We don't need a study to tell us why our oil and gas investment is slipping

[Anonymous]

From Sun Media



Natural Resources Canada announced this week it will spend $280,000 on a study into why investment in Canada's oil and gas sector is falling behind the rest of the world.



Really!? Seriously!?



Here, save taxpayers a quarter of a million dollars: The reason Canada has lost upwards of $35 billion in energy-sector investment (some calculations peg the sum closer to $80 billion) is that nearly every government in the country is doing its damnedest to make investment in oil and gas unattractive.



The sole exceptions are Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.



Yes, yes, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was out west at the end of the week kinda, sorta promoting pipelines. (Kinda, sorta ― rather than fully and forcefully ― is the only way Trudeau ever promotes pipelines.)





And, yes, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has been a full-throated defender of (some) pipelines since last fall. She's even off next week to Toronto and New York on her own pro-pipeline tour.



But no one really believes either Trudeau or Notley are deeply committed to greater energy development. The governments of both betray their outward support for pipelines by implementing policies that do everything possible to scare away investors.



When Notley was in opposition (and had very little expectation of ever being premier), she was mostly an opponent of the oilsands and pipelines. And so were many in her cabinet and caucus.



During the last election, she admitted she was only in favour of the Energy East pipeline (now cancelled). She was lukewarm, at best, to Keystone and flat out opposed to Northern Gateway. Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain didn't come up.



And since being elected, her government has imposed a carbon tax on everything that moves in Alberta, raised taxes on energy companies, increased environmental regulations, forced the closure of coal-fired power plants and imposed a hard cap on emissions from the oilsands, among other anti-energy actions.



Notley's NDP government is desperate for re-election next year and desperate to reduce its enormous budget deficits. It now realizes it needs pipelines to achieve both; ergo its sudden support for Kinder Morgan.



So energy investors who have to manage tens of billions in capital can be forgiven for looking beyond Notley's newfound rhetorical enthusiasm for pipelines. It smacks of a deathbed conversion.



Trudeau's motivation is even more devious.



The PM's closest advisors are longtime eco-activists and architects of Ontario's disastrous "green" energy scheme. But Trudeau, too, recognizes that he at least needs to pay lip service to economic development and balanced budgets ― both of which require him to say he favours pipelines.



So his government recently has developed a novel approach: Permit more energy development, but landlock Alberta's oil and gas on the Prairies with no pipelines to buyers. This approach is known among environmentalists as "demarketing."



It's not true that pipeline companies can win construction approval with minimal enviro assessments. One B.C. project was ordered to have an independent impact study of dragonfly populations along its route ― at its expense.



Each successful pipeline project has satisfied scores of such demands from regulators before being granted a permit. But Trudeau's Liberals cultivated a public belief that assessments were inadequate so it could introduce changes to the assessment process that make new pipelines impossible.



And those are just the difficulties in dealing with allegedly pro-pipeline governments in Canada. Then, there are the openly hostile ones in B.C. and Quebec.



It may be a puzzle to the federal Liberals why investors are avoiding us, so much so they are going to spend your money studying the causes. But to the people whose billions are needed to get such projects built, it's no wonder at all why they're investing anywhere but in Canada.



[size=150]Wasting $280,000 of taxpayers money when Trudeau and most premiers only need to look in the mirror to see Canada is becoming an unattractive country for oil and gas investment.[/size]

[Anonymous]

Another reason Canada is slipping as an investment destination.

https://scontent.fyxd1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/30442575_890540447773004_4622177030098649088_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=c5010a8edd05659c7c20876c3251749c&oe=5B6CEBF4">

[Anonymous]

Another reason Canada is slipping as an investment destination.

https://scontent.fyxd1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/30442575_890540447773004_4622177030098649088_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=c5010a8edd05659c7c20876c3251749c&oe=5B6CEBF4">

 

[Anonymous]

Anybody who voted for Justine should be forced to wear dunce hat for as long as he remains in office.

[Anonymous]

You don't sustain a middle class by giving up billions of dollars in private job creating investments. Our loss is North Dakota, Colorado, Oklahoma and West Texas's gain.

[Anonymous]

Breaking News: Kinder Morgan halts Trans Mountain pipeline expansion amid B.C. opposition



Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML) has suspended all "non-essential activities and related spending" on the expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline, the company said in a Sunday news release.



The release said that the company will "not commit additional shareholder resources" to the project in light of "continued actions in opposition to the project" by B.C.'s provincial government.



