Rachel Notley calls oilsands a 'tremendous asset'

[mentalfloss]

Rachel Notley calls oilsands a 'tremendous asset

Alberta's premier delivers speech to international investors promoting oil industry

Alberta's premier is trying her best to lure international investment to the oilpatch, even describing the oilsands as an "international showpiece."

Rachel Notley made the comments during a speech during the Stampede Investment Forum in Calgary on Tuesday, with 25 international investors from 14 countries and 120 representatives of Alberta's energy industry in the room.

The event was closed to journalists, but a copy of her speech was provided. The premier expressed her support for expanding the oilsands and starting new projects to extract bitumen.

"It's a tremendous asset which has transformed Alberta into one of the world's leading oil producers," said Notley.

Notley spoke highly of the oil and gas industry and had the same tone of speeches given by the various PC premiers of the last decade.

"I wouldn't call it a PC speech, I would call it an Alberta premier speech," said Duane Bratt, a political science instructor at Mount Royal University in Calgary. "If any other premier would have delivered that, I don't think people would have raised an eyebrow. But the fact it was Rachel Notley, does."

Since Notley and the NDP took power, there has been uncertainty in the energy sector because of the new government's promises to raise corporate taxes, look at splitting the Alberta Energy Regulator and review the royalties paid by oil and gas companies.

While Notley has tried several times before to quell the fears, she was having to reiterate the same message yet again. This time, upping the rhetoric.

"When it comes to potential shifts, such as greenhouse gas emissions and royalties, no one will be surprised by how our decisions unfold," said Notley.

"We are working hard to make the transition as smooth as possible, and bring as much economic stability as we can, while we implement our plans."

Some industry members have said the uncertainty will remain until the government takes action to assure the industry, instead of just talking about it.

Notley's speech seemed at odds with her campaign speeches with often focused on making sure oil companies paid their fair share of royalties, instead of promoting the virtues of the oilpatch, like she did in her latest speech.

"Job creators create jobs in the private sector, not government. And we will be honest, thoughtful partners to them," said Notley. "We will maintain a warm welcome for investors and uphold their right to earn fair returns."

The premier wrapped up her speech by rolling out the red carpet and making a pitch for investment, the same message her predecessors have made.

"Expanding existing oil sands projects, establishing new ones and pioneering advanced technologies — all this requires spending on a large scale," said Notley. "Under our leadership, Alberta's abundant oil and gas reserves will remain wide open to investment."

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/business/rachel-notley-calls-oilsands-a-tremendous-asset-1.3142892

 

[grainfedpraiboy]

Re: Rachel Notley calls oilsands a 'tremendous asset

Notley and her band of MLA flakes and imported party hacks are already bad for the oil industry and in the long run will prove to be worse for the environment.and this feel good speech is nothing more than lip stick on a pig.

 

[mentalfloss]

Would you like to expand on that?

 

[grainfedpraiboy]

Would you like to expand on that?

In what capacity? How they will cock up the oil industry or cock up the environment?

 

[mentalfloss]

Both.

 

[grainfedpraiboy]

Both.

Let's start with the environment.

By no means do I deny science because it doesn't fit in with my views. As such, I accept the current research and associated theories by climatologists regarding climate change and it's environmental impacts.

But carbon taxes and other penalties on industry are not the answer. They create false economies whereby costs are incorporated and passed on to the consumer and spread over such a massive base they become meaningless and ineffective. They do little to address the twin issue of pollution which is now a largely forgotten issue but still a real problem in Canada. In China cancer from pollution is the leading cause of death and other developing countries are following closely. Their pollution is affecting us and tariffs against goods from these countries should be in place until they meet our laws.

The other problem with attacking the fossil fuel industry and leveling penalties against it is we need it ironically to save us. You see, if we shut down all fossil fuel emissions tomorrow the inertia of the CO2 in the atmosphere will still drive climate change for another century or more. It is the wealth and prosperity that fossil fuels afford us that we can fund the technology and research to mitigate and fight it. If we were all reduced to Somalia type economies we wouldn't have a fighting chance.

I believe consumers should pay for energy and other utulities such as water and sewage and pay the full cost of it as it relates to healthcare, infrastructure, how it impacts the environment etc. When this type of economy emerges market forces will organically invest and create technologies to service demand.

The NDP sees business and industry as a necessary evil to employ people and provide a tax base. They view it as the problem rather than the solution. There is nothing in their platform of speeches to suggest otherwise.

