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By bigcitylib, on March 22, 2013, at 7:01 pm HONG KONG – State-owned CNOOC, which made China’s biggest-ever overseas energy acquisition last year, said Friday that annual profit fell 9.3 per cent because of higher costs for exploration and for operating in Canada’s oil sands.
[...]
Foreign operating expenses, in particular, jumped by a quarter because a higher proportion of production came from the Canada’s tar sands, where costs to extract oil are significantly higher than conventional crude projects.
Not that I would treat them as in any way equivalent. For example, I like Chinese food.
By John Klein, on March 21, 2013, at 9:47 am Oww, my sides would be hurting from laughing at the irony of this situation, if it weren’t a deadly serious joke that the Conservatives are playing on Canadians.
On a public relations mission to convince the public that the BC coast will be safe from oil spills, the clean-up vessel ran aground on a sandbar, and was delayed by hours.
British Columbia’s largest oil spill response vessel got stuck on a sandbar en route to a federal news conference where Monday about strengthening Canada’s oil spill defences.
This was only a test. If this had been a real emergency,
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: Oil The Humanity!
By Obert Madondo, on March 20, 2013, at 3:33 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive A former TransCanada Corporation employee who blew the whistle on the rising pipeline incidents and rule-breaking by Big Oil has been chosen as the recipient of the 2013 Golden Whistle Blower Award. Evan Vokes, a former professional materials engineer at TransCanada Pipelines (TCPL), received the award in Ottawa on Monday. [...]
The post TransCanada Pipelines Whistleblower Receives National Award appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Stephen Elliott-Buckley, on March 11, 2013, at 4:00 pm
Donald Smith was protesting a sign at Glenmore Landing in Calgary’s southwest Sunday that bans political demonstrations. [CBC]
The privately owned parking lot near the prime minister’s constituency office asserts that protesting is prohibited. On the surface, this looks like the prime minister is impeding the constitutional rights of expression and peaceful assembly.
I’m sure he finds this all quite convenient, but a large hidden issue in this is the privatization of public space.
Can I prohibit protest in a space I own? Possibly.
Can I lament at the amount of space deemed to be public [parking lot, shopping mall] (Read more…)
By David Climenhaga, on March 11, 2013, at 12:41 am Former Australian PM John Howard at the Manning Centre’s Ottawa gabfest Sunday. Below: Tom Flanagan pictured on a button worn by many at Preston Manning’s “big-tent” conservative revival meeting, “Calgary School” professor Rainer Knopff seen in passing sporting his Flanagan button.
OTTAWA
Was former Australian PM John Howard sending Canadian conservatives a coded message about their future Saturday, or was his research just not up to snuff now that he’s no longer a prime minister?
Mr. Howard is a Liberal, which in Australia means he’s a conservative, which almost anywhere else would mean he’d be termed a neoliberal, which here
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Former Aussie PM’s unintended message to Canadian progressives: coalitions work!
By Greg Fingas, on March 8, 2013, at 8:25 am Assorted content to end your week.
- Public Interest Alberta takes a closer look at that province’s rhetoric about taxes, and finds that in fact most Albertans pay more income tax than they would under the more fair and progressive systems applied in other province: “Albertans who believe the myth that we pay the lowest taxes in Canada will be surprised to see that they are paying more income tax than if they lived in BC or Ontario. At the same time, people in Alberta with very high incomes are paying tens of thousands less in income tax than in
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
By David Climenhaga, on March 7, 2013, at 11:36 pm Finance Minister Doug Horner preps Albertans for yesterday’s budget. Actual Alberta finance ministers may not appear exactly as illustrated – but that’s the trick, isn’t it? Below: The real Doug Horner.
All in all, I guess, you could make a good case this was a pretty lousy budget.
It’s deeply confusing, as without any doubt the Alberta government intended, and there are a couple of real disasters lurking in its pages – got kids in post-secondary education, anyone?
But in the aftermath of the Alberta Budget Speech read this afternoon by Progressive Conservative Finance Minister Doug Horner, who was wearing
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Close enough for government work: Alberta Tories manage to hold their centre-right turf
By David Climenhaga, on March 7, 2013, at 1:03 am Typical Albertans await tomorrow’s budget aboard the Good Ship Richest Place on Earth. Alberta may not actually be as damp as illustrated. Below: Premier Alison Redford. Why is this woman smirking?
Oh, we’ll squeeze you till the pips squeak, Premier Alison Redford seemed to be promising Albertans yesterday, as we nervously awaited the provincial budget that is to be brought down, possibly in flames, this afternoon.
