Oilsands Drives Job Creation

[Xiao Jie]

Good jobs, philanthropic, revenue generators for all levels of government, innovative, environmentally responsible and the nation`s largest employer of Aborigianls. Canadians in general and Albertans in particular are so lucky to have this amazing industry.

This excerpt is from the September 23, 2011 issue of the Edmonton Sun,

CAROl CHRISTIAN QMI Agency
A recent report out of an independent economic think-tank paints aclear picture of just how the oilsands will colour the economic and employment future of North America. The 25-year forecast from the Canadian Energy Research Institute maps the economic future for not only Canada, but it's impacts south of the border. The report projects by 2035, the GDP impact of the oilsands will be in the range of $2.1 trillion across Canada and 905,000 jobs, cumulatively. Those numbers translate into $1.9 trillion for Alberta and 779,500 jobs. Premier Ed Stelmach recently told the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce "You are the economic engine of Alberta. You are the economic engine of Canada. And you will be the economic engine of the United States of America." While oilsands development has slowed when oil prices drop and in recessionary times, it has never com- pletely stopped, indicating that energy security and prosperity are realizable goals. The report follows two themes: oilsands impact on Canadian provincial and national economies and the ripple effects on U.S. state and federal economies. With daily production approaching 1.7 million barrels, exceeding the country's conventional oil production and significantly contributing to the gross domestic product (GDP). The development of the oilsands, no matter how transparent, will be carefully monitored by provincial and federal as well as international governments and environmental activists, acknowledged the report. Almost all of oilsands and conventional oil output goes to refineries in Canada and the United States, and the United States now imports twice as much oil from Canada as from any other country. The U.S. imports an estimated two million barrels a day from Canada.

[Cartman]

dat was a trade and industry insert in da sun

[Xiao Jie]

dat was a trade and industry insert in da sun

Yes, indeed it was. I see all the oilsands "experts" like washed-up comic Dave Thomas are in Ottawa this morning protesting the Keystone pipeline. Strange they don`t walk a little further to protest outside the Saudi, Nigerian or Venezuelan embassies. 

[Xiao Jie]

Extremists' oil protest puzzling
by Ezra Levant for the Sun newspaper chain on September 27, 2011

On Monday, about 250 environmental extremists from across Canada and foreign countries travelled to Ottawa to protest oil.

Plus a couple of dozen ?journalists? from the CBC, there to cheer them on.

Greenpeace, the $350-million per year multinational corporation headquartered in Amsterdam, was one of the organizers. So was a group called U.K. Tarsands Network.

So, foreigners. Foreigners telling us what to do here in Canada ? and boasting about trespassing in secure areas of Parliament Hill.

Try that in Saudi Arabia. Or Iran. Try that in the United States, post-9/11.

These foreign meddlers pick on Canada precisely because we are the gentlest country in the world. And it would be too tough to try to protest in Iran or Saudi Arabia. The Saudi embassy is just a few blocks away from Parliament Hill, right on Sussex Dr. Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil producer in the world. They have the biggest oil reserves in the world. If this protest really was about oil, why didn?t they go there?

We clean up our oil spills; Saudi Arabia covers up theirs. We engage with our critics; Saudi Arabia imprisons theirs. We use our oil money to finance peacekeepers. Saudi Arabia finances terrorists. We treat minorities and women with respect. Saudi Arabia abuses them through sharia law.

But don?t tell that to the c-list celebrities like Dave Thomas, who have endorsed this Blame Canada approach to oil protesting.

No, not the famous Dave Thomas, the late president of Wendy?s. The lame Dave Thomas ? the least-funny cast member of SCTV who hasn?t been heard from since then, for whom this protest was a great way to get a little PR. Though he couldn?t be bothered to attend himself. Until a month ago, all of this was just normal: A bunch of self-righteous activists denouncing us for driving cars, and then getting in their cars to drive away.

But then we found out that the Saudi dictatorship was also orchestrating anti-oilsands skullduggery in Canada, by threatening TV stations who aired a pro-oilsands TV ad.

Sort of puts this whole Parliament Hill protest in a new light, doesn?t it? And maybe it helps explain why the protesters haven?t protested outside the Saudi embassy.

But here?s a real head-scratcher: The boss of a big labour union came out against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would ship the oil from Alberta to the U.S. David Coles, the boss of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, bizarrely said it would cost Canadian jobs. Truth is, if the Keystone XL pipeline isn?t built, tens of thousands of union jobs are in jeopardy. If the oil can?t get to market, his union members won?t have a job producing it.

The craziest part of Coles? comments was when he said: ?Oil workers, whether they work in North Africa, Chile or Venezuela, are oil workers.? But that?s not true. Oil workers in Canada have the right to unionize. Even non-unionized welders and pipefitters can make $150,000 a year or more.

But in OPEC countries like Saudi Arabia, work is done by minimum-wage foreign labourers, who are forbidden from unionizing.

Since when does a Canadian union boss defend foreign indentured workers, and bash a domestic industry ? including his own dues-paying members?

Perhaps this is a cry for help from Coles. Who knows? Maybe the Saudi embassy made threats against the Canadian labour movement, just like it did against Canadian TV stations who dared to criticize Saudi conflict oil.

Canada believes in open debates. But perhaps the first question we should ask anti-oilsands protesters should always be: Which foreign country is paying you today?

 

[Gary Oak]

It would be very FAN QING FU MING for China to be able to control our oil sands.

