THE POSSIBLE DEMISE OF THE ALBERTA OIL SANDS

With a NDP Provincial Government in Charge of  Alberta the following article may become reality.

 

 

An article from Calgary Herald by Lisa Corbella written awhile back about the possible future of Alberta's oil industry.


 

Quebec and the Fairy Godmother   Today, let's have some fun and play Fairy Godmother to Quebec. Let's grant the province the wish it articulated in Copenhagen. Wave the magic wand and poof, wish granted. Shut down Alberta's oilsands except, since it's Quebec making the wish, we have to call it tarsands even though it's not tar they use to run their Bombardier planes, trains and Skidoos.   Ah, at last! The blight on Canada's reputation shut down. All those dastardly workers from across Canada living in Fort McMurray, Calgary and Edmonton out of jobs, including those waitresses, truck drivers, nurses, teachers, doctors, pilots, engineers etc. They can all go on Employment Insurance like Ontario autoworkers and Quebec parts makers!   Closing down Alberta's oil industry would immediately stop the production of 1.8 million barrels of oil a day. Supply and demand being what it is, oil prices will go up and therefore the cost at the pump will go up too, increasing the cost of everything else.   But lost jobs in Alberta and across the country along with higher gas prices are a small price to pay to save the world and not "embarrass" Quebecers on the world stage. Not to worry though, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Nigeria can come to the rescue. You know, the guys who pump money into al-Qaida and help Osama bin Laden target those Van Doos fighting in Afghanistan. Bloody oil is so much nicer than dirty tarsands oil.   Shutting down the oilsands will reduce Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 38.4 Mt (megatonnes). Hooray! It's so fun to be a Fairy Godmother! While that sounds like a lot, Canada only produces two per cent of the world's man-made GHGs and the oilsands only produce five per cent of Canada 's total emissions or 0.1 per cent of the world's emissions. By comparison, the U.S.produces 20.2 per cent of the world's GHG emissions, 27 per cent of which comes from coal-fired electricity.   The 530-square-kilometre piece of land currently disturbed by the oilsands (which is smaller than the John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. at 570 square kilometres) must be reclaimed by law and will return to Alberta 's 381,000 square kilometres of boreal forest, a huge carbon sink.   Quebec, of course, has clean hydro power but more than 13,000 square kilometres were drowned for the James Bay hydroelectric project, permanently removing that forest from acting as a carbon sink.   But Fairy Godmother is digressing all over the place. While the oilsands only produce 5 per cent of Canada's GHGs, it contributes much more to Canada 's economy. After all, oil and gas make up one-quarter of the value on the TSX alone. Alberta is also the largest net contributor per capita by far to Confederation and there are only two more -- B.C. and Ontario .   Quebec hasn't made a net contribution to the rest of Canada for a very long time. This is not to be critical (after all, Fairy Godmothers never criticize), it's just a fact. In 2009, Albertans paid $40.46 billion in income, corporate and other taxes to the federal government and received back just $19.35 billion in services and goods from the feds. That means the rest of Canada got $21.1 billion from Albertans or $5,742 for each and every Alberta man, woman and child. In 2007 (the last year national figures are available), Alberta sent a net contribution of $19.49 billion to the ROC or $5,553 per Albertan -- more than three times what every Ontarian contributes at $1,757. Quebecers, on the other hand, each received $627 net or a total of $8 billion, money which was designed to help "equalize" social programs across the country.   Except, that's not what is happening. Quebec has more generous social programs like (nearly) free university tuition (paid for mostly by Albertans) and cheap provincial day care (paid for mostly by Albertans).   But in this Fairy Godmother world, poof, those delightful unequal programs have now disappeared! Quel dommage!   The July 2009 Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) report states that between 2008 and 2032, the oilsands will account for 172,000 person-years of employment in Ontario during the construction phase, plus 640,000 for operations over the 25-year period. For Quebec, the oilsands will account for 84,000 person-years of employment during the construction phase, plus 292,000 for operations over the 25-year period.   In total, the oilsands are expected to add $1.7 trillion to Canada 's GDP over the next 25 years.   Wave wand and poof, jobs gone! So, now that the oil industry has shut down and left Alberta, Alberta has become a have-not province and so has every other province. Equality at last! Hugo Chavez will be so pleased.   Meeting our Copenhagen targets suddenly looks possible, as most of us can't afford to drive our cars or buy anything but necessities, so manufacturers have closed their doors and emissions are way down.   The dream of many Quebecers to form their own nation and separate from Canada has died at last. Alas, in Alberta, separatist sentiment has risen dramatically, citizens vote to separate and the oil and gas industry returns.   Albertans start to pocket that almost $6,000 for each person that used to get sent elsewhere and now their kids get free tuition. Fairy Godmother's work is done. Wish granted. Quebecers must now sign up for a foreign worker visas to work in Alberta to send their cheques back home so junior can start saving up to pay for college.

