How the new ndp govt is downplaying the oilsands.....

[snopro]

HARDLY a news source.

About the writer of "said article"...

Ezra Levant is a human rights activist, lawyer, author, TV host and dad. He is not to everyone's taste.
In 2014, Ezra was chosen as the “most irritating Canadian” by the Globe and Mail’s TV critic. The Globe’s readers were less discriminating, voting Ezra “the biggest name in Canadian broadcasting”. In the 2014 Hill Times survey of Parliament Hill staff he was voted "talking head you'd most like to silence" by an overwhelming margin.
It's not all bad news, though. In 2009, Ezra wrote a best-selling book called Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights, That book was selected by the Writer’s Trust as the best Canadian political book in 25 years, though that sounds like a clerical error. Ezra went on to write other books, including Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oilsands, which won the 2011 National Business Book Award, and The Enemy Within: Terror, Lies and the Whitewashing of Omar Khadr. His latest book is Groundswell: The Case for Fracking, was nominated for the 2015 National Business Book Award.


Clearly, he's very one sided. Of course he's going to make a story out of anything that undermines his precious oilsands. He's also been in a TON of hot water over many of his stories, inaccuracies, and comments.

Kinda like the CBC or the Huffington Post?

 

[Bigblack]

Oil patch directly employs only 10% of Albertans. Yes, 10%! Indirectly it employs a higher percentage, but it's not the largest portion. Occupancy rates in oilsands camps are up 11% over the same period in 2014, reservations up 20%, decrease in "no shows".

Recent employment stats for Canada showed a loss of jobs in the oil patch, but of the number of lost oil patch jobs cited in the report, half went on to start self employment. Alberta actually saw a net gain in full time employment in other sectors. In other words, employment in general is up in AB.

I would be curious to see the source of this data...and the date it was printed. On the AB Gov't own website, unemployment is at 6%, up from 4.5% in July last year. In a province of 4.1 million, that is 61,500 fewer people working.

 

[Bogger]

Unemployment numbers are iffy as well. They use the number of open claims to determine the unemployment rate and only include those actively looking for work. It does not include part time workers who's hours have been cut, people with expired claims whom have not found work or those who have not looked for a job within the past 4 weeks. Anyone who believes that oil money does not have a large impact on our local economy is wearing blinders.

I work in construction and 30-40% of our clientele are directly related to energy, we are diversified but out of the 60-70% not directly related to oil they are indirectly effected enough that they are cancelling and/or postponing projects. Hard to ignore the lost income of 40-60K jobs, the province & municipalities have helped out. Imagine where we would be without the short term jobs created by the Henday/Arena & Downtown Core/ Hospitals / Schools etc.

I would be curious to see the source of this data...and the date it was printed. On the AB Gov't own website, unemployment is at 6%, up from 4.5% in July last year. In a province of 4.1 million, that is 61,500 fewer people working.

 

[X-Treme]

I would be curious to see the source of this data...and the date it was printed. On the AB Gov't own website, unemployment is at 6%, up from 4.5% in July last year. In a province of 4.1 million, that is 61,500 fewer people working.

You can hardly use the provinces gross population when you're figuring out unemployment numbers. Last time I checked, kids under 12 and adults over 70 were part of the population, but certainly not part of the WORKING population. Just sayin...

 

[Keith Brown]

Bogger....I usually enjoy reading your posts as your thought processes are generally "out of the box" pragmatic and positive. It seems however that you took a sip of the Koolaid (please step away from the Koolaid stand!).

We will see if banks/lenders actually drop their interest rates after the anticipated Bank of Canada announcement in a couple weeks. Problem is it will likely put further pressure on the Canadian dollar yet again. Drop in the dollar means anything imported into Canada is about to go up 20 to 30%, and we import a lot! Food, clothing, refined fuel. They try to say the low dollar saves the manufacturing industries in the East, however those industries are still winding down, consolidating or closing at the same rate as they were at the higher dollar. What were are seeing now, with this low level of the dollar and interest rates, is a net negative effect where EVERY Canadian/Canadian Business is about to be hit hard. This is NOT GOOD for Canada/Canadians as a whole.

QUOTE]Hey Z I respectfully disagree the low dollar is "NOT GOOD for Canada/Canadians as a whole". "The "low dollar" is extremely important to Albertan's economy since All of our oil is sold in US dollars. Yes its hard on our Canadian hockey teams as most of the players contracts are in US currency and imported goods will cost more, Solution by more Canadian products. I know Canadian fruits and vegetables are a little hard to come by in February, but now is the time to get out your canner. The biggest concern I have with the weakness in the Loony is the Bank of Canada may start propping it up by increasing interest rates. In the mean time by Canadian Eg. BRP

 

[Bigblack]

You can hardly use the provinces gross population when you're figuring out unemployment numbers. Last time I checked, kids under 12 and adults over 70 were part of the population, but certainly not part of the WORKING population. Just sayin...

OK..agreed. But no matter how ya look at it from 4.5 to 6% is 1.5% increase in unemployment. (Oh and that's 33% higher unemployment...in keeping up with the S&M math class) This is NOT "employment in general is up in AB" as Zrr stated.

 

[X-Treme]

OK..agreed. But no matter how ya look at it from 4.5 to 6% is 1.5% increase in unemployment. (Oh and that's 33% higher unemployment...in keeping up with the S&M math class) This is NOT "employment in general is up in AB" as you stated.

I never stated anything of the sort.

 

[Bigblack]

I never stated anything of the sort.

Yer right...I got Zrr confused with you. Whups.

 

[gdhillon]

Bogger....I usually enjoy reading your posts as your thought processes are generally "out of the box" pragmatic and positive. It seems however that you took a sip of the Koolaid (please step away from the Koolaid stand!).

We will see if banks/lenders actually drop their interest rates after the anticipated Bank of Canada announcement in a couple weeks. Problem is it will likely put further pressure on the Canadian dollar yet again. Drop in the dollar means anything imported into Canada is about to go up 20 to 30%, and we import a lot! Food, clothing, refined fuel. They try to say the low dollar saves the manufacturing industries in the East, however those industries are still winding down, consolidating or closing at the same rate as they were at the higher dollar. What were are seeing now, with this low level of the dollar and interest rates, is a net negative effect where EVERY Canadian/Canadian Business is about to be hit hard. This is NOT GOOD for Canada/Canadians as a whole.

QUOTE]Hey Z I respectfully disagree the low dollar is "NOT GOOD for Canada/Canadians as a whole". "The "low dollar" is extremely important to Albertan's economy since All of our oil is sold in US dollars. Yes its hard on our Canadian hockey teams as most of the players contracts are in US currency and imported goods will cost more, Solution by more Canadian products. I know Canadian fruits and vegetables are a little hard to come by in February, but now is the time to get out your canner. The biggest concern I have with the weakness in the Loony is the Bank of Canada may start propping it up by increasing interest rates. In the mean time by Canadian Eg. BRP

Interesting, so is this the case for pulp as well?

 

[Stompin Tom]

Interesting, so is this the case for pulp as well?

in its most simplistic form a low canadian dollar is good for anything exported, (oil, pulp, lumber, minerals) and poor for anything imported (refined fuel, food, clothing, vehicles)

In other words good for the stuff we sell, sucks for the stuff we buy.

 

[rzrgade]

Kinda like the CBC or the Huffington Post?

Like the great CBC "national panel" From Toronto, Toronto & Montreal.....!