Acting 'like a bunch of villages as opposed to a nation'

[Retrosnap]

Even Notley gets it.

If Canada wants to eventually move to a de-carbonized future, the country's present must include pipelines, says Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rachel- ... -1.3548542

In other news...

Couldn't resist...

[hobbyguy]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36131391

Hmmm... the Saudis are abandoning the economic model that Alberta wants to follow...

And this thought never seems to cross the mind of the Alberta politicians: build an export pipeline, endanger thousands of jobs that depend on the marine eco system. Alberta politicians never, never, ever talk about tankers. Guess that's because they don't have ships in Alberta. The real risk and real costs are not in the pipelines, they are in the tanker traffic and all that entails.

And this thought never seems to cross the minds of Alberta politicians: whO? just who? is going to give up market share in the world markets so that Alberta can ship dilbit?? The Saudis? The Russians? The Iranians? The Americans? The Venezuelans? All have lower costs and/or better product. Ya right, Putin is going to say "sure, go ahead, take 3-5% of our market share".

Export pipelines are DOA.

Especially when the arrogance is to turn a natural gas pipeline into a dilbit pipeline and cost the province you want to ship through money and jobs! http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/10/21/energy-east-pipeline-transcanada_n_6023540.html

Get over it Alberta, you guys were the original "villagers" when you mounted such a hue and cry over the NEP. (Aw gee, if you hadn't you would already have an energy east pipeline..). Further disparaging remarks like calling the rest of Canada villagers will get you a big phat pffft!

[Smurf]

Not saying it is right or wrong but do you actually think the jobs created or lost by the marine eco system are anything but minuscule when compared the oil industry. Canada has been supported by the Alberta oil industry for decades. Even Trudeau said in his speech that

Trudeau says pipelines will pay for Canada's transition to a green economy

Steadfast in his commitment to getting Canadian oil to market, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said putting pipelines in the ground will help pay for the country's transition to a greener future.

http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/03 ... en-economy


There is no doubt that an oil spill is a possibility with unknown consequences but to destroy Canada's oil industry at this time is probably to destroy or at least set back Canada's economy for decades if not forever.

[hobbyguy]

I disagree with JT on this one.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/labor10b-eng.htm

The "real" economy is all about jobs. There are roughly 18,000,0000 jobs in Canada. The oil industry directly employs roughly 195,000 people. That's roughly 1%. http://policyschool.ucalgary.ca/?q=content/how-many-people-really-do-work-oil-sands The tar sands direct employment is roughly 25,000 or .13%.

That is confirmed when you look at the unemployment rate and think about the touted idea that the collapse of oil prices and capital investment in the tar sands (construction jobs) is such a big deal. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/canada/unemployment-rate We have NOT seen an "employment Armageddon".

Then you also have to consider that the significant drop in capital expenditure in the tar sands was forecast years before the event and without a forecast for lower prices - and quite accurately for now - by CERI (Canadian Energy Research Institute [Calgary]). All those construction jobs were going away anyway.

Now factor in the high numbers of TFWs that were employed in those construction jobs anyway.

Add in that people want jobs where they want to live. Apples and oranges to working in Fort Mac.

By comparison, the BC Marine tourism industry is said to employ 32,000 people. That's more than all the direct tar sands jobs. http://blog.wwf.ca/blog/2014/01/27/canadas-tourism-industry-needs-marine-management-protection/

Then consider the long term: when the tar sands have been cooked out, the jobs are cooked. If we look after the marine environment, the Marine tourism industry, fishing etc. will always be there. So why would you put "forever" jobs at risk for a smaller number of temporary jobs??

Nobody really gave much of a rats about the tar sands until they started wanting to put other folks livelihoods at risk. That's when the rubber hits the road. The export pipelines/tankers are separate issues. Build all the pipelines you want - I am ok with that. But tankers? Nope. If Alberta wants to pursue a policy of tar sands extraction at all costs, that's fine, but not when it steps into other areas of other province's economies and puts them at risk.

IF Alberta wanted to build more upgraders, and build a NEW pipeline east to replace imports (thus reducing tanker traffic) - I would be on board with that. But the more you look at exporting dilbit the more it is apparent that it is "all about this quarter's profit" for mostly foreign corporations and all about political expediency.

