Fixing equalization will not be easy, but there are other options, say experts

[chuckChuck]

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2019/05/21/Pipeline-Myths-Albertans-Tell-Themselves/
By Andrew Nikiforuk 21 May 2019

False Alberta claim: Every day Canada is losing $30 to $40 million because the nation lacks sufficient pipeline capacity to get our diluted bitumen to world markets.

These numbers are a complete fiction.

Does Stephen King go around whining he is losing money because he hasn’t written a bestselling book yet? No.

And what industry would last a month with these kind of fictional losses?

To illustrate the grandiosity of the claim, just consider the finances of Suncor, one of Canada’s largest bitumen miners. If the industry were losing so much money every day, you’d expect Suncor to be bleeding, too.

But that’s not what its financial statements say.

In fact, Suncor has been recording tidy profits for years, because it mines, upgrades and refines bitumen into a variety of refined products.

The company also hedges against oil price volatility and heavy oil discounts. Even with mandated provincial cuts in production, the company produced 396,000 barrels of bitumen in the first quarter of 2019, with net earnings of $1.4 billion compared to $789 million in 2018.

Husky and Imperial Oil, the province’s other big producers, also reported healthy returns this year.

“We delivered more funds from operations compared to the first quarter of 2018, despite Alberta government quotas on our oil production, and even with global oil prices pretty much on par in Canadian dollar terms,” boasted Husky CEO Rob Peabody.

So don’t try bullying British Columbians with fictional losses produced by fictional pipelines.

Alberta’s three major bitumen producers make money regardless of pipeline politics, because they do everything Alberta failed to do: they hedge, add value and refine.

[Hamloc]

Alberta is still recovering from 2014 but it continues to grow. It still has the highest GDP per capita of any Canadian province.

Is Alberta really in that bad of shape? Only if you compare it to the peak of the boom. But not if you compare it the rest of Canada.

Yes parts of the oil industry are struggling. But integrated companies who upgrade and sell refined oil products are doing very well.

Once Line 3 and Keystone XL and TMX are operating then pipeline constraints are reduced.

Actually Chuck Alberta's growth rate so far this year according to the Conference board of Canada is -.8%. So no our economy is not growing this year, you really should have known.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I owe you an apology Chuck. I previously stated that you weren't open minded or flexible in your dogmatic opinion.

Now, in the space of a week, you have gone from defending the current equalization program as ideal, to supporting the notion that it is broken and needs to be fixed, and now back to being it's most ardent supporter in its current form.

Have you considered a career in politics, where the ability to mould your strongest held opinions around the daily polls and public opinion is among the most important qualities? And being true to ones own convictions is nowhere to be found.

[blackpowder]

When you look at a cripple, you help and feel grateful it is not you.
You do not cripple yourself to be the "same".

[bucket]

Equalization might get a whole lot easier to negotiate in 4 days when Quebec is out of propane...

When you have them on the ropes .....keep punching....

[Guest]

And kicking and gouging

[jazz]

And kicking and gouging

And give BC a little kick in the nads at the same time. Must be time for a planned maintenance shut down on existing TMX. Lets see if BC socked away some refined products for a rainy day.

[bucket]

And give BC a little kick in the nads at the same time. Must be time for a planned maintenance shut down on existing TMX. Lets see if BC socked away some refined products for a rainy day.

Alberta and Saskatchewan are very generous people but its time to quit being nice....and start using this to negotiate .....

[blackpowder]

Not negotiate. Tell.

[chuckChuck]

I owe you an apology Chuck. I previously stated that you weren't open minded or flexible in your dogmatic opinion.

Now, in the space of a week, you have gone from defending the current equalization program as ideal, to supporting the notion that it is broken and needs to be fixed, and now back to being it's most ardent supporter in its current form.

Have you considered a career in politics, where the ability to mould your strongest held opinions around the daily polls and public opinion is among the most important qualities? And being true to ones own convictions is nowhere to be found.

And you and your counterparts have repeatedly told us how bad it is in Alberta. The GDP facts tell a different story. You still have the highest GDP and family incomes in Canada. Did everybody expect the commodity boom to last for ever? Supply and demand kicked in an oil prices fell. Unsustainable Booms don’t last! Alberta has always had a boom and bust economy. Albertans pay the same federal tax rate as every other Canadian. Equalization is a federal program paid for by all Canadian taxpayers, not just those in Alberta.