Scheer leaves himself open to claims he’s in cahoots with Big Oil

[Guest]

how come none of these dummies realize how many income tax dollars came from the patch? , all across canada ?

[SASKFARMER]

Case your answer is to look at Chuck and read his posts and soon you will get your answer.

[chuckChuck]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2017/oct/26/revealed-oil-giants-pay-billions-less-tax-in-canada-than-abroad

Revealed: oil giants pay billions less tax in Canada than abroad

Data shows companies made much higher payments to developing countries in 2016 than to Canadian, provincial governments

Martin Lukacs
@Martin_Lukacs

Thu 26 Oct 2017 11.00 BST
Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 17.34 GMT

Canada taxes its oil and gas companies at a fraction of the rate they are taxed abroad, including by countries ranked among the world’s most corrupt, according to an analysis of public data by the Guardian.

The low rate that oil companies pay in Canada represents billions of dollars in potential revenue lost, which an industry expert who looked at the data says is a worrying sign that the country may be “a kind of tax haven for our own companies.”

The countries where oil companies paid higher rates of taxes, royalties and fees per barrel in 2016 include Nigeria, Indonesia, Ivory Coast and the UK.

“I think it will come as a surprise to most Canadians, including a lot of politicians, that Canada is giving oil companies a cut-rate deal relative to other countries,” said Keith Stewart, an energy analyst with Greenpeace.

Companies like Chevron Canada paid almost three times as much to Nigeria and almost seven times as much to Indonesia as it did to Canadian, provincial and municipal governments.

Chevron used to run its Nigeria and Indonesia projects out of the U.S., but after allegations that they evaded billions in taxes, their operations were moved to Canada.

According to data collected by the Guardian, Suncor also paid six times more taxes to the UK, and Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) paid almost four times more to Ivory Coast.
Oil company payments in Canada and abroad - how it breaks down

The revelations emerge as tax reforms proposed by the Liberal government to curb the use of loopholes by wealthy Canadians continue to be hotly debated and opposed by business lobby groups.
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Even with the low rates, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has been lobbying the federal government for more tax breaks to improve their “competitiveness.”

The Guardian used a new extractive sector database launched in June, 2017, after a law passed by Stephen Harper required oil, gas, and mining companies in Canada to disclose for the first time payments they make to governments around the world. The Guardian compared payment figures for 2016 to oil production levels.

The result of a global push for “publish-what-you-pay” corporate transparency, the Canadian law was billed as a way to empower citizens in developing countries to ensure more tax revenue is collected for much-needed social programs. While it was supported by Canada’s mining industry, oil companies fought against full disclosures.

“Publish-what-you-pay was set up to help fight corruption in the developing world, but ironically this data reveals that it’s Canada who is getting the short end of the stick when it comes to the public’s share of oil revenue,” said Stewart. “The Trudeau government should be demanding that oil companies pay at least as much tax here as they do abroad, and use that money to fund a transition to green energy.”

According to resource governance expert and UBC geography professor Philippe Le Billon, neoliberal policies in Canada and across OECD countries have resulted in lower taxes and royalties for companies.

“Companies in Canada will point to the jobs they are creating rather than acknowledge they could be sharing more of their profits, which mostly goes to shareholders who are not even in the country,” he said. “In key jurisdictions like Alberta, this has come about after decades of rule by Conservatives who are very cozy with oil interests. The numbers reveal a poor tradeoff: high emissions for not much revenue. It’s long-past time for Canada to follow a model like Norway’s, which captures far more revenue from oil production.”

While royalty rates in Newfoundland are the highest in Canada, in Alberta they have fallen from a 40 per cent high during the 1970s to less than four per cent, and a complex system of exemptions ensures companies often pay even less. The NDP government in Alberta backed away from a pledge to hike them.

Le Billon said the tax gap between Canada and developing countries has also been influenced by lower prices for Canadian crude and higher production costs.

“[Production in Africa] generated positive segmented earnings, therefore generating higher associated payments to the local Governments. In contrast, last year our Canadian conventional operations were generating operating losses, hence lower payment levels to Canadian governments,” a spokesperson for CNRL said. They reported losses of $204 million last year but have made $1.07 billion in profits in their latest quarter in 2017.

Chevron Canada did not directly address the discrepancy in tax rates, but a spokesperson said its reporting to the extractive sector database “are one of many important roles that Chevron Canada and our industry peers play as we produce safe and reliable energy and partner with communities and first nations [sic].” They reported losses of $497 million in 2016 after making $4.6 billion in 2015.

Suncor, which reported profits of $1.9 billion in 2016, did not return a request for comment. All three companies pay massive dividends to shareholders every year.

Natural Resources Canada referred questions to the Finance Ministry, which did not respond to questions.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government and the provinces also continue to give $3.3 billion in yearly subsidies to fossil fuel producers in the country, despite having pledged to phase them out.

