cannuck

I have to admit, I was shocked to learn that in SK, oil companies do not have to do what is normal in WY - bond wells they operate against P&A costs. Alberta has the LLR programme, but it seems we have no such provision here.

Really? Obviously, you have never heard of the Crow rates or ever realized what the Canadian Wheat Board did or was. You can bet your Eastern Ass that Western alienation goes a hell of a lot deeper than just Alberta.

What is it these anti-oil, anti-pipeline kneejerk reactionaries think they will accomplish???? Canada is not going to stop using gasoline and diesel to get 99% of its population to work and goods to market. Not for the foreseeable future. Canadians are not soon going to stop buying almost everything they use made from plastics and everything they eat farmed with oil, packaged with plastic and shipped with oil. So, we will continue to use petroleum products. And they will continue to be shipped to us. Our choice is do we do it safely in pipelines or at much, much higher risk to public safety by rail and road? And, if our refineries aren't being fed by our oilfields, are we prepared to let yet another bunch of billion$$ per week bleed out across our borders to pay someone else to make those products that WILL be shipped here to meet our demands?

I tend to agree with Jaycee on this subject. Alberta should be doing at the very least adding value by shipping only synthetic crude, NOT dilbit. AND, Alberta really needs to add even more value wherever they can. While it has a very strong manufacturing sector, it is almost totally aimed at the petroleum industry, so suffers when resources are hit. It should have long ago focused on diversifying its manufacturing base. Of course, the point you make, that everything SHOULD be going out of refineries via pipeline, is lost on most people. They don't seem to realize that we as a consuming continent are going to continue to use fossil fuels for a very, very long time, and those crude feedstocks and refined products will need to be delivered one way or another. Other than vacuum distillates and residuals, they need to go into a pipeline, as they will otherwise be on road or rail at MUCH, MUCH higher risk to the public and damage to the environment. This totally idiotic opposition to pipelines on a strictly emotional and political basis risks damaging our competitiveness and reputation irreparably.

The oil sands boom had very little to do with Harper, and a lot more to do with a business friendly Alberta government and a very long run of high priced oil. You would think for these massive investments, a lot of strategic planning was involved, but since big publics are run by employees (and most of them finance types) their view is much shorter and fuzzier than a real oil man would have (read that as someone with their OWN money at risk). Therefore: stupid decisions get made (CNOOC buying Nexen, for instance). Oh, the oil is there, and that of course makes it possible. Sad part is: the old style open pit mining method of extration is much cheaper and only possible in a relatively small area, so that is what gets public attention. BTW: we have been there before. the tree hugging eco movement used to dance to the tune of nuclear, now replaced by 'tar" sands and pipelines. It is no different from GMO or fur maina in Europe spread to the rest of the weak-minded world.

we singled ourselves out when we decided to give aboriginal communities national status.

Don't stop buying products from Microcrap, stop trading Microcrap stock. Gates does not make his billions from producing product, he made it by quite legally scamming shareholders of their equity (by stock option plans) while Wall Street rewarded his treachery of valuing that stock at 1000x book value. The house can only pay if the suckers will play - and that's you and me, bro. You see, you can NOT make that kind of money by working for it. That is the limit of capitalism. The Street lives by the unlimited rule of profiting from Casino Capitalism - where no wealth is created. There is a valid point for how and why a very small number of people can become fabulously wealthy to a ridiculous multiple of the wealth of those who are genuinely productive. That doesn't make them criminals, though. As to stashing wealth illegally offshore: i doubt very much many of the uber-rich do that, as they are way too visible. AND, let's face it: once you have conned the system out of billions, why do you care how much that number is? Heck, you could even give half of it away, and you wouldn't miss it - since you really didn't do very much for it in the first place. In my experience, these very high profile targets would the tax man's dream to take down, but reality is you are far more likely to find noveau riche types trying to stash their cash as they are more likely to remember not having it and are not yet adapted to the idea of never being able to spend what they have.

In matters of policy, I always defer to Sir Roger Douglas, who once answered my question about how he could justify the very conservative policies he had to use to save his country's economy with the fact he was Minister of a Labour government. He replied: "we simply removed privilege". I consider that the blueprint for good policy of any kind. Either EVERYONE is eligible or NOBODY is. We can't completely eliminate some of the things that government gives out money for, but if we are going to do them, the lack of privilege for one to benefit over another should be removed from the equation. Other than that, I agree very strongly with your post.

Problem is, the "right" does almost exactly the same thing. Yes, the left wants all kinds of government programmes in place to re-distribute wealth to their idle kin - but the other side of the spectrum uses the political process to seek privilege to re-distribute wealth into THEIR pockets. Same-same. What the population has to understand is that wealth is only created by adding value to a resource, or delivering a service in support of same. pretty much everything else we do (and here I will very specifically target speculative transactions and speculative gain - i.e. 99% of Wall Street and Bay Street activity) When some useless tit on the dole sees some useless tit on the "street" scam millions or even billions of bux without adding a cent of value, what do you expect them to think? Worse yet, the TOTAL function of government has developed into institutionalized methods of granting privilege to these two polarized groups of freeloaders - and the middle ground is left to carry the load for the whole lot.

