That means less investment, less job creation and ultimately less prosperity for Canadians
By Elmira Aliakbari and Ashley Stedman The Fraser Institute With pipeline shortages driving down the price of Canadian oil, the losses for the energy sector – and for Canada’s economy – are staggering. According to a new study, insufficient pipeline capacity cost Canada’s energy sector $20.6 billion – or one per cent of the country’s…
UCP promised to regain a competitive advantage, making the province attractive again for investors, entrepreneurs and businesses
By Ashley Stedman and Elmira Aliakbari The Fraser Institute Albertans opted for change in last month’s provincial election. Now it’s time for the new government to do what it was elected to do: improve the economy. The United Conservative Party promised during the campaign to regain a competitive advantage over other jurisdictions and make the…
Montreal Economic Institute says policy and layers of taxes are crippling Canada's oil and gas industry
The Montreal Economic Institute, an independent public policy think-tank, says Alberta’s $30 carbon tax is around 50 per cent higher than the rate in place in Quebec, as a result of the latter province’s cap-and-trade system. MEI has just published a research paper, The Cumulative Impact of Harmful Policies – The Case of Oil and…
Liberals “backstop” carbon-tax will lead to $30 a tonne next year for Alberta, 50% higher than the rate currently in place in Quebec
By Jean Michaud and Germain Belzile Montreal Economic Institute New Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has vowed to repeal the provincial carbon levy implemented by the previous NDP government. That tax began in 2017 at $20 a tonne and rose to $30 a tonne before the NDP froze it in protest to delays over the Trans…
The economic damage to the energy industry is due largely to government regulatory and tax policies
By Steven Globerman and Joel Emes The Fraser Institute Canadian oil and gas companies face major problems, in great part due to government policy. Legal restrictions on the expansion of pipeline capacity have restricted exports of oil, shrinking profit margins. The subsequent price decline for Western Canada Select oil spurred former Alberta premier Rachel Notley…
The results of greater energy efficiency will materialize over the long term, even if politicians seek abbreviated timelines
Jock Finlayson and Denise Mullen Business Council of B.C. Metro Vancouver residents are rightly upset over paying the highest gasoline prices ever recorded in a North American city. Cost-of-living pressures are already significant for many households in British Columbia, making the recent jump in pump prices particularly hard to stomach. The unprecedented attention being given…
Fraser Institute report urges policy changes to encourage investment in Canadian projects
Capital investment in Canada’s upstream oil and gas industry, essentially, exploration and production, increased 15 per cent from 2016 to 2018 compared to 41 per cent in the U.S. over the same period, according to a report released on Tuesday by Canadian public policy think-tank the Fraser Institute. “Part of the explanation for the diverging…
Fraser Institute report says overdependence on American market is hammering the Canadian oil industry
Just how important is market access and lack of pipeline capacity to the Canadian economy? A report released on Tuesday by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian public policy think-tank, said the issue is driving down the price of Canadian oil, costing the country’s energy sector $20.6 billion in lost revenues last year. “Without sufficient pipelines…GDP fell by 0.1 per cent following 0.3 per cent growth in January as both goods-producing and services-producing industries declined
The Canadian economy contracted in February led by another decline in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector. Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that GDP fell by 0.1 per cent following 0.3 per cent growth in January as both goods-producing and services-producing industries declined. “Mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction (-1.6 per cent)…
Economists call the latest StatsCan numbers disappointing
Canada’s merchandise trade deficit with the world has narrowed slightly going from $3.1 billion in January to $2.9 billion in February, according to Statistics Canada. The federal agency reported on Wednesday that following two consecutive monthly increases, total imports declined 1.6 per cent to $50.9 billion in February. Imports were down in eight of 11…
Canada can, and should, supply our responsibly produced energy to the rest of the world. Being allowed to do so would allow us to obtain fair value for our natural resources, and help the world meet growing energy demand. Yet we continue to impede on our own ability to get our energy products to market.…
January was the first month of temporary mandatory production cuts in Alberta: StatsCan
Crude oil and natural gas production and electricity generation rose in January, while coal production declined compared with the same month in 2018, says Statistics Canada. The federal agency reported on Friday that Canada produced 22.3 million cubic metres (140.3 million barrels) of crude oil and equivalent products in January, up 3.1 per cent from…
Bill C-48 divides Canadians and betrays the promise of Confederation
Members of the Canadian Senate, myself included, have heard from thousands of Canadians for and against Bill C-69, which promises to modernize the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. That response is a good thing. But an eerie silence prevails around Bill C-48. And that’s odd because C-48 is far more dangerous…
But the decline in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction continues
Canada’s economy expanded 0.3 per cent in January, fully offsetting the declines in November and December 2018, according to Statistics Canada. The rise was widespread as 18 of 20 industrial sectors were up, said the federal agency on Friday. On a three-month rolling average basis, real gross domestic product edged up 0.1 per cent, the…
Saturday Night Live could not have crafted a better parody of energy, economic and scientific reality
Twenty-nine-year-old ex-bartender and freshman U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez received thunderous environmentalist and media acclaim when she introduced her Green New Deal resolution in the House and Ed Markey submitted it in the Senate. It was quickly endorsed or cosponsored by scores of other house and senate Democrats, including many who want to run against President…