Well, we’re all really looking forward to that out here in the pothole-riddled Richest Place on Earth, I can assure you!
This is different, of course, from the promises Ms. Redford was promising back
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Alberta budget primer: when they say ‘tough decisions,’ they really mean … ‘decisions that will be tough on you’
By Greg Fingas, on March 6, 2013, at 8:52 am Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.
- Paul Adams highlights how the Cons and their anti-social allies have spent decades trying to convince Canadians that it’s not worth trying to pursue the goals we value – and how the main challenge for progressives is to make the case that a better future is possible: This is a huge issue for progressives — perhaps the most important they face.
This lack of faith in government is partly the product of 30 years of increasingly conservative governments which have shed any social ambition in favour of tax cuts and austerity — and
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
By Admin CP, on March 6, 2013, at 5:05 am By: EcoJustice (Press Release) | Mar 5, 2013: EDMONTON — Ecojustice, armed with research that shows how toxic oilsands emissions are contaminating the Athabasca River, has called on the federal government to investigate whether oilsands operators have violated the Fisheries Act. “Canadians have the right to know how oilsands production impacts our air, water and land,” said Ecojustice senior scientist READ MORE
By Greg Fingas, on March 2, 2013, at 4:32 pm This and that to end your Saturday.
- Bill Curry breaks the news of the Cons’ next round of public service slashing – with Canada Revenue Agency employees whose work far more than pays for itself once more looming as one of the main targets of a government determined to ease the way for tax evasion and avoidance.
- Jodie Sinnema reports on the Parkland Institute’s ideas for a more progressive tax system in Alberta. And it’s particularly worth noting that Albertans themselves recognize the value of fair taxes even as their government continues to insist on the need to
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
By Obert Madondo, on March 2, 2013, at 3:19 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | March 2, 2013: Environmentalists have soundly condemned the U.S. State Department’s Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) report on TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The report, released Friday, concluded that the proposed 875-mile long pipeline, which would ship up to 830,000 barrels of Canada‘s dirty tar sands oil per day from Alberta to refineries on the READ MORE
By Greg Fingas, on March 1, 2013, at 9:19 am Assorted content to end your week.
- The Star’s editorial board highlights why our elected representatives should be countering the effect of precarious employment (rather than exacerbating them as the Cons have done): Simply put, programs like Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan were created back in the days when employees received wrist watches for 40 years of service. Unemployment was considered a temporary misfortune, and big companies were expected to provide adequate pensions to be topped up by government cheques. Those programs have not adapted to the new, more “precarious” world.
For example, EI benefits have been pared
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
By Obert Madondo, on February 28, 2013, at 8:19 pm “I do have some grave doubts about putting people in jail because of their taste in pictures” – Flanagan By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | Feb. 28, 2013: Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s former senior adviser, Tom Flanagan, has questioned the jailing of people who view child pornography. And paid a huge price for it. “I certainly have no READ MORE
By David Climenhaga, on February 28, 2013, at 1:24 am First World money and Third World roads. If we’re so rich in Alberta, why do we seem so poor? A motorist negotiates one of Edmonton’s famed potholes. Actual Edmonton drivers may not have snappy uniforms like this fellow. Below: Author, professor and former Alberta Liberal politician Kevin Taft, the cover of Follow the Money.
There aren’t many surprises in Alberta – at least if you’ve been paying attention.
However, apparently paying attention is something you can’t expect either the government or the media to do.
Consider the news in the Edmonton Journal earlier this week that “Experts have warned of
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Looking back in perplexity: where did all of Alberta’s money go again?
By Guest Blog, on February 26, 2013, at 7:14 am By Pembina Institute (Press Release) | Feb. 25, 2013: EDMONTON — As Canada faces increasing scrutiny of its weak climate change policy for oilsands development, a new report illustrates how both Alberta and the federal government can better manage emissions and improve the country’s international reputation. The new Pembina Institute report, Carbon Pricing Approaches in Oil and READ MORE
By Greg Fingas, on February 25, 2013, at 8:28 am Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading.
- Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how Alberta and other petro-states have ended up destroying their treasuries and their democratic systems alike by relying excessively on volatile resource prices: Thanks to the volatile nature of the world’s most lucrative commodity, various petro states find themselves short of cash. And that’s because most petro states don’t know how to budget let alone govern.