The culture of reserves is one of violence and substance abuse, little different from US inner city ghettos. As to where kid got the gun...it IS a little different from inner city as weapons are used for subsistence hunting (or so goes the belief). Gun registration is mostly a city thing - hardly anyone in rural communities bothers with it. What does differ is the massive amount of money dedicated to aboriginal entitlements - most driven by the "Indian Industry" where bureaucrat and politico friendly consultants milk the majority of the cash off of the front end, with precious few $$ ever seeing a living, breathing treaty number. The consultants, band councils and Chiefs seem to do very, very well for themselves, but the buck definitely stops there. Solution for remote communities and reserves is no different from solution for inner cities: if you don't want alcohol and drug problems, unemployment, crime, etc. set that example as parents and communities in general by not allowing or participating. Maybe try getting a job instead of robbing a convenience store or dealing drugs. Why do you/we expect "government" (the very definition of ineptitude) to provide solutions to problems of YOUR/OUR creation?

If 30% of that was ex-government, you're damned right I think you missed the entire point of a guaranteed annual income. First of all, it would be paid to EVERYONE (sort of an negative start of the income tax table) so you get rid of ALL government handout programmes - and all of the useless tits on a power trip dispensing privilege to those under their thumb. The support level is always there, so you get MORE money by simply doing something - enough to live a very basic lifestyle (that would not be the case with the GAI). Think about it this way: nobody is starving now in Canada, but it takes a huge army of very, very expensive bureaucrats to select who wins that lottery (you need to deal with the whole "Indian Industry" to begin to appreciate what I mean).

My politics tend to be far right of center, and this is definitely one policy with which I heartily agree. Our system of means tested programmes is simply and employment programme for bureaucrats. Being truly conservative means to move away from dispensing privilege and produce policies that are truly egalitarian. Being truly conservative means giving EVERYONE the same opportunities, and EVERYONE the same protection under the law. Also, that is the same reason why I was sick to death of the Harper "conservatives" hiding behind the name. Where is right to work legislation (job 1)??? Why is the government payroll still so incredibly bloated? Why is government still sticking its nose into every nook and cranny of business, subsidizing business, providing free tax rides to speculators, etc., etc.? Why the unfettered support to murder Canadian children? conservative my arse.

So true. What happened in North America was the the huge amount of press that the tree huggers gave to hydraulic fracturing meant that the oil industry caught Wall Street's eye, and ever flakey idiot investment banker and hedge fund threw BILLION$$ at the oil biz, that got the frac guys to be even more agressive, etc. Just so happened that the rest of the market had set the stage with $100 oil, that being the catalyst that got the interest of the investment community turn into an orgy of investment. Deals were being done that just made no economic sense - unless oil stayed goofy high. Sadly, the army of people who considered themselves business geniuses at $100 in a boom market found out in a hurry what has always happened with oil (and let's face it, almost any resource) price and it corrected after the glut of production filled market demand. The price will come back somewhat, but there isn't anything yet to play out to make it happen. The US side, though, will do its part as the massive number of frac plays hit their early and very steep decline curve and there are simply not enough rigs working to replace that lost production. AND, once the banks lose their shirts from current investments, they will be shy of petro for quite a while. Meanwhile, the smart money will do as it has always done and buy production when the crap really hits the fan (it has started already) - knowing of course that the solution for low oil prices is indeed low oil prices.

IMHO, the UN has become a self-serving bureaucracy, not exactly lap dog for Uncle Sam at all.

Geez, the Sunny Way spin doctors are working overtime today. Friggin hilarious. It is a snub, pure and simple, from countries who find trouble with ISIS treatment of civilians. Who started what, how, where and when is irrelevant. Stopping the people slaughtering men, women and children for a twisted ideology is what this IS all about, and we are now regarded as no longer part of the solution. Sorry if such a simple truth boggles the minds of Sunny Ways spinners, but I see an awful lot of other simple truths that are similarly mind boggling to them, so I guess we are in for four more years of sheer stupidity being the way of the day. I guess Trudeau will have to get a class IV hitch stuck on the back of Daddy's 300SL.

I think you have kind of missed the entire point of employment. If you even consider government as an employer, you are not likely to EVER contribute anything to anyone but yourself. There are endless employment opportunities for those who have bothered to look at the labour market, find where the need is greatest and NOT heavily dependent upon cyclical resource prices, train for that and be prepared to go to WORK, not show up expecting to be entitled to a free ride and a paycheque. One of the companies I work with takes people into our department with either 2 year diplomas at tech school or engineering degrees as students to find out if they have any real ability to actually work. Those who do will NEVER have to look back for the rest of their lives. Usually, second year out of school, they are filing 6 digit tax returns (due to overtime). I have worked with some of the same people for over 20 years, but for the most part, it is very hard to KEEP people who are able to learn and work - as competitors and clients are constantly trying to poach them - regardless of what "the economy" is doing. All you have to do is realize that the story your HS guidance counsellor gave you that you need to be Doctor Lawyer or Indian Chief to succeed was a line of BS. You just have to be prepared to be useful and productive, that is all.

