the transmountain pipeline is a hare-brained scheme by an industry taking it's last dying gasps of air that will neither generate jobs nor export markets, but will instead leave british columbia a disaster area for generations to come while investors slowly pull out of alberta, and the province collapses back whence it came.

it is a foolish idea that will burn every fool that gets involved with it.

and, only a fool would support it.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.

guys.

if oil is trading at x dollars in country y due to z supply, what happens to x when you double or triple the supply to that country?

does x increase? decrease? stay the same?

because the policy seems to be based around the idea that x remains fixed, even after the introduction of substantial supply, with no comparable reaction in terms of demand, and this is so economically naive as to be embarrassing - but, really, par for the course in alberta. i don't want to make it seem like the pc or socred dynasties were brilliant economic managers, or anything. really, the ndp is just carrying on the tradition of making poorly researched choices.

the feds, on the other hand, should know better than this - they should be fully aware that the full entrance of canada into the asian energy market will have the effect of reducing energy prices in asia rather than the effect of increasing energy profits in canada. and, they should be as sober and clear headed about this as they can be, as they are forming their strategies to try and exist between the two superpowers.

i don't think that this is the proper catalyst for a struggle with the americans. canada will gain nothing but scorn, and trudeau will end up very badly damaged in key constituencies.

he should accept the environmental review as a stalling tactic and wait for the dust to settle a little.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard

what i want to see as therapy is getting them all together in an aerobics dance class that runs through successive covers of eleanor rigby.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2018/02/07/uks-focus-on-loneliness-a-reminder-of-governments-true-purpose.html

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.

see, you have to understand that the western mythology is that everything is the east's fault. it doesn't matter what it is, really. so, history becomes malleable to uphold the point - whatever is happening at this very instant is always the east's fault.

the country as a whole has given the western mythology a gift, in raising the dauphin to the status of prime minister, but it would have carried along the same way, regardless.

so, let's look at the actual history.

in a response to the uncertainty surrounding opec oil imports that occurred throughout the 70s, the liberal government of the time (headed by pierre trudeau) designed a plan for energy security that would provide the industrial base in eastern canada with cheap oil flowing in from western canada. this would be accomplished by a combination of state controlled industry and price and export controls, which would lead to a subsidized market for oil in eastern canada.

western canada found the situation most aggravating, as it claimed it could sell oil to the americans at a higher price. so, with the help of quebec, it managed to defeat the ruling liberals and install a conservative government that, while headed by a quebecker, had a western-first political strategy. through two successive mandates, the mulroney government did two major things to the canadian oil industry: it abolished the national energy program, which subsidized eastern canada with cheap alberta oil, and instead opened up a market in the united states....to provide the americans with subsidized oil.

and, alberta was actually quite content with this for some time.

so, the national energy program was meant to subsidize eastern canada with cheap energy from an expensive source. alberta rejected this, in favour of a plan (nafta) meant to subsidize the western united states with cheap energy from an expensive source. now, they are blaming trudeau's son for the fact that they are stuck subsidizing the americans with cheap oil from an expensive source, despite it being their own decision.

in the end, if the oil flows to china, alberta should prepare itself for the economic reality: it will be providing china with cheap energy from an expensive source. because it is the operation that is unprofitable, and no amount of pipelines will resolve that.

trudeau is actually even wrong on this point. the pipeline is backwards thinking and should be stopped. i just didn't expect to be able to see this play out politically - and this is no doubt due to the power invested in the small green party contingent in the legislature. i suspect that the bc ndp actually support the pipeline, they're just being forced to oppose it to prevent an election. but, even a short delay, politically, could help the court process sort the problems out before shovels hit the ground. so, this is an unexpectedly fortuitous balance of power in the legislature. bc voters voted wisely.

http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/jack-mintz-another-nep-fiasco-looms-as-westerners-suffer-for-trudeaus-energy-follies

jagmeet singh must cut his beard