 

[Durry]

Would you like to expand on that?

Sounds pretty straight forward to me.

 

[mentalfloss]

Let's start with the environment.

By no means do I deny science because it doesn't fit in with my views. As such, I accept the current research and associated theories by climatologists regarding climate change and it's environmental impacts.

But carbon taxes and other penalties on industry are not the answer. They create false economies whereby costs are incorporated and passed on to the consumer and spread over such a massive base they become meaningless and ineffective. They do little to address the twin issue of pollution which is now a largely forgotten issue but still a real problem in Canada. In China cancer from pollution is the leading cause of death and other developing countries are following closely. Their pollution is affecting us and tariffs against goods from these countries should be in place until they meet our laws.

The other problem with attacking the fossil fuel industry and leveling penalties against it is we need it ironically to save us. You see, if we shut down all fossil fuel emissions tomorrow the inertia of the CO2 in the atmosphere will still drive climate change for another century or more. It is the wealth and prosperity that fossil fuels afford us that we can fund the technology and research to mitigate and fight it. If we were all reduced to Somalia type economies we wouldn't have a fighting chance.

I believe consumers should pay for energy and other utulities such as water and sewage and pay the full cost of it as it relates to healthcare, infrastructure, how it impacts the environment etc. When this type of economy emerges market forces will organically invest and create technologies to service demand.

The NDP sees business and industry as a necessary evil to employ people and provide a tax base. They view it as the problem rather than the solution. There is nothing in their platform of speeches to suggest otherwise.

I think you're assuming a trope about the NDP that isn't necessarily true when it comes to the economy. I'm sure there are examples in BC, Saskatchewan and even Ontario, where there was some form of positive economic development while they were in power. It's just as presumptuous as assuming PC governments are good for the economy, when there are certainly examples to the contrary.

On reducing carbon emissions, the approaches that exists are not policies that are exclusively backed by the NDP or 'leftist governments'. It is pretty hyperbolic and unsubstantiated to assume the intention is to drop all production and development of non-renewable resources. What model would you propose to reduce carbon emissions that you feel would be appropriate to maintain solid economic performance?

 

[Locutus]

Rachel Notley calls oilsands a 'tremendous asset

trope this flossy


Dean Skoreyko ‏@bcbluecon

Current CBC headline "Alberta Premier Rachel Notley calls oilsands a tremendous asset" - Oh ya?

quit living in the recent man.

 

[pgs]

I think you're assuming a trope about the NDP that isn't necessarily true when it comes to the economy. I'm sure there are examples in BC, Saskatchewan and even Ontario, where there was some form of positive economic development while they were in power. It's just as presumptuous as assuming PC governments are good for the economy, when there are certainly examples to the contrary.

On reducing carbon emissions, the approaches that exists are not policies that are exclusively backed by the NDP or 'leftist governments'. It is pretty hyperbolic and unsubstantiated to assume the intention is to drop all production and development of non-renewable resources. What model would you propose to reduce carbon emissions that you feel would be appropriate to maintain solid economic performance?

Yup I fondly remember the NDP in B.C. and fast ferries . pure economic genius .

 

[mentalfloss]

Stephen Harper talks energy, climate targets with Rachel Notley in Calgary

Climate change, pipelines and flood mitigation were on the agenda Monday as Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Prime Minister Stephen Harper had their first formal meeting.

If there was tension between the NDP premier and the Conservative prime minister, neither let on. In a photo opportunity before the meeting, Notley asked Harper about how his Stampede had been so far and the two tipped their cowboy hats for the cameras.

After the meeting, Notley said it wasn't her impression that recent Alberta efforts to toughen the rules for large carbon emitters were a "huge irritant" for Harper.

"I think it's fair to say he acknowledged that some of the numbers that we put out had been floating around within the oil and gas boardrooms for a while," she said.

Last month, the Alberta government said it would require facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of CO2 to reduce their carbon intensity by 20 per cent in 2017, versus 12 per cent currently.

For emissions that go above that threshold, the price of carbon is doubling to $30 a tonne in 2017. The province has also appointed University of Alberta economist Andrew Leach to lead a panel that will help develop a broader climate change strategy.

Notley said they also talked about TransCanada Corp.'s Energy East pipeline to the East Coast and Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain expansion to the Vancouver area — two proposals she supports.