Should the Harper government allow Chinese ownership of Alberta?s oil sands?
By Andy Radia | Canada Politics ? 8 hours agotweet9EmailPrint
Chinese state-owned companies continue to invest billions of dollars in Alberta's oil sands raising fears about Chinese control over Canada's oil industry.

The most recent acquisition came earlier this week when Sinopec International, China's largest refiner, announced it had agreed to buy Canadian based Daylight Energy Ltd. for $2.1 billion US.

The Financial Post reported Chinese companies are poised to make even more significant investments in the weeks and months ahead.

Should the Harper government step in and restrict foreign ownership in our oil industry?

Under Canada's foreign-takeover legislation, known as the Investment Canada Act, foreign acquisitions of companies with assets worth more than $312 million CDN are reviewed by the federal government to determine whether the transaction is a "net benefit" to the country.

As illustrated in a colum in the New York Times, the federal government in the past has nixed several deals involving a foreign purchase or takeover.

In 2004, China Minmetals, a state-owned company, backed away from a takeover of Noranda, then Canada's largest mining company, after a backlash from the public and politicians.

In 2008, the government blocked a bid by Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems Inc. in 2008 to acquire the aerospace division of Vancouver-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.

And, more recently, the Conservative government used the foreign ownership laws to turn down a bid from BHP Billiton of Australia for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Stephen Harper said Canada needs to balance the need to attract more foreign investment with the goal of developing global industry leaders based in Canada.

"The challenge for a government is one would never want a situation where we liberalize the rules, and the immediate result was the loss of all Canadian presence in the sector, so we're obviously proceeding with some caution," he said adding the government welcomes investment by China and other countries, as long as such acquisitions are "economic in nature and don't have other strategic or political objectives."

Paul Evans, the director of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia, however, warns politicians not to underestimate Canadians' dislike of foreign owners.

"This can be the kind of issue that can explode," he told the New York Times.

"Surveys underscore how nervous Canadians are about state-owned enterprises from China."

Ultimately, the Harper government will need to make a decision on whether to let Chinese investments in the oil sands continue.

It won't be an easy decision.

"Supporters of Chinese deals say the cash allows Canada to capture capital to develop resources, leads to new customers for its energy outside the United States, promises higher energy prices," Claudia Cattaneo of the Financial Post writes.

"The wrinkle is that the more Canadian resources are controlled by China, the less say Canadians will have over how they are developed, where they are sold and for how much, putting China in the driver's seat."

(AFP Photo)

[Cartman]

same article different thread

[Gary Oak]

so what. It suits both

[Cartman]

chill dude.....Ize just sayin

so what. It suits both

[China Rising]

Canadians should be thank China for your oilsands. China in vest in it and keep the oil price high.

It would be very FAN QING FU MING for China to be able to control our oil sands.

Should the Harper government allow Chinese ownership of Alberta?s oil sands?
By Andy Radia | Canada Politics ? 8 hours agotweet9EmailPrint
Chinese state-owned companies continue to invest billions of dollars in Alberta's oil sands raising fears about Chinese control over Canada's oil industry.

The most recent acquisition came earlier this week when Sinopec International, China's largest refiner, announced it had agreed to buy Canadian based Daylight Energy Ltd. for $2.1 billion US.

The Financial Post reported Chinese companies are poised to make even more significant investments in the weeks and months ahead.

Should the Harper government step in and restrict foreign ownership in our oil industry?

Under Canada's foreign-takeover legislation, known as the Investment Canada Act, foreign acquisitions of companies with assets worth more than $312 million CDN are reviewed by the federal government to determine whether the transaction is a "net benefit" to the country.

As illustrated in a colum in the New York Times, the federal government in the past has nixed several deals involving a foreign purchase or takeover.

In 2004, China Minmetals, a state-owned company, backed away from a takeover of Noranda, then Canada's largest mining company, after a backlash from the public and politicians.

In 2008, the government blocked a bid by Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems Inc. in 2008 to acquire the aerospace division of Vancouver-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.

And, more recently, the Conservative government used the foreign ownership laws to turn down a bid from BHP Billiton of Australia for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Stephen Harper said Canada needs to balance the need to attract more foreign investment with the goal of developing global industry leaders based in Canada.

"The challenge for a government is one would never want a situation where we liberalize the rules, and the immediate result was the loss of all Canadian presence in the sector, so we're obviously proceeding with some caution," he said adding the government welcomes investment by China and other countries, as long as such acquisitions are "economic in nature and don't have other strategic or political objectives."

Paul Evans, the director of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia, however, warns politicians not to underestimate Canadians' dislike of foreign owners.

"This can be the kind of issue that can explode," he told the New York Times.

"Surveys underscore how nervous Canadians are about state-owned enterprises from China."

Ultimately, the Harper government will need to make a decision on whether to let Chinese investments in the oil sands continue.

It won't be an easy decision.

"Supporters of Chinese deals say the cash allows Canada to capture capital to develop resources, leads to new customers for its energy outside the United States, promises higher energy prices," Claudia Cattaneo of the Financial Post writes.

"The wrinkle is that the more Canadian resources are controlled by China, the less say Canadians will have over how they are developed, where they are sold and for how much, putting China in the driver's seat."

(AFP Photo)

[Cartman]

rising crude prices are the reason for oisands growth.....china is part of that......instability in the Middle East too.
many oilsands investors.....chinese companies few of many.

[ScotlandYard]

not if the jobs go to Chinese workers mate..thats going to happen you wait!