Alberta went away from the "Lougheed model" regarding the tar sands. Now that Peter has been proven correct, Alberta politicians are desperately trying to make the false model keep working, but it won't. We should not enable them. Newfoundland has chosen to react a different way, and has significantly raised taxes to reflect the reality of the world markets. Alberta could do the same, a stroke of the pen and pay the same sales tax we pay in BC (and much less than many other provinces) and their deficit would go "poof". But no, the Alberta politicians proudly tout "low taxes", and when a province like BC asks for a revenue share for assuming the risks and costs of export pipelines - nope, all mine, all mine...

Export pipelines just don't make any sense.

[The Green Barbarian]

I The tar sands direct employment is roughly 25,000 or .13%.
.

what are the "tar" sands?

[Pat-Taporter]

Tar sand / oilsands . . .

Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame

Dr. Karl A. Clark

http://www.canadianpetroleumhalloffame. ... clark.html

. . . The tar sands were accepted as a legitimate part of the petroleum industry and Dr. Clark became the father of oilsands extraction as it is known today.

In 1938, Dr. Clark joined the University of Alberta's department of Mining and Metallurgy. One of Clark's colleagues indicated his influence on students by saying that under his instruction they "learned the wider significance of truth, responsibility, and devotion to the cause." . . .

The Parkland Institute within the University of Alberta

Introduction

http://www.parklandinstitute.ca/about

Parkland Institute is an Alberta-wide, non-partisan research centre situated within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta.

Parkland Institute studies economic, social, cultural, and political issues facing Albertans and Canadians, using the perspective of political economy. The Institute shares the results of its research widely and promotes discussion of the issues its research raises.

Alberta: Fossil-Fuel Belt or Green Powerhouse

Gordon Laxer

Nov 02, 2015

http://www.parklandinstitute.ca/alberta ... powerhouse

It is dangerous to place all one’s eggs in a non-renewable resource basket. Premier Rachel Notley, like Peter Lougheed before her, recognizes this. But if Alberta continues to rely mainly on the Sands, it may well suffer a fate like the auto rust belt in Michigan and southwestern Ontario. In the 2030s, people will shake their heads about the folly of Alberta having madly excavated its way down into a “fossil fuel belt,” while everyone else stopped buying or shipping dirty Sands oil and moved on to a low-carbon society.

Alberta’s economy will be left with little but the detritus of closed Sands projects and leaking tar pits. This is not Alberta’s inevitable future. The Alberta Premier’s 2011 Council for Economic Strategy acknowledged the danger of Alberta failing to diversify its economy. It warned that “the creation of an affordable, environmentally friendly alternative to oil would be a great thing for the world. It could be economically devastating for Alberta if, when it happens, we are still heavily dependent on oil exports. . . .”

“My son rode a camel, I drive a motor. My son flies a jet plane. His son will ride a camel,” (https://twitter.com/afterthesands/statu ... 3434909696).

With a nod to hobbyguy for posting a similar article earlier.

Reuters

Business | Mon Apr 25, 2016 4:53pm EDT
Related: World, Deals, Saudi Arabia

Saudi prince unveils sweeping plans to end 'addiction' to oil

RIYADH | By Samia Nakhoul, William Maclean and Marwa Rashad

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi ... SKCN0XM1CD

The powerful young prince overseeing Saudi Arabia's economy unveiled ambitious plans on Monday aimed at ending the kingdom's "addiction" to oil and transforming it into a global investment power.

. . .

"We will not allow our country ever to be at the mercy of commodity price volatility or external markets," Prince Mohammed said at his first news conference with international journalists, who were invited to a Riyadh palace for the event. . . .

[Pat-Taporter]

LOL, I just remembered a Yardley Jones cartoon from back in the NEP and the, “Let the Eastern *bleep* Freeze in the Dark,” bumper sticker era. I haven’t been able to find it on the net yet, but it showed Lougheed in a big car, pushing Trudeau in a little car, and the caption said, “Get out’a my way.”

I believe it was something about the economy and self-sufficiency . . ..

CBC Alberta

Tories at 40
1971 - 2011

2011

http://www.cbc.ca/alberta/features/tories40/nep.html

. . . The NEP sought more federal control over the energy industry. The program had three main goals: increase the federal share of energy revenues, boost Canadian ownership in the oil industry, and make Canada self-sufficient as an oil producer. . . .