On Trans Mountain, she said there was some discussion about what Ottawa can do to boost spill recovery efforts in the Lower Mainland.

Notley has been less keen on TransCanada's long-delayed cross-border Keystone XL proposal and Enbridge Inc.'s Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, B.C.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/politics/s...rgets-with-rachel-notley-in-calgary-1.3140042

 

[petros]

Owe owe owe....my sides!!!! Gasp gasp gasp....my sides!!!

 

[mentalfloss]

Colby Cosh: Rachel Notley striving to be like the old Bob Rae, not the young Bob Rae
National Post | Canadian News, Financial News and Opinion

Ever since May, when Alberta raised the orange flag of rebellion and keelhauled its Progressive Conservatives, we have heard much about the danger that Rachel Notley will turn out to be another Bob Rae. Every time I have heard this, I have asked myself a question: which Bob Rae?

I know they mean the callow young Rae who, as premier of Ontario, blew up the welfare rolls, fiddled with rent control and pay equity while the treasury hemorrhaged and struggled tumultuously against NAFTA. But what, I wondered, if Notley turned out to be more like Liberal-elder-statesman Bob Rae, who is often a more eloquent defender of markets than just about any Conservative politician one can name? (Fine: I’ll spot you Maxime Bernier.) The older he gets, the more explicit Rae becomes about his Damascene conversion to the primacy of economic competitiveness.

When it comes to Rachel Notley and the New Democratic Party, the truth is that Alberta, nauseated by the banana-republican habits of its PC caste, took a conscious gamble.

In May, Rae wrote a little-noticed article about Notley that was essentially a warning: don’t be me.

“Keeping spending on operations (health care and education in particular) in check has been the greatest challenge for social democratic governments around the world,” Rae wrote. “From the Labour government in the U.K. in the seventies, to the travails of François Hollande in France, the examples are legion. It ain’t easy.” The heavy sigh is almost audible.

“Government can’t defy gravity,” Rae added, taking what unreconstructed socialists would now call a “pro-austerity” position. “There’s a limit to what any government, of any stripe, can borrow, tax and spend.… The laws of economics are not exactly like the laws of physics, but reality has a way of rushing in.”

When it comes to Rachel Notley and the New Democratic Party, the truth is that Alberta, nauseated by the banana-republican habits of its PC caste, took a conscious gamble. Notley put forward an economic platform with a minimum of utopianism, and upheld the icons of relatively successful, fiscally austere prairie New Democrats: Roy Romanow, Gary Doer.

Alberta had no real way of knowing whether, in electing Notley, it was getting an Old Labour-style militant or a New Labour manager. It is still waiting to find out. It is with that suspenseful context in mind that the premier’s July 7 speech to the Calgary Stampede Investor Forum must be read. She opened with a mention of the importance of innovation, and the Notley skeptics were certainly thinking: here’s where she says she’s going to cover Kananaskis with solar panels.

Surprise! “It’s the oil sands,” she said, “that have really emerged as our international showpiece. For more than half a century, Albertans have been coming up with unconventional solutions for an unconventional resource so we can extract, handle and ship it responsibly, to the very best of our abilities.… It’s a tremendous asset, which has transformed Alberta into one of the world’s leading oil producers. And I’m here today to emphasize that the province has a government determined to defend this advantage.”

Notley told the audience she understood that Albertans are feeling uncertain, but stressed her intention of delivering “economic stability.” “We know there is only one way to succeed,” she said. “And that’s by supporting a free, open, sustainable and increasingly diversified economy.” “Free” and “economy” in the same sentence? Is this Canada? “Job creators create jobs in the private sector, not government,” she added. “Alberta will continue to be a healthy place for private investment under our government. This definitely applies to energy.”

Jason Franson/ Canadian Press

Jason Franson/ Canadian PressNew Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is making waves with a bold legislative agenda, but is it winning her any favours?

By all accounts, a striptease would have had a less dramatic effect on the bolo-tied business audience. The premier talked of “expanding existing oil sands projects (and) establishing new ones,” which will sadden easterners who were hoping for her to drop the One Ring into the crack of Mount Doom. She also promised to “maintain one of the most competitive tax systems in Canada.” This may remind middle-class Albertans that she dumped the regressive “health levy” Jim Prentice planned to paddle us with. My province elected the NDP and my tax bill went down, not up: I suppose I can now expire, having seen it all.

