The Progressive Economics Forum February 19th, 2008

Since the provincial Liberals came to power in 2001 I have seen a lot of BC Budgets and not been too happy with any of them. Until now. Today’s 2008 model is a very interesting budget, and while I have a number of quibbles, I support the overall direction. And as in the recent past on climate change I find myself siding with the government against business – which is, well, pretty weird. (Keep reading…)

Reuters News Agency February 9, 2008

CARACAS — Venezuela accused Exxon Mobil Corp. of legal “terrorism” yesterday after the giant U.S. oil company won court orders freezing $12-billion (U.S.) of the South American oil supplier’s assets in a dispute at the heart of a worldwide tussle for control of natural resources. Venezuela’s oil minister Rafael Ramirez played down the rulings, reassuring investors they had little impact on the supplies, operations or cash flow of the state oil company, PDVSA, which he said has about $100-billion in assets. (Keep reading…)

Winnipeg Free Press Saturday, February 9th, 2008

Retired professor John Ryan believes a transmission line buried under Lake Winnipeg would be more cost effective than a west route and less damaging to the environment than either the east or west routes. This is the first of part of his three part series. (Keep reading…)

Winnipeg Free Press Feb 6 2008

IN 1980, furious Albertans slapped bumper stickers on their cars stating “Let the eastern bastards freeze in the dark” to protest Ottawa’s “Canada First” National Energy Program. Every federal government since has ceded national energy policy to the provinces and, by proxy, to the North American marketplace. (Keep reading…)

Globe and Mail February 1, 2008

Two Fridays ago, a bigwig from the Suncor oil company sat at Wayne Groot’s kitchen table, where the window looks out over his cherished potato fields. They chatted about their kids, and Mr. Groot, not being the lawyer-fetching type, served tea. But it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to the true reason for the visit: Suncor wants to buy the Groot land – in particular, the patch upon which the family bungalow sits – to build an upgrader that will take the bitumen travelling from the oil sands up north and turn it into synthetic crude for the thirsty markets down south. (Keep reading…)

TheTyee.ca January 25, 2008

As Canada’s premiers gather in Vancouver this coming Monday for the Council of the Federation meeting, the future of Canada is again at stake. But this time the threat isn’t Quebec nationalism so much as it’s global warming pollution from the Alberta tar sands. (Keep reading…)

Canada is the kind of oil supplier the U.S. can rely on, and no one knows it better than the Texans (Keep reading…)

Globe and Mail January 26, 2008

Canada’s conventional oil supplies are running down. They are being replaced with oil from Alberta’s tar sands. (Keep reading…)

Globe & Mail January 12, 2008

Leaning back behind a desk in Mumbai’s financial district last January, businessman Gul Kripalani marvelled at how far India has come. Take, for example, car shopping. “I grew up in an economy where … there were only two cars available - Fiat and Ambassador. And if you placed your order today, you’d get it some time in 2008, 2009,” he said. “[Now], you order the car today, you’d get the car tomorrow or the day after.” (Keep reading…)

Winnipeg Free Press Jan 15 2008

THE jokes about the Nano, Tata Motors’ new affordable car for the Indian middle class, were harmless, although very old. They told the same jokes about the Fiat 500 and the Citroen 2CV in the 1950s, when mass car ownership first came to Europe. “How do you double the value of a Nano?” “Fill the tank.” “How many engineers does it take to make a Nano?” “Two. One to fold and one to apply the glue.” But the hypocrisy wasn’t funny at all. (Keep reading…)