Kinder Morgan said it would consult with stakeholders with a view to reaching agreements by May 31 that "may allow the project to proceed."

https://globalnews.ca/news/4131315/kinder-morgan-pauses-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-amid-b-c-opposition/">https://globalnews.ca/news/4131315/kind ... pposition/">https://globalnews.ca/news/4131315/kinder-morgan-pauses-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-amid-b-c-opposition/

[Anonymous]

Breaking News: Kinder Morgan halts Trans Mountain pipeline expansion amid B.C. opposition



Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML) has suspended all "non-essential activities and related spending" on the expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline, the company said in a Sunday news release.



The release said that the company will "not commit additional shareholder resources" to the project in light of "continued actions in opposition to the project" by B.C.'s provincial government.



Kinder Morgan said it would consult with stakeholders with a view to reaching agreements by May 31 that "may allow the project to proceed."

https://globalnews.ca/news/4131315/kinder-morgan-pauses-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-amid-b-c-opposition/">https://globalnews.ca/news/4131315/kind ... pposition/">https://globalnews.ca/news/4131315/kinder-morgan-pauses-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-amid-b-c-opposition/

And Justine does nothing as billions of dollars and thousands of jobs disappear.

[Anonymous]

Alberta and Ottawa are doing a great job of wrecking Canada's oil and gas industry.



http://www.jwnenergy.com/article/2018/3/three-charts-show-how-oil-and-gas-feels-about-notley-trudeau/?platform=hootsuite">http://www.jwnenergy.com/article/2018/3 ... =hootsuite">http://www.jwnenergy.com/article/2018/3/three-charts-show-how-oil-and-gas-feels-about-notley-trudeau/?platform=hootsuite

Both the Alberta and federal government received a failing grade from industry for how they have handled issues affecting the industry, in a recent survey conducted by JWN.



A resounding 81 per cent of respondents said the Alberta New Democrat government's efforts to link carbon taxes to pipeline approvals has failed.



Overall, 40 per cent of respondents gave the Alberta government an "F" on their performance on issues affecting the industry.



The federal government fared even worse, with 56 per cent of respondents giving it an F grade on issues affecting the industry.

[Berry Sweet]

Of course they need a study...rich people need money...then they will do a study about the study...

[Anonymous]

Of course they need a study...rich people need money...then they will do a study about the study...

It's taxpayer money. Civil servants need to justify their jobs.

[Berry Sweet]

Of course they need a study...rich people need money...then they will do a study about the study...

It's taxpayer money. Civil servants need to justify their jobs.

They will gladly take it.  And do another study...

[Anonymous]

All Nothead has done is rape  Albertans and chase away billions of dollars in investment. Doubling down on her  disastrous social license experiment is the definition of stupid.

The Notley government has spent three years doing everything it can to ruin Alberta's economy.



It has imposed – and then raised – an unwanted carbon tax. It has risked reducing development of the oilsands by imposing a hard cap on emissions. It has raised taxes on energy companies, cozied up to the federal Liberals and accelerated the shut down of every one of our coal-fired power plants at a tremendous cost to Alberta taxpayers and coal communities.



And in the process of paying for this, the NDP are on a path to rack up nearly $100 billion in debt.



All of this was done in the name of buying "social licence," the theory that Alberta might win the agreement of the B.C. government and environmental activists to build pipelines if we showed a willingness to suffer economic pain in the name of saving the planet.





But it's been all pain and no gain – at least $35 billion in lost investment.



Sunday's announcement by Kinder Morgan that it was suspending any real construction work on its Trans Mountain expansion project is proof positive that Rachel Notley's "social licence" is what it has always been – horse droppings.



Not surprisingly, the premier herself is still drinking the social-licence bathwater.



If Notley were serious about getting pipelines built, at a Sunday news conference she should have stepped to the microphone and announced two things: She was repealing her government's carbon tax and she was withdrawing Alberta from the national climate pact – the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.



In the name of winning pipeline approvals, Alberta has been beggaring itself. We have been the ones doing ALL of the suffering, ALL of the proving of our environmental commitment.



It's now time for others to prove their sincerity to us. Let them buy for our cooperation. For once, let them show their support for us, rather than Albertans always having to be the ones doing the proving.



Notley should have suspended her government's carbon tax and ended her cooperation with the federal government until others do far more to help. Social licence is getting us nowhere, we should stop spending billions and billions on it.



But remember, this is the same premier who called our province the "embarrassing cousin" of Confederation for its environmental record before her. She is the last person who is going to back away for her government's disastrous Climate Leadership plan.



If our Peter Pan Prime Minister wants Alberta's buy-in on his climate plan and his carbon tax, he and his government have to take concrete action to get Trans Mountain built, not the other way around.



On Sunday, federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr called on the B.C. government to "end all threats of delay" to Trans Mountain. Ooo, I'll bet that really got the NDP government of B.C. Premier John Horgan quaking in their loafers.