After getting elected, Notley was, of course, quick to raise the Alberta minimum wage and hike its corporate taxes. Both are classic exercises in naive socialist justice-by-fiat. (“Screw the corporations, bro! No, I do not know what ‘tax incidence’ means.”) But economists seem to agree that the practical effects will be inconsequential. Notley also speculated last year about urban rent controls, which would have been a much uglier heterodoxy, but she has retreated altogether from that talk.

There is a lot of damage an NDP government can do to Alberta, but if Notley’s words at the Stampede mean anything, she is taking the physician’s “first, do no harm” approach to the job of leading it. Or, more precisely, “Don’t add to the harm the world oil markets are already doing.”

National Post

Colby Cosh: Rachel Notley striving to be like the old Bob Rae, not the young Bob Rae

 

[Locutus]

 

[mentalfloss]

 

[CDNBear]

Yep, we can see the salt in your posts.

 

[Locutus]

Yep, we can see the salt in your posts.

'specially since he can't even address her recent protest hypocrisy. he be yabutting all over the place.

gonna need him a fainting couch soon.

 

[mentalfloss]

Thomson: Notley is doing the right thing - morally and politically | Calgary Herald
calgaryherald.com

Will the real Rachel Notley please stand up?

Or at least wave your cowboy hat, so we can recognize you?

One day, the premier is raising taxes on corporations, the next, she is giving a closed-door speech to international investors praising the private sector as the engine of growth.

One day, she is launching a review of energy royalties, the next, she is promising to give a “warm welcome for investors and uphold their right to earn fair returns.”

Her pro-business comments came from a speech to the Stampede Investment Forum in Calgary this week — and left some observers slack-jawed in amazement, particularly when she talked glowingly of the oilsands: “It’s a tremendous asset which has transformed Alberta into one of the world’s leading oil producers.”

What the heck was going on?

The answer: nothing.

Notley did not have a sudden epiphany on the importance of the private sector in general and the oilsands in particular.

There is nothing mutually exclusive about wanting to make sure the owners of the resource and the developers of the resource both earn “fair returns.”

Notley has never been anti-business or anti-oilsands. She has argued in the past that corporations, after making huge profits in Alberta for years, should pay slightly higher taxes and government should enact better rules to protect the environment.

For example, here is what Notley said about the oilsands in September 2010: “The oilsands will play a key role in our economic future, but only if there is a fundamental change in how government views its role as protector of downstream communities and our environment as a whole.”

Notley was not advocating a shutdown of the oilsands; she didn’t even point the finger of blame at the energy sector when it came to environmental protection. The finger was pointed squarely at government.

The reference to downstream communities was a nod to complaints by First Nations residents of Fort Chipewyan about high cancer rates — complaints dismissed at the time as unfounded by the then-Progressive Conservative government.

Notley’s argument was merely that when it comes to the oilsands, the government has to do a better job on two fronts: environmental protection and consultations with First Nations.

Notley wasn’t the first to talk about these issues in relation to oilsands development.

In fact, these are the two prongs of what the old PC government called the “social licence” needed to convince other jurisdictions that we had the moral authority to develop our resources. The PCs knew what had to be done — they just never did it.

Notley wants to do better. That’s why last month she moved ahead with plans for a new climate change strategy, and why this week, she sent a letter to her cabinet ministers asking each to come up with a plan for their own department to implement the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The 2007 declaration — adopted by more than 100 countries, but not Canada — is aimed at prohibiting discrimination against aboriginal peoples while protecting their collective rights to culture, language, employment, health and education.

The declaration is not legally binding on governments, but Notley is using it as a template for her government to improve relations with Alberta’s Metis and First Nations.

How will she do that?

Her letter doesn’t say, but one idea involves all schools teaching a course on aboriginal culture and history.

There will be more.

Notley says, “the most challenging part of the discussion will be related to land and resources.”

She talks of “working in partnership with Indigenous people so they are able to participate in a more meaningful way, and therefore benefit from the development of natural resources in the province and the preservation and conservation of the environment.”

For a socially minded NDP premier, this is simply the right thing to do morally. But in the back of her mind, must be the fact that by doing the right thing morally, she also makes a case for Alberta’s “social licence.”

We cannot claim to have the moral authority to develop our resources until we do a better job of protecting the environment and consulting with Metis and First Nations.

Conversely, doing better on those two fronts might mean we do better on the business front by reducing opposition to pipelines to get Alberta’s oil to market.

