OPEC countries and “non-conventional” producing countries like Canada and more recently the US. I…
Let’s not be too quick to cheer for the market as oil prices slump
Another title for this piece could be oil prices and politics. The last few weeks have been full of worries about the fate of Canada’s oil sector. Global oil prices…
"Limiting information" on oilsands probe demonstrates Harper government problems with both openness and the environment
This story out of The Star hits at two major problems of the Harper government – an inability to take environmental concerns seriously, and a desire to limit access to…
"Limiting information" on oilsands probe demonstrates Harper government problems with both openness and the environment
This story out of The Star hits at two major problems of the Harper government – an inability to take environmental concerns seriously, and a desire to limit access to…
"Limiting information" on oilsands probe demonstrates Harper government problems with both openness and the environment
This story out of The Star hits at two major problems of the Harper government - an inability to take environmental concerns seriously, and a desire to limit access to…
Alberta’s billion dollar failed Carbon Capture “science experiment”
TweetA report from Auditor General Merwan Saher released this week found no evidence that the Department of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development has properly monitored the performance of the PC…
NEP what? Trudeau Liberals dominate Oil Capital Fort McMurray
TweetPreliminary results from last week’s Fort McMurray-Athabasca by-election show that federal Liberal candidate Kyle Harrietha dominated in the industrial capital of Canada’s oil economy. According to an initial breakdown of…
The outsize (un)importance of the tarsands
It’s easy to overestimate the importance of the tar sands to the Canadian economy. Tar sands and their pipelines are after all hailed by the ruling Conservatives, sections of the…