CAGC

By Mark Scholz ( mscholz@caodc.ca ) President of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors The Hitch - May 2016 Vol. 14 NO. 2 Edition The Oil Respect campaign was born of the conviction that Hollywood celebrities, radical environmentalists, and misinformed politicians were misleading Canadians about the oil and gas industry. Our goal is to both correct the record and to give those Canadians who support the industry a voice. That voice is being heard. In the wake of the Fort McMurray wildfire, we are also being introduced to the real people behind this industry as they struggle to pull their lives back together. For now they need places to stay. Over the medium term they need a vibrant industry.                 Not long ago the rhetoric from provincial and federal governments favored slowing and even shutting down oil and gas development. They opposed pipelines and supported a ban on tanker traffic on British Columbia’s northern coast. Sometimes they dis

Gary Lamphier - Edmonton Journal May 30, 2016 Eventually, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government will have to stop talking out of both sides of its mouth and make some tough decisions on whether to support new oil pipelines or liquefied natural gasprojects. Although the Selfie King’s extended political honeymoon is starting to ebb — witness the blowback over his tough guy act in Parliament two weeks ago — we’re no closer to a final decision on key energy infrastructure projects than we were when Trudeau was elected in October. This isn’t a fresh observation, of course. Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson, among others, has chronicled the Trudeau regime’s chronic aversion to decision-making, and its affection for seemingly endless consultation and protracted regulatory reviews. In the meantime, with Canadian energy policy adrift, anti-capitalist, anti-fossil fuel crusaders such as Naomi Klein are only too happy to fill the vacuum, flying around the country and delivering in

By: Gwyn Morgan Contributed to : The Globe and Mail The collapse of global commodity prices was sudden and severe. Workers coming off a decade of unprecedented prosperity suddenly found themselves jobless and unable to provide for their beleaguered families. For a time, they maintained hope that the downturn would be temporary, but as the first year stretched into the second, many lost hope. Some who had come from high unemployment provinces to participate in the Alberta boom began their glum journey back. Laid-off workers saw a glimmer of hope when commodity prices appeared to bottom out. At the very least, it seemed, things wouldn’t get worse. Then nature unleashed a crushing conflagration. Searing winds swept across drought-stricken farms and forests. A young boy comes running breathlessly into the house shouting to his mom, “There’s a big black cloud in the sky.” They hurry outside to behold a terrifying sight in the western sky that would force the family out of their

By: Steve Lafleur and Ben Eisen, The Fraser Institute Published in The Roughneck Buy & Sell / May 2016                 Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci recently told a business audience that Alberta has the “lowest taxes overall of any province or territory” in Canada. A year ago, this was unambiguously true. At that time, Alberta had the lowest overall tax burden in the country and also had by far the lowest rates on key taxes that greatly affect economic growth and competitiveness. Now, Alberta’s once vaunted tax advantage over other Canadian provinces is no longer what it used to be, and certain key elements of the tax advantage have been erased completely because the provincial government has enacted a suite of tax increases. When it comes to tax competitiveness, the overall tax burden imposed by a government is of course important. But the composition of the tax mix is also important, since certain taxes – such as personal income and corporate taxes – do mo

By Gwyn Morgan, Columnist, Troy Media Published in The Roughneck Buy & Sell / May 2016                 The federal government’s planned $30-billion budget deficit, to be followed by three more deficits totalling $113 billion, brings to mind former U.S. Secretary of State henry Kissinger’s observation that “It’s not often that nations learn from the past, even rarer that they draw the correct conclusions from it.” The budget deficit is triple the “modest” and declining $10-billion deficit promised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during last year’s election campaign. Likewise in 1970, Trudeau’s father Pierre forecast a “minimal” $5-billion federal deficit. That was followed by a dozen years of out-of-control spending that drove the deficit to over $32 billion and saw the national debt balloon by more than 700 per cent. Canada’s prime lending rate reached an incredible 22 percent, causing a great many personal and business bankruptcies while collapsing private inve

By: Ben Eisen and Charles Lammam, The Fraser Institute Published in – The Roughneck Buy & Sell / May 2016 In her recent “kitchen table address” about the state of Alberta’s finances, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley confirmed her government will once again increase spending in 2016-17, despite the province’s deep deficit. It appears the plan is to try to reduce the deficit over time by slowing down the rate of spending increases while hoping for revenue growth to gradually fill the budget hole. Notley’s plan closely resembles the fiscal strategy employed in Ontario in recent years by premiers Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne, which led to a string of budget deficits and a rapid run-up in provincial debt. If Alberta pursues the same approach, it will likely get the same undesirable results, particularly if oil prices stay low. In some respects, Ontario’s fiscal situation in 2009-10mirrors Alberta’s today. The province was in the process of absorbing major eco

By: A Chemist in Langley - Wordpress My vocal challenges to the viability of “ The Leap Manifesto ” have earned me some negative feedback and as such I figure it is necessary to back up my opinions with a few numbers. In doing this I will differentiate myself from the folks at the Manifesto who appear averse to presenting any numbers to support their ideas. Now the problem with the field of renewable energy is that there are a lot of people who love to wave their hands and make claims about the future. One of the bright lights of the field, whose light unfortunately dimmed too soon, Dr. David Mackay had an expression, “It’s not so much that I’m pro-nuclear, I’m just pro math”. In renewable energy the math counts, and as this post will show the math is against the idea that we can reach the Leap Manifesto goal of 100% Renewable Energy by 2050. Now a lot of the info in this post is cribbed from an earlier post   More on 100% Wind, Water and Sunlight and the Council of Canadians

By: A Chemist in Langley - Wordpress As anyone with any awareness of Canadian events knows, the City of Fort McMurray has undergone a complete evacuation because of an out-of-control wildfire. The news has kept me with one eye locked on my media feed as I have marveled at the resilience and dignity of the people of Alberta in this hour of need. As many have suggested, this is not a time to worry about the politics, but rather one to worry about and pray for the people displaced by this natural disaster. From a political perspective our leaders have shown admirable gravitas with Prime Minster Trudeau treading the cautious line dealing   directly with the wildfire without using it for political advantage . At one point in the day, it looked like Green Party Leader Elizabeth May might have decided to attempt to make political hay from the fire, but she quickly issued a correction and has since shown the calm and restraint we expect from our leaders in times like these. Unfortunately,