That’s Notley’s message. It is not extreme or fanatical. It is, in fact, the same message previous PC premiers liked to talk about.

Notley, though, seems determined to take action.

If it works, the province could get more pipelines built and oilsands development would increase.

All under the province’s first NDP premier.

It would be enough to make the Progressive Conservatives spin in their political graves.

Graham Thomson is an Edmonton Journal columnist.

Thomson: Notley is doing the right thing — morally and politically | Calgary Herald

 

[CDNBear]

Thomson: Notley is doing the right thing - morally and politically | Calgary Herald
calgaryherald.com

Will the real Rachel Notley please stand up?

Or at least wave your cowboy hat, so we can recognize you?

One day, the premier is raising taxes on corporations, the next, she is giving a closed-door speech to international investors praising the private sector as the engine of growth.

One day, she is launching a review of energy royalties, the next, she is promising to give a “warm welcome for investors and uphold their right to earn fair returns.”

Her pro-business comments came from a speech to the Stampede Investment Forum in Calgary this week — and left some observers slack-jawed in amazement, particularly when she talked glowingly of the oilsands: “It’s a tremendous asset which has transformed Alberta into one of the world’s leading oil producers.”

What the heck was going on?

The answer: nothing.

Notley did not have a sudden epiphany on the importance of the private sector in general and the oilsands in particular.

There is nothing mutually exclusive about wanting to make sure the owners of the resource and the developers of the resource both earn “fair returns.”

Notley has never been anti-business or anti-oilsands. She has argued in the past that corporations, after making huge profits in Alberta for years, should pay slightly higher taxes and government should enact better rules to protect the environment.

For example, here is what Notley said about the oilsands in September 2010: “The oilsands will play a key role in our economic future, but only if there is a fundamental change in how government views its role as protector of downstream communities and our environment as a whole.”

Notley was not advocating a shutdown of the oilsands; she didn’t even point the finger of blame at the energy sector when it came to environmental protection. The finger was pointed squarely at government.

The reference to downstream communities was a nod to complaints by First Nations residents of Fort Chipewyan about high cancer rates — complaints dismissed at the time as unfounded by the then-Progressive Conservative government.

Notley’s argument was merely that when it comes to the oilsands, the government has to do a better job on two fronts: environmental protection and consultations with First Nations.

Notley wasn’t the first to talk about these issues in relation to oilsands development.

In fact, these are the two prongs of what the old PC government called the “social licence” needed to convince other jurisdictions that we had the moral authority to develop our resources. The PCs knew what had to be done — they just never did it.

Notley wants to do better. That’s why last month she moved ahead with plans for a new climate change strategy, and why this week, she sent a letter to her cabinet ministers asking each to come up with a plan for their own department to implement the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The 2007 declaration — adopted by more than 100 countries, but not Canada — is aimed at prohibiting discrimination against aboriginal peoples while protecting their collective rights to culture, language, employment, health and education.

The declaration is not legally binding on governments, but Notley is using it as a template for her government to improve relations with Alberta’s Metis and First Nations.

How will she do that?

Her letter doesn’t say, but one idea involves all schools teaching a course on aboriginal culture and history.

There will be more.

Notley says, “the most challenging part of the discussion will be related to land and resources.”

She talks of “working in partnership with Indigenous people so they are able to participate in a more meaningful way, and therefore benefit from the development of natural resources in the province and the preservation and conservation of the environment.”

For a socially minded NDP premier, this is simply the right thing to do morally. But in the back of her mind, must be the fact that by doing the right thing morally, she also makes a case for Alberta’s “social licence.”

We cannot claim to have the moral authority to develop our resources until we do a better job of protecting the environment and consulting with Metis and First Nations.

Conversely, doing better on those two fronts might mean we do better on the business front by reducing opposition to pipelines to get Alberta’s oil to market.

That’s Notley’s message. It is not extreme or fanatical. It is, in fact, the same message previous PC premiers liked to talk about.

Notley, though, seems determined to take action.

If it works, the province could get more pipelines built and oilsands development would increase.

All under the province’s first NDP premier.

It would be enough to make the Progressive Conservatives spin in their political graves.

Graham Thomson is an Edmonton Journal columnist.

Thomson: Notley is doing the right thing — morally and politically | Calgary Herald

The salt is strong with you.

 

[mentalfloss]