Canada's energy ministers powerless in face of volatile prices

[CHIMO]

ST. ANDREWS, N.B. (CP) - Canada's energy ministers say they have no control over volatile petroleum prices and they're warning Canadians to prepare for a tough winter.

Between lobster dinners and golf games at a pricey New Brunswick resort, the provincial and territorial ministers had nothing but bleak news Tuesday as they advised Canadians to tighten their belts for the coming energy chill.

"I want to emphasize that this country is going to have a tough winter," said Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan.

"If we have a cold winter, that's going to make it even worse. Last time I checked, natural gas prices have gone up 64 per cent since January. That's going to impact on folks' bills. I'm not sure most Canadians have come to terms with that reality yet."

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n092043A

So they don't have ideas?

Remember this the next time you go to vote in a provincial election.

Oil in the ground, pipelines that traverse the land, hydroelectric power, industries that gulp down power and on and on and on..

No one has any ideas about how one should be able to live in the frozen northland!

Well I guess if one doesn't have cod then there is always lobster.

[xray s]

1. nationalize the oil business in Canada

base the price on cost to extract, refine and transport to consumers. add a margin that would be plowed into exploration as well as research and development of alternative energy. no big stock market profits. no bloated corporate salaries.

and ban price speculation.

that ought to do it.

(oh...an as an added benefit, no more need for lobster dinners and golf games at pricey New Brunswick resorts for political lackeys)

[lostinacause]

7. How old are you? If you don't remember or were not alive at the time

of the NEP look into it.

[arikara]

2. This is why... part 1

This is an op-ed from yesterday's Edmonton Journal written by Parkland's Executive Director Ricardo Acuna. The link wasn't sent to me so I'm posting it in pieces.

We Can Help New Orleans, But Can We Help Ourselves?
By Ricardo Acuña


Alberta has a positive track record of using its natural resource wealth to help in times of crisis.Hurricane Katrina was no exception.But what would happen if the crisis was at home?


Recently the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board suspended its Maximum Rate Limitation systems to allow the Alberta oil patch to extract up to 30,000 extra barrels of oil per day on a “temporary basis.”The goal, according to the EUB, is to help the United States meet its energy needs for “as long as necessary.”


There has been much rhetoric from the Klein government of late about exclusive provincial control over natural resources and the spoils that go with it. One might ask if Alberta would be just as willing to lift limits on production in order to help avert a Canadian energy crisis.


If it were to happen today, the answer to that question would be irrelevant.Alberta would simply not be able to increase oil extraction for domestic consumption, regardless of whether it wanted to or not.


That’s right, the provincial and federal governments can easily increase production for export in response to a crisis in the US, but are currently prohibited from doing so for domestic consumption.


<snip>

[arikara]

3. Part 2

<snip>
Article 605 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) states that Canada can do absolutely nothing to reduce the proportion of oil being exported to the United States relative to the proportion being consumed domestically.NAFTA’s proportionality provisions are not limited to oil ­ they extend to natural gas, energy and petrochemicals as well ­ but these days it is oil that is front and centre.


In 2004, Canada produced approximately 3.1 million barrels per day of oil, of which about 68% (2.1 million barrels per day) was exported to the United States.What proportionality means is that regardless of how much - or how little - oil we are producing, our governments cannot ever take any steps which will result in less than 68 % of it going to the United States.


What would that mean if a hurricane like Katrina were to hit Nova Scotia or Montreal today?Quite simply that, if we choose to abide by the rules of NAFTA, we would not be able to help.Regardless of how much oil there is in Alberta, we would not be able to help.


But there is a choice, and the time is right to do something about it.


International trade agreements are essentially legal contracts.When one party refuses to adhere to the rules of the contract, the other parties can also ignore the rules.


The basic premise of NAFTA was that Canada would give up control over our natural resources in order to gain access to the US market.By ignoring the softwood lumber decision, the US has reneged on its side of the bargain.We no longer have to live up to our side of the bargain.


US Vice President Dick Cheney has said on a few occasions that Alberta’s oil is one of the “pillars of North American energy security.”The truth is that, under NAFTA, Alberta’s oil may be a pillar of the United States’ energy security, but it can do nothing for energy security in Canada - especially in a crisis.


Whether it is by declaring NAFTA null and void, or by having the US declared in violation, or by simply issuing due notice that we are withdrawing from the agreement, Canada must assert its sovereignty over our energy and trade policy now.If we do not, and find ourselves faced with a disaster like Katrina, we will not be able to help ourselves.Instead, we will have to rely on the charity and good will of those in the world that do have control over their own resources.


Ricardo Acuña is executive director of the Parkland Institute, a non-partisan public policy research network based at the University of Alberta.

[CHIMO]

4. Exactly

And not one person present at the meeting could point out the restriction that we imposed on Canada with the NAFTA agreement. Never mind a suggestion of scrapping NAFTA.

It is absolute nonsense to say that they couldn't do anything.

[CHIMO]

5. Link

We can help New Orleans, but can we help ourselves?
If a similar crisis befell Canada, NAFTA wouldn't allow us to extend the same aid we gave the U.S.

Ricardo Acuna
The Edmonton Journal
http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=ef4ae59b-2a6f-4ab4-93ac-f312ce040346

[arikara]

6. Thanks for the link

I would have looked for it but was running late and wanted y'all to see the article.