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…
OPEC
All hands on deck to rig the oil market
The oil industry and the free market are not well acquainted. The price of oil has long been manipulated more by cartels than by free markets. Since the 1970s, the…
Jason Kenney calls Elizabeth May, Yves-François Blanchet ‘un-Canadian,’ accuses them of ‘blaming the victim’
Now that Premier Jason Kenney has declared it “un-Canadian” to say oil is dead, I wonder if it’s OK to admit Alberta’s fossil fuel industry is on the ropes? Probably.…
Oil Industry Disses the Free Market
The free market, who needs it. Not the oil industry obviously. Not the industry nor the governments that depend on its largesse for royalties and taxes. We just had a…
Oil Capitals Hunker Down
To Calgarians, the city is starting to feel like a punching bag. Its primary industry suffers one body blow after another. Oil prices crashed at the end of 2014 as…
The Cartel Still Rules … Sort of
It isn’t easy to convince nominally free-market Albertans that monopoly and government interference in the market made us rich, but of course they did. Nothing has contributed more to the…
Sarcasm does not become a premier — especially as our placid boreal Dominion grows less gelid by the day
Methinks the premier doth protest too much! What else can we say about Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s bizarre 2,330-word public letter yesterday to Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada, attacking…
Saudis to Alberta—Tough Shit!
Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi didn't say quite what I've suggested in my headline, but only the words differed, not the sentiment. The Saudis, as we all know, have been…
Blogger Brian Mason explains why Jim Prentice, ‘Alberta’s first Wildrose premier,’ is preparing to call a snap election
Former NDP leader Brian Mason in a couple of typical poses, above and below. I’ll bet you didn’t know he was a terrific political blogger too! Jim Prentice is Alberta’s…
Oil Price: Has Saudi Arabia gambled and lost?
Is it better to have gambled and lost? Saudi Arabia is calling the shots in the steep price decline of oil in recent weeks, by refusing to cut its output…
OPEC Sets Up the Rollercoaster, Albertans Take a Ride (Again)
“You come from capitalist nations. You know what the market does. For any commodity it goes up and down, up and down”—Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi* Contrary to the expectations…
OPEC Sees a Bright Future Ahead. Unfortunately, It’s Not Yours.
As far as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, is concerned the future looks rosy. In its latest outlook report, OPEC foresees $177 per barrel oil prices by 2040…
Canada’s tar sands cannot enhance U.S. energy security
The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and oil executives have consistently claimed that the dirty Alberta tar sands oil is a boon to U.S. energy security. Here are…