SeaKingTacco said:
I agree that demand/price for Alberta oil is largely set outside of Canada. But.
Why then, if Alberta oil is going to die a natural death anyway, does a federal government go to the trouble enacting a Tanker ban on the North BC coast that only really impacts the export of Alberta oil?
I'm not sure people understand what the tanker ban is. Oil will continue to be shipped via BC, just not tankers that carry more than 12500 Metric tons of oil. This being to mitigate any potential spill. Environmentalist and first nations have been pushing for this to protect the BC coast.
Is that just not unnecessarily vexatious?
Depends on what you think unnecessarily vexatious is. If its anything that goes against Alberta, then yes. IF it's a compromise solution to very real issues, the energy industry development and protecting the environment, then no.
If there is no demand for that oil on the world market, who would bother to build a pipeline and export terminal?
There is a demand, just not in North America. Alberta being landlocked makes this a very bad thing
If the federal government was so concerned about the dangers of tankers carrying oil, would not a tanker ban in both the Bay of Fundy and the St Lawrence River also make even more ecological sense? I wonder, then, why those bans were never proposed or enacted?
From what I can tell, there hasn't been a push on the east coast for this. There also isn't nearly as much tanker traffic on the east coast. With the north America energy scene being taken over by US fracking, a lot more of albertas oil is going to be leaving from BC.
Looking closer at the Irving refinery that energy east would have been pumping oil to.They do about 320,000 barrels a day with their facility just not set up to do much more than 100K of heavier crude. Would take huge investment to change the math very much. Even if they did that...320K more barrels going for something closer to market rate isn't changing much there for Alberta.
How is it that both Quebec and BC can basically get away with violating the Constitution by opposing pipelines that then impede to flow of goods across Canada?
That part of the constitution has always been very weak. Every province sets up barriers to each others goods. From oil, to dairy, to alcohol, everything has a provincial board that balks at allowing other provinces to enter. There is a reason why many people say it's easier to trade with the USA due to Nafta than with other provinces.
I agree that Alberta could have a much better job of managing its economy and money over the past two decades. However, it doesn't take much detective work to see the federal Liberals making short sighted and glib policy decisions to curry favour with voters outside Alberta and Saskatchewan. If oil is dying as an industry like everyone seems willing to predict, why does the Federal government risk the blowback by choking off pipeline access east/west?
It's about where oil is dying. Alberta oil, the heavy, labour and cost extensive to extract oil that it is largely being phased out of North America. And a lot of refineries aren't even built to process it. So Alberta is facing a lot of issues, a lot of it out of the hands of Alberta and Canada. Again, oil is trading at 50 dollars today. That's 50-70 dollars less than at its peak. The reason for that is, again, the glut of oil on the global markets. America moving from oil importer to oil exporter has been a huge game changer, and Alberta and Canada can do very little to change that. People want someone to blame, and the federal government is a easy target, but most of the issues facing Alberta aren't originating in Ottawa
I think Alberta separation is a dumb idea for all the reasons posted above. That doesn't mean it still isn't a problem made worse by meddlesome polticians and pundits from outside Alberta.
It's the perfect storm for Alberta. The same time America has a oil revolution, Saudis counter by flooding the market with cheap oil just as climate scientists are coming out with the effects of climate change which results in people wanting to reduce emissions while Alberta is one of Canadas highest emission jurisdictions. Toss in the supreme court and first nations wanting a say about what projects go through their traditional land and what they get out of it, Alberta is facing challenges on all fronts. But to leave Canada does nothing to solve ANY of them. Sure, they can get rid of the carbon tax. But they still need to face 98 percent of everything else facing them, all with the added challenges of a Canada that doesn't owe them anything.
The balance between the climate/environment and the energy sector was always going to be a hard one to juggle, because doing anything for one means working against the other. Alberta should count its lucky stars that Canadians didn't vote on mass for a party like the green party, because that would be the instant death of the energy sector, not just managing the decline.
