As Canadians are becoming all too aware, the spectre of a recession, no matter the definition, looms large during an election campaign. Despite such prominence, the recent debate made it abundantly clear that none of the candidates understand why the economy stopped growing in the first half of the year and they have even less [...]
As Canadians are becoming all too aware, the spectre of a recession, no matter the definition, looms large during an election campaign. Despite such prominence, the recent debate made it abundantly clear that none of the candidates understand why the economy stopped growing in the first half of the year and they have even less [...]
Popular opinion suggests any slowdown in resource demand from China, which is becoming more desperate in its attempts to revive its flagging economy, will be especially bad for a commodity-dependent economy such as Canada’s. That may well be the case, but it does overlook at least one key silver lining. Sharply lower commodity prices are [...]
Oil’s slide below $50 (U.S.) a barrel is the latest turn for a bear market that looks to be settling in for an extended stay. In the oil patch, hope springs eternal that prices will rebound and the cyclical industry can begin a long and profitable march up the curve of another upswing. A glance [...]
The national energy strategy just mapped out by Canada’s premiers contemplates, among other things, how to speed up the approval process for interprovincial pipelines. Even as the agreement was being hashed out, however, attention was already turning to a burst pipeline at Nexen’s Long Lake oil sands site that spilled 31,000 barrels of bitumen, sand [...]
Alberta’s new emissions regulations, just unveiled by the province’s fresh NDP government, are a welcome step towards tailoring environmental policy for the needs of an expanding oil sands sector. Whether those regulations will do anything to help the environment once the industry starts to contract remains a question that still needs to be asked. The [...]