Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
National

Put Oil 'Crisis' On First Ministers' Agenda: Alberta, Saskatchewan Premiers

The Canadian Press, 04 Dec, 2018 11:20 AM
  • Put Oil 'Crisis' On First Ministers' Agenda: Alberta, Saskatchewan Premiers
Alberta and Saskatchewan want issues facing the oilpatch to be on the agenda when premiers meet with the prime minister later this week.
 
 
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have made the request in an open letter to Justin Trudeau.
 
 
They say the current agenda does not include any discussion of a crisis facing the energy industry.
 
 
Alberta's oil is currently fetching bargain basement prices thanks to a growing glut and lack of pipeline capacity to get oil to market.
 
 
The premiers say the problem is costing Canada $80 million a day and the meeting agenda should reflect that.
 
 
The premiers are scheduled to meet with Trudeau in Montreal on Friday.
 
 
"During your recent visit to Calgary, you called the economic impact of the oil price differential a 'crisis.' We agree," Notley and Moe wrote in a letter released Tuesday.
 
 
"A crisis of this magnitude must be reflected in any discussion on 'Economic Competitiveness.' We trust that the agenda for our upcoming First Ministers’ Meeting can be revised to better reflect the need for a substantive discussion on issues of critical importance to the Canadian economy."
 
 
While the rest of the world sells its oil at about $50 per barrel, Notley has said Alberta fetches only $10.
 
 
She has ordered a mandatory cut to oil production which amounts to 8.7 per cent of output to reduce the glut of oil forcing the steep discounts. The cuts are scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2019.
 
 
Alberta is also planning on buying as many as 80 locomotives and 7,000 rail tankers — expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars — to move the province's excess oil to markets and address the pipeline bottleneck.
 
 
The Trans Mountain expansion project, which would triple capacity to the B.C. coast, is now in legal limbo despite being approved two years ago as Ottawa revisits the impacts on First Nations and B.C.'s marine environment.

MORE National ARTICLES

Professor Of Cannabis Science Is Launched At The University Of B.C.

Epidemiologist and research scientist M-J Milloy will be the first Canopy Growth professor of cannabis science at the university.

Professor Of Cannabis Science Is Launched At The University Of B.C.

B.C. Officers Leave Positions Amid Misconduct Investigations: Commissioner

SAANICH, B.C. — British Columbia's police complaint commissioner says two Vancouver Island officers are alleged to have had inappropriate relationships with sex workers and both left their positions during misconduct investigations.

B.C. Officers Leave Positions Amid Misconduct Investigations: Commissioner

B.C. To Spend $1.1 Billion To Retrofit Social Housing For Safety, Energy Savings

B.C. To Spend $1.1 Billion To Retrofit Social Housing For Safety, Energy Savings
VICTORIA — The British Columbia government says it will invest $1.1 billion over the next decade to make social housing in the province more energy efficient, less polluting, safer and cost efficient.

B.C. To Spend $1.1 Billion To Retrofit Social Housing For Safety, Energy Savings

Three More Cases Of E. Coli Confirmed, None Found In Tested Canadian Lettuce

OTTAWA — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has tested more than 2,000 samples of fresh lettuce and packaged salads looking for the source of an E. coli outbreak but hasn't found any produce that contains the bacteria.

Three More Cases Of E. Coli Confirmed, None Found In Tested Canadian Lettuce

Canada Post Strike Causes Drop In Salvation Army Donations, Charity Says

Canada Post Strike Causes Drop In Salvation Army Donations, Charity Says
TORONTO — Every holiday season workers at the Salvation Army anxiously check the mail for a flurry of envelopes.

Canada Post Strike Causes Drop In Salvation Army Donations, Charity Says

Natural Gas Pressure Eases But FortisBC Urges Restraint For Potential Cold Snap

SURREY, B.C. — The natural gas supply is improving for British Columbia, but FortisBC Energy Inc. is still asking its residential and business customers to conserve ahead of the two coldest months of the year.

Natural Gas Pressure Eases But FortisBC Urges Restraint For Potential Cold Snap