I’ve been keeping my eye on the Orphan Well issue in Alberta from a distance, somewhat in part because of everything I learned about the problem when writing about the Supreme Court of Canada challenge around how the obligations to clean them up interacted with federal bankruptcy law. As it turns out, the Supreme Court said no, companies can’t offload these environmental problems in order to salvage other assets, so Alberta was left with a problem as the huge problems with the way their regulatory system operates has been left with a very big problem. The province’s energy regulator (which has long been accused of being captured by the industry) is finally admitting that their system for determining liabilities has been flawed all along, and the province is saying they’ll be releasing new regulations soon, but we’ll have to see how much more stringent they’re going to be with the provincial government constantly worried that they’ll unduly harm the industry in its weakened state (which is another reason why Kenney has been pressing for those so-called “equalization rebates” from the fiscal stabilization fund in order to put toward remediating orphan wells – because why not get the federal taxpayer to deal with the remediation of environmental liabilities that the province deliberately under-funded in order to keep the good times rolling (and their tax base unsustainably low).

Meanwhile, the number of smaller oil and gas companies who haven’t been paying their taxes to municipalities or rents to farmers and landowners is climbing, leading to a great deal of frustration in the province, and there are calls essentially for these smaller companies to be allowed to go bankrupt so that larger ones can take them over, and they’ll be better capitalized to deal with their environmental liabilities, as happened in Texas several years ago. Then again, seeing as the provincial government and their federal counterparts seem to be so much more beholden to the smaller oil and gas players than they are the big ones (for whom they will deride as being big corporations, because don’t forget they’re right-flavoured populists), so we’ll see how far that line of argument gets them.

Good reads:

• In coronavirus news, the WHO declaration of a global crisis doesn’t really affect Canada because we’re ahead of the curve on preparations.
• The details are still being worked out on getting Canadians evacuated from China.
• The Chief Public Health Officer is warning of racism and stigmatization of Chinese or other Asian people as a result of the coronavirus.
• Steven Guilbeault says a bill to revise the Broadcasting Act to include streaming services will be coming soon, and that could including ways to tax them.
• The government had to revise the Canada Summer Jobs programme yet again this year because of thousands of incomplete forms and requests for clarification.
• The government has tabled their draft scientific assessment of the planned single-use plastics ban, and are getting comments as the plan for 2021 moves ahead.
• The Canadian government’s fleet of Challenger jets will soon be down to two, as the avionics on the older craft will no longer be compatible in most airspace.
• The Federal Court of Appeal will release their decision on the limited appeal of the Trans Mountain decision on February 4^th.
• Elections Canada put together a report of the batshit crazy accusations levelled their way over social media during the election.
• Lawsuits over racism and xenophobia is CSIS’ ranks is prompting demands for a culture change within the organisation.
• Here is a look at how the Conservatives’ leadership contender questionnaire could disqualify Richard Décarie from the race.
• Former Stephen Harper confidant Ken Boessenkool warns Conservatives that the Harper model for winning elections is broken, thanks to a weakened NDP.
• Susan Delacourt remarks about the rapid progress on LGBT rights in Canada and how the Conservatives need to have the conversation about evolving views.
• Colby Cosh walks through the government’s changes to the Basic Personal Amount, and why the NDP’s criticisms of it are completely nonsensical.

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