Two things: Carr's remarks are too little, too late. And how come tough-ish federal statements never come from Justin Trudeau? It is not lost on opponents of pipelines that Ottawa's tough talk comes from second fiddles.



Notley could also have announced her government was shutting off gasoline shipments to British Columbia. If B.C. activists and politicians are so concerned about their carbon footprint, we should help them by forcing them to abandon their cars.



But instead of doing any of these things, on Sunday Notley called on Ottawa to offer the oil industry a bailout and suggested her government might spend even more taxpayer billions helping pay for construction of Trans Mountain.



She just doesn't get it.



If you are an NDP MLA, you might want to dust off your resume. You'll probably be needing another job after next year's election.

http://edmontonsun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-notleys-tough-talk-on-trans-mountain-not-enough-to-save-alberta">http://edmontonsun.com/opinion/columnis ... ve-alberta">http://edmontonsun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-notleys-tough-talk-on-trans-mountain-not-enough-to-save-alberta

[Anonymous]

From Rick Bell of Sun Media





It's not the end of the pipeline to the west coast but you can see it from here.



Kinder Morgan, the pipeline company, drops the bomb Sunday afternoon.



The pipeline argy-bargy with the B.C. government is trying their patience. Right now, they won't be committing added dollars to the project. They don't want to risk billions on something they can't control.



Things have to get a whole lot better by May 31, just weeks away.



If they don't, Kinder Morgan finds it hard to think of how they can go forward. Yikes.



This move comes just after Trudeau went to the Lower Mainland and Fort Mcmurray late last week.



As this column said Friday, the PM spouted the same tiresome, gag-inducing, not-so-sweet nothings well beyond the point of nausea.



On Sunday, his pipeline sidekick Jim Carr calls on B.C. Premier John Horgan to play nice and stop threatening to delay the pipeline.



Back in B.C., I can just see them curled up in the fetal position over Carr's wimpy make-my-day moment. Not.



The Trudeau government will look at all available options. They are determined to have the pipeline built. Newshounds do ask Carr why the Trudeau government just don't put their foot down.



Lots of stickhandling. These guys are pathetic.



What's going down must be tough to take for the self-styled smart set who weeks and months ago saw the B.C. government on the ropes and victory for the pipeline.



Others with their feet planted firmly on the ground (hi, mom!) saw a whole lot of ugly.



And now the clock ticks to May 31 and political BS just won't cut it anymore.



Premier Notley's bogus brainwave of a carbon tax magically getting us love for a pipeline is now a cruel joke.



Her NDP government's dragging-their-feet on playing hardball to get shovels in the ground on this approved pipeline expansion was absolutely the wrong way to go.



And being the BFF of Trudeau leaves Notley on Sunday asking our fearful leader once again "to act in the defence of Alberta."



"A federal approval of a project must be worth more than the paper it's written on," says the premier.



"Alberta is going to do whatever it takes."



Notley reminds us she's bringing in a law allowing the turning off of the oilpatch taps to B.C., the kind of idea she pooh-poohed a few months back when she thought United Conservative leader Jason Kenney's get-tough stance sounded like President Trump.



Notley adds the Alberta taxpayer could also invest in the pipeline expansion, an idea Kenney supports because he believes we are now in an economic emergency.



As this nasty news hits, Notley is still feeling calm and confident about the pipeline and the premier predicts any highfives among the pipeline protesters or in the B.C. government will be "very short-lived." We'll see.



Kenney once again blasts Trudeau for "standing passively by, uttering meaningless bromides."



"It's time for the prime minister to lead like a prime minister should."



He also slams the Notley NDP for "fumbling the ball from Day One."



The United Conservative leader, who has wanted to drop the gloves for some time, does not change his tune this day.



"It's time we get a little cranked up about this," says Kenney, who has been pushing Trudeau to use the power and the money of the federal government to get the B.C. NDP government to behave.



B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan is unrepentant on Sunday. In fact, he is smiling. He talked to the Kinder Morgan boss and to Trudeau.



Horgan says Kinder Morgan feels unnecessarily harassed by the B.C. government. The premier disagrees.



With Trudeau, Horgan says there was a "reasonable discussion between two people who have a different point of view."



Ah, isn't that just the sweetest.



Horgan doesn't sound like he's blinking.



"The interests of Texas boardrooms are not the interests of British Columbians," intones the B.C. premier.



Horgan figures the Kinder Morgan pipeline investors have to be moved by the passions of British Columbians protesting the pipeline.



"I profoundly believe in the rights of British Columbians to stand up and make sure we're doing everything we can to protect the interests of our province."



Then he adds: "I'll allow shareholders in Kinder Morgan to deal with their issues."



That they will. The clock ticks, moving ever closer to May 31.