Has anyone done the accounting for how many refugees could have been housed on Syria's borders in SAFE, protected, well stocked camps for all of the money being piddled away to displace them a half world away from their home? These clowns are dragging Canada's name through the mud on a daily basis. Next thing you know, Goodale will be lobbying cabinet to restore the CWB.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/01/19/canada-not-invited-to-paris-meeting-to-discuss-islamic-state-fight.html After decades of honourable military service, Sajjan is been castrated by his own party and PM. So sad to see such an important and dedicated guy reduced to having some snivelling politico try to spin this disaster with "we will still be at the NATO meeting on Feb 11". DUH!!!!! We are NATO members (at least for now). I was embarrassed when we elected such a lightweight as PM, but I am deeply ashamed now.

The rough numbers I use are that something like 60% of Americans are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, fed/state gov't employment or VA benefits so actually have government paid medical insurance of one kind or another. I would guess 20% have good private coverage, 10% are poorly covered and 10% have no coverage at all. Obamacare is an effort to solve that, but a total disaster in execution. I am an employer in the USA, and am painfully aware of the past and present medical insurance situation. We have also had employees come on board with serious pre-existing conditions, and thus I can tell you, living in a relatively sparse population area (WY) you need big bux on the table to get to competent specialists - or simply drop dead. That has been my personal experience. I had never heard of the Oregon study, and find that extremely interesting, and quite contrary to what I see here. Of course, we don't have to fill any forms at all unless being admitted, and one must factor in the cultural distrust of government in the USA to even try to begin to explain those results!!! Could you link any summaries for us?

I have to add universal medical insurance to that list. Sick care and health care should be regarded in policy as what they are in fact - social service. Proof is in the pudding: US version only works for the few privileged to have access to the best of care.

IMHO: government's place in the grand scheme of things is to regulate and enforce with wisdom. Until it understands the difference between wealth creation and wealth redistribution, it can not achieve the former goal. It is also the obvious method of funding and often delivering social services. What it has to learn, though, is how to contract out much of this service delivery to the far more capable world of business. Government should have no ability to MAKE a decision that affects much of anything except providing for level playing field rules and enforcement, and funding social services.

I will give you a very broad sample of one. One of my BILs has had a lot of shoulder problems, and is no stranger to the sick care system. In between major surgery 4 & 5, he had been given a list of diagnostic imaging appointments, with an X-ray coming a few weeks before an MRI. When he went to the clinic, he sat for several hours waiting for his X-ray appointment (obviously one that was several hours late. About half way through, he became extremely irritated listening to the radiology techs in the MRI room giggling and exchanging stories about their personal life. He went to the desk and asked that, since the MRI was clearly NOT being used and was fully staffed, why was he waiting weeks to come back and no doubt waste more hours in the same waiting room when he could just go in there while he was awaiting the x-rays he was to receive? The desk staff were apalled to think anyone could be so presumptuous, and explained to him that things just didn't work that way! 3+ hours, nobody in there. Government is totally inept at providing any service, much less critical services such as medical diagnostics. Yes, I agree they have a place in the whole mess, but to deny the ability of the private sector to manage effectively and deliver a defined service to the sick care insurance plan at a reasonable cost is truly idiotic. The irony is, Worker's Comp finally tired of the sick care bureaucrats and unions causing such a ridiculous delay in a vital diagnostic procedure that they bundled him up onto an airplane and flew him to a private clinic in Alberta for his MRI. From the time they decided to do so, until he spent a day going there and back was less than a week, vs. several MONTHS from the government sick care fiasco.

While I agree strongly with both of these posts, what I find missing is the recognition that the "problem" we have with emissions, resource consumption and sustainability overall is one of population, not efficiencies.

You have to be careful in dampening ideological enthusiasm with the facts. There are huge problems with reliability and capacity within the North American grid. The US would be in very deep doo doo were it not for the massive amounts of hydro power that MB, NF and QC export cheaply across the 49th. What makes everything possible is having base load generation that is extremely cheap and able to absorb a lot of variation in load (as well as tolerate high turn down). Hydro is ideal, but if you don't have the resource and can not tolerate the massive environmental damage of flooding reservoirs, it is a limited option. Coal is used simply because it is very cheap and replacing that with the much more limited and price-volatile natural gas as a source works for now, but still have huge GHG side. All of the botique power solutions that make people feel good, such as distributed simple cycle gas turbines, alternatives of most sorts, etc. are massively expensive and not able to float well with demand changes. The reason utilities can play these ridiculous political games is that their cheap base load provides most of the power and can absorb the load variations that the alternatives don't do well and can not do cost effectively. Just as an example: Those who think wind power is "free" once built need to realize that the cost of maintenance alone is usually greater than the cost of typical base load sourced power. What makes me LMFAO is all of this effort to make different, ineffective and expensive solutions try to work to create even more energy to be wasted by our idiotic lifestyle. I will start to take it seriously when I see the David Suzuki's of this world walk the walk instead of running the mouth. And, yes, I have a pretty good idea of his lifestyle as one of my very close friends was a senior member of his staff for most of the last 3 decades.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Yes, our methodology might be very good, but our wait times are unacceptable.