Like any plantation economy, petro states operate pretty much like irrational monocultures: they know how pump oil, sell oil, talk oil and spend oil. But they don’t know how to save or diversify its
. . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
By David Climenhaga, on February 25, 2013, at 1:45 am Fresh air and yogurt might have helped these guys live to be 160, but if they’d lived in Alberta, instead of Russia, where could they afford to sleep? Below, seniors care in Calgary, back in the day, before oldsters all carried tennis racquets, rode bicycles and looked like fashion models, only with white hair.
Do you remember that promise by the Alberta government to build 3,000 seniors’ beds? It turns out they only planned to rent them!
The problem with renting beds from private companies, of course, is the same as with any form of privatized medicare: it ends up
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Renting seniors’ beds is a formula for failure – and it’s time for Alberta to stop doing it
By Greg Fingas, on February 23, 2013, at 10:47 am Assorted content for your weekend reading.
- Chrystia Freeland points out why productivity doesn’t provide an accurate picture of economic development if it merely results in increased inequality rather than shared benefits: Productivity and innovation, the focus of policy makers and business leaders, no longer guarantee widely shared prosperity. “Digital technologies are different in that they allow people with skills to replicate their talents to serve billions,” Mr. Brynjolfsson said. “There is really a drastic winner-take-all effect because every industry is becoming like the software industry.” Classical economic theory isn’t entirely wrong. The danger isn’t — as it was . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
By John Klein, on February 21, 2013, at 4:29 pm Meat fraud is taking place all around us. Most people probably can’t tell the difference between similar looking meats sold in stores, were it not for the labeling.
Fish fraud is apparently common in the USA.
Safeway recalled big and juicy E.coli burgers. “Must be cooked” is right on the box, and they weren’t kidding, were they?
I’m not above eating horse meat. I’ve never done it, however. At least, I don’t think I have. Many French and Italians didn’t have a choice if they bought from a mega-meat distributor who decided for them.
What all this brings to
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: ReThink Meat
By Mark Brooks, on February 21, 2013, at 12:16 pm From Andrew Nikiforuk in today’s Tyee. The full article, called ‘Why can’t Alberta break even?‘, is worth a read.
How do you know when you live in petro state? Here are some key signs:
When your government pays 30 per cent of its road, education, and hospital bills with finite and volatile hydrocarbon revenue.
When your province posts five budget deficits in a row during a so-called “bitumen boom.”
When the billionaire owner of a hockey club (the Oilers) donates $430,000 to extend the 40-year rule of a one party state that ran out of ideas 30
. . . → Read More: Earthgauge Radio: How do you know you live in a petro state?
By Guest Blog, on February 21, 2013, at 11:59 am By Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Press Release) | Feb. 21, 2013: OTTAWA — A failure to carefully regulate the Canadian bitumen industry is putting Canada on a dangerous economic and environmental trajectory, says a new report released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and the Polaris Institute. The study’s original, integrated analysis READ MORE
By David Climenhaga, on February 20, 2013, at 2:17 am Razzle-dazzle, sis-boom-bah, balanced budgets, rah-rah-rah! Danielle Smith and the Wild Rosehip Tea Party yell squad cheers for Alison Redford’s Tory team’s worst plays on the field. The actual Alberta opposition may not be quite as illustrated. Below: Ms. Redford and B.C. Premier Christie Clark. Why are these two premiers smiling?
British Columbia and Alberta, Canada’s two westernmost provinces, have lots in common.
Both have economies that rely heavily on volatile natural resources, well-educated, diverse and generally socially progressive populations, and Westminster-style parliamentary legislatures in beautiful old buildings.
Both are also governed by irresponsible neoconservative coalitions with misleading names that
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: A Tale of Two Provinces: B.C. NDP and Wild Rosehip Tea Party show why opposition matters
By John Klein, on February 17, 2013, at 7:44 pm Stephen McDavid interviewed by CBC/SRC about climate change action: Stephen explains that the pipeline is a line in the sand. Using it, is crossing that line. I’ll explain why there is a line, further on in this post.
I was also interviewed. The CBC reporter was pleased to learn from me (off camera) that there is a car share co-op in Regina.
I know some people don’t see the big deal with the Keystone XL pipeline, thinking it’s just another way that people can make money. It’s more like a doomsday device, than economic stimulus. Taking into account the truth
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: #ForwardOnClimate Support in Regina: Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
By Jay Cables, on February 17, 2013, at 3:04 am This new video by NRDC and 350.org takes a cool, fact-based look at a hot topic – with current information on tar sands oil/Keystone XL.
The video discusses current research from Oil Change International that shows that tar sands oil will produce even more carbon pollution than previously estimated.
Link here for more NRDC videos on the backlash to tar sands oil.
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