FIFA scandal is getting the Ben Afflect slant

Ben Afflect took a real life event and totally misrepresented the actual facts of what happen to the American hostages in the movie Argo. Ken Taylor the Canadian Ambassador was the real brains behind the protection and getting the hostages out of Iran. Taylor got very little credit for his courage's effort from Afflect.
Argo was fantasy, so lets see how he handles the FIFA Scandal.


FIFA scandal to get Hollywood movie treatment | SOCCER | Soccer | Sports | Toron

The Climate Myth Continues

Goldstein calls out the Myth Sayers of Climate Change. Didn't they once call it Global Warming?
As long as Al Gore, David Suzuki. Elizabeth May and Obama keep pouring fuel on the fire of Climate Change, the myth will continue.



The climate ‘consensus’ myth | GOLDSTEIN | Columnists | Opinion | Toronto Sun

TRUDEAU'S MIDDLE CLASS BLUNDER.

Canada's middle class richest in study of big nations.

Michael Babad

The Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2014 10:19AM EDT

Last updated Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2014 4:51AM EDT

Middle class gainsCanada’s middle class appears to be the richest in a new study of incomes in several big countries.

The in-depth report published today in The New York Times, which looks at about 20 nations, indicates that Canadians have bumped Americans out of the top spot they have long held. 

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“Middle-class incomes in Canada – substantially behind in 2000 – now appear to be higher than in the United States,” the report says.

“Median income in Canada pulled into a tie with median United States income in 2010 and has most likely surpassed it since then,” it adds.

The New York Times backs up its findings saying they’re based on 35 years of surveys and compiled by LIS, which runs the Luxembourg Income Study Database. The findings were also studied by LIS researchers, along with colleagues at a New York Times website, and outside economists.

The findings show that median per-capita income in Canada, after tax, matched that of the Americans in 2010 at $18,700 (U.S.), However, as the report noted, it has probably increased since.

(As economics professor Anke Kessler of Simon Fraser University pointed out, the current numbers did not take into account countries that have traditionally been ahead of Canada, such as Norway, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Indeed, according to one of the researchers involved in the study, Luxembourg is higher.)

“Because the total bounty produced by the American economy has not been growing substantially faster here in recent decades than in Canada or Western Europe, most American workers are left receiving meagre raises,” the New York Times report says.

“Finally, governments in Canada and Western Europe take more aggressive steps to raise the take-home pay of low- and middle-income households by redistributing income.”

Douglas Porter of BMO Nesbitt Burns noted that commodity prices, and the Canadian dollar, were strong in 2010, and, of course, the country had an exceptional rebound from the global recession compared to most other countries.

"And, historically, of course, Canada's going to be up there, in any event," he said.

Median income in Canada has climbed by 19.7 per cent since 2000, according to the New York Times report, matching the pace in Britain, ahead of Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, and far ahead of the meagre 0.3 per cent in the United States.

Wealthy Americans, of course, still come out on top.

According to BMO's Mr. Porter, the report offers some confirmation of what anecdotal and other evidence have suggested.

"I would attribute some of this divergence to the much deeper recession the U.S. suffered through, especially on the employment front," he said.

"U.S. private sector employment finally recouped its recession losses in March, something Canada had accomplished about three years ago. And, payrolls in both U.S. manufacturing and construction are still down about 2 million jobs each from pre-recession levels, both industries that represent relatively well-paying, middle class jobs. In a nutshell, I believe that some of this weakening in the U.S. middle represents the lingering hangover of the most savage U.S. recession in the post-war era."

On top of that, he added, America's emphasis on "low taxes and low social support" oft means stronger income gains in good economic times, and soft incomes in poor times.

According to Statistics Canada, median income in 2010 was just shy of $30,000 (Canadian), while median family income was $76,000.

That, of course, masks the vast differences across the country and across income groups.

Deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal of CIBC World Markets cited the widening income gap in the United States over the past 15 years, and, at a slower pace, in Canada, which he believes is a huge issue.

“It is not that we are doing great (we are not), it is that the U.S. is doing much worse,” Mr. Tal said.

“In my opinion, the widening income gap in the U.S. is the number one economic problem facing the U.S.”

Given that, many manufacturers are now targeting the middle class in emerging economies as that group in America is a “shadow of its former self,” Mr. Tal added while warning about Canada, as well.

“I do believe that the growing income gap in Canada is an important and a significant problem with real macro economic implications,” he said.

“The debate about employment quality and skill mismatch is part of this picture. The fact that we are doing better than the U.S. does not mean that we have to relax about this issue. The opposite is the case.”

Average weekly earnings across the provinces rose last year to $910.74 from $894.71, lowest in Prince Edward Island at $753.58 and highest in Alberta at $1,108.01.