U.S. President Joe Biden’s torpedoing of the Keystone XL pipeline elicited a scathing response from several Canadian premiers. Canada frequently made the pipeline’s case through diplomatic and political circles in the months following Biden’s statement last May that: “I’ve been against Keystone from the beginning. It is tarsands that we don’t need.” Is retaliation against…
The sheer scale of investment in the natural gas industry in Australia has yielded substantial economic benefits
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre When U.S. President Joe Biden recently revoked the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, it was a reminder of how anti-oil-and-gas activism and politics over the years can kill Canadian (and American) jobs. It was also a reminder of how dependent Canada is on one…
The sustainability of Alberta’s forest industries will be strengthened through a new $4.125-million research chair being established at the University of Alberta. The Endowed Chair in Forest Growth & Yield, being established in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES), will focus on research that improves understanding of the growth of Alberta’s forests. “The new…
Global demand remains a major concern
Uncertainty is ruling the energy world. “Crude producers continue to grapple with huge uncertainty about where this goes from here,” Tim Gould, the International Energy Agency (IEA) head of energy supply outlooks and investment, told the press last week. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agrees. “Uncertainties remain high going forward with the main…
With the COVID-19 recession and the expansion of Chinese influence, it’s urgent that Canada take the initiative and position itself in new markets
In November, China and 14 Asia-Pacific countries including Japan and South Korea signed a free-trade deal covering 2.2 billion people and nearly 30 per cent of international trade. This Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership shows that the Pacific region continues to reinforce its place as the world’s leading trade hub. Canada and, more precisely, the Prairie…
Our debt is rising and our population growth is slowing. The result will be a massive fiscal burden on taxpayers in decades to come
Caught between a rock and a hard place. This best sums up the position that Alberta’s United Conservative Party government found itself in as it announced new, stricter lockdown measures for Christmas. The government is attempting to bend the rising curve of COVID-19 infections. Premier Jason Kenney and his most trusted ministers lined up to…
It is a mistake to think Canada can thrive without the export wealth generated by the energy sector
By Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan Canadian Energy Centre You may have heard the persistent worldwide narrative that oil and natural gas are dead, or soon will be, and can easily be replaced with other forms of energy. The latter claim is simply false. Read the work of energy transition expert Vaclav Smil, professor of…
Until recently, the nation has insisted it wouldn’t unilaterally cut output until others agreed to contribute. All that has changed
Saudi Arabia is back in its role as the swing crude oil producer of the world. Until recently, the nation has insisted it wouldn’t unilaterally cut output until others, including Russia, agreed to contribute. But all this changed – almost overnight. On Jan. 4, while the ministers from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its…
On the anniversary of the tragedy, the University of Alberta remembers the colleagues and friends who were lost
Russ Greiner’s artificial intelligence lab is made up of 15 or so grad students, post-docs and others who hold cheerful, heartfelt meetings, and why wouldn’t they? It’s a cohesive group made up of more friends than colleagues. And the one person most responsible for that cohesion during the 2019 iteration of the team was master’s…
The last thing Albertans need right now is a provincial government reaching further into our pockets with higher income taxes. But higher income taxes are exactly what Albertans are getting in 2021, courtesy of Premier Jason Kenney’s sneaky backdoor tax grab known as bracket creep. Bracket creep happens when governments stop indexing tax brackets with…