[chuckChuck]

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/04/12/Eleven-Ignored-Issues-Albertans-Should-Think-About/

Andrew Nikiforuk

1. The long-term collapse of government oil revenues
Almost every day Alberta’s politicians say they have to export more oil to boost government revenues needed to pave more roads and build more schools.

But oil and gas revenues have gone from a gush to a trickle.

Between 2000 and 2017, annual revenue from royalties collapsed by 59 per cent — $9.5 billion — while oil production rose by 112 per cent during the same period.

The Alberta government has made it a policy to slash the royalties it takes in for the sale of the province’s resources. In 2000, corporations paid royalties equal to 19.5 per cent of the value of oil and gas produced.

By 2017, that had been cut to 5.1 per cent, among the lowest in North America, even though major producers like Imperial Oil, Suncor and Husky continue to make robust profits in the oil sands because they upgrade and refine bitumen into gasoline and jet fuel.

3. The province’s focus on the wrong markets

The United States, not Asia, remains the largest market for heavy oil, because its refineries invested in the upgrades necessary to process the low-grade bitumen. Companies in Alberta and Canada chose not to make these strategic investments.

U.S. refineries process about five million barrels a day of heavy oil. Heavy oil supplies from Mexico and Venezuela are declining.

As a result, the importance of Canadian heavy oil has increased in U.S. markets. That reality makes Enbridge’s Line 3 and TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline — not the Trans Mountain expansion — the most important infrastructure for Alberta.

4. The coming cleanup cost crisis

Alberta has no real plan for addressing a hidden fiscal crisis: unfunded oil and gas liabilities worth at least $260 billion. The province, for example, has only $200 million in security deposits to cover the abandonment and reclamation of hundreds of thousands of wells.

If not properly sealed and reclaimed, these wells can leak methane, carbon dioxide or radon into the groundwater and atmosphere.

Other unfunded liabilities include 400,000 kilometres of pipelines, inactive gas plants and oil sands mines and 200 square kilometres of bitumen tailing ponds. These liabilities easily exceed the total revenue the province will earn from hydrocarbons over the next 50 years.

5. The inability to manage production

Overproduction of both bitumen from Alberta and tight oil from Texas helped precipitate the 2014 oil price crash. That put thousands of Albertans out of work and emptied Calgary’s office towers.

Unless Alberta learns how to curtail future production or add more value to bitumen, the province will be increasingly vulnerable to oil price swings and shocks.

UCLA political scientist Michael Ross notes that oil-exporting states have become the most highly specialized states in the global economy “and hence the most vulnerable to large price shocks.”

[grassfarmer]

While royalty rates in Newfoundland are the highest in Canada, in Alberta they have fallen from a 40 per cent high during the 1970s to less than four per cent, and a complex system of exemptions ensures companies often pay even less.

Wow, just put this in farm terms. How would all your businesses be doing if instead of paying $40/acre rent in the 1970s you were paying $4/acre now? I bet you'd all be going to Government with a begging bowl and hoping oil workers would be fighting your cause for you.

[blackjack]

Yep It all started with Turdo # 1 with his NEP.

[chuckChuck]

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/facts/energy-economy/20062

[beaverdam]

chump chump, why don't you post that same info for 2013 ? or 2012 ? or 2011 ?
Posting info from when the industry has already been hammered down from the Turd's policies means nothing.
You are a propogandist !

[Hamloc]

In 2018 according to TradingEconomics Canada's main exports were:"energy products 19%, motor vehicles and parts 15%, consumer goods 11%, metal and non-metallic mineral products 11%, forestry products and building and packaging materials 8%, farm, fishing and intermediate food products 7%, industrial machinery, equipment and parts 7% and basic and industrial chemical, plastic and rubber parts 6%." So it is clear oil is Canada's largest export.

[Hamloc]

[ATTACH]4184[/ATTACH]

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/facts/energy-economy/20062

One simple question Chuck2, could you go out and operate your farm today and plant your crop without fossil fuels or fossil fuel related products?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

One simple question Chuck2, could you go out and operate your farm today and plant your crop without fossil fuels or fossil fuel related products?

Or even spread his propaganda using a computer built using fossil fuels, powered by fossil fuel, over internet enabled, powered and built using fossil fuels.

But, Chuck, in case you are feeling unappreciated for your disproportionately large contributions to Agriville ( and evidently doing so voluntarily out of the goodness of your heart), a thread like this reminded me to thank you for continuing to spread your message. For those of us too busy being productive members of society to have time to watch CBC, or read left wing media, or regularly associate with the extreme left social scene, we do appreciate your taking the time to condense it down and share what they are thinking, plotting and doing. it is always informative, interesting and scary to learn how your type thinks. Please continue to enlighten us, and don't be scared away by the constant negative feedback you might receive.

[furrowtickler]

Chuck , you buddies in Ottawa still support this b/S ...