While crude prices in Western Canada continue to take a beating (in part because there is a global supply glut in the market and there are questions about why oil prices got as high as they did recently given market conditions), there are other concerns about investors fleeing the country. Not all, mind you – there are still a number of big-ticket energy projects being signed in the country which defies this narrative that’s going on, but I have to pause on some of the overheated rhetoric being bandied about here, because we need to inject some perspective into the conversation.

Other heavy oils trade for a few dollars or so less than the global Brent price ($66).
Huge, huge, huge gap between prices fetched for Canadian oil vs. pretty much everyone else.

— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) November 15, 2018

For one, the lack of infrastructure to tidewater is because there simply wasn’t an economic case for it until recently. It’s hard to complain that we don’t have it when there was no proper rationale for its existence. Same with refineries – it’s a low-margin exercise and refineries cost billions of dollars to build, and the economic case for building more of them has largely not been there. It’s not just because we have tough environmental regulations in Canada that these projects don’t exist – there weren’t the market conditions.

The other thing that really sets off my alarm bells is this pervasive talking point among oil industry boosters that Canada once built railways, so we should therefore be able to build pipelines. This kind of talk should be utterly galling to anyone who has a modicum of understanding of history in this country, because the railways were built by virtual slave labour from China, following the relocation of Indigenous tribes across the prairies due to starvation and inadequate government aid (while there is some debate over how deliberately starvation was used to force compliance). This is not the kind of thing you want to be touting when it comes to building pipelines, particularly if those opposing construction are other Indigenous communities. And as I’ve pointed out repeatedly, it’s not the high bar of environmental regulations that are killing projects – it’s the fact that successive governments and proponents have tried cutting corners to weasel out of their obligations, and that’s what hurts them, not the minimal additional work it would have taken to properly fulfil those obligations. I get that they’re looking for scapegoats during these trying times for the energy sector, and that nobody wants to look in the mirror, but honestly, trying to compare the railways to this current situation is borderline offensive to anyone who has a modicum of historical knowledge.

Good reads:

• While in Singapore, Justin Trudeau learned more about his family connections to the island going back five generations on his mother’s side.
• One item that Trudeau talked about with China’s premier is the rebuke of our ambassador for expressing concern for China’s Muslim minorities.
• While at the ASEAN Summit, Trudeau also raised concerns about plans to return some Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar without proper protections or supports.
• Chrystia Freeland says that Canada is considering applying Magnitsky Act sanctions to Saudi Arabian officials over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
• The government is allocating another $90 million to build and repair Indigenous police stations, many of them in remote communities.
• The government appears to be resisting calls to extend the Mali mission even by a few months to cover the gap between our departure and Romania’s arrival.
• Early data shows that police across the country haven’t seen a spike in people driving high in the month since recreational cannabis was legalised.
• The federal government has permanently banned hate rag Your Ward News from using Canada Post to distribute copies.
• The postal workers’ union says that Canada Post has to deal with the “crisis” around workplace injuries for them to accept the Crown corporation’s offer.
• CBSA says that they have deported 296 failed asylum claimants this year who crossed the border irregularly, and another 534 await deportation.
• Following an outcry over a particular case, Veterans Affairs is expanding access to veterans’ hospitals to include care for Allied veterans now living in Canada.
• Canadian foreign aid has been experimenting with direct cash transfers to some poor, including refugees, and is seeing some results.
• There’s a dispute in the Senate over what their proposed audit committee should look like. (Look for my weekend column on this).
• The former Conservative MP who lost to Leona Alleslev has won the nomination in a neighbouring riding after her floor-crossing.
• The Canadian Press’ Baloney Meter™ checks over Andrew Scheer’s anti-gang plans, and finds it to be a lot of baloney. Who knew?
• Robert Hiltz pokes into the gap between Trudeau’s rhetoric on freedom of the press, and his government’s actions to support it.
• Susan Delacourt explores the gap between the “worry index” that Canadians have polled about, and the kinds of debates going on in the political realm.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at how Australia’s Parliament House managed to separate their politicians from the public, as a warning for what not to do here.

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