oilsands

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Following the U.S. government’s delay in approving the much-hyped Keystone XL pipeline, many pundits turned their attention to the possibility of a new pipeline from the oilsands to BC’s west coast that would allow Canada to ship larger amounts of oil to world markets, which currently offer a premium price relative to the U.S. Midwest.


2:00AM
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It seems everyone has advice on how Western Canada should manage its resources. NDP leader Thomas Mulcair blames the oilsands for “Dutch disease,” the notion that high resource prices cause a hollowing out of manufacturing. It’s a largely mistaken claim, given that manufacturing in Western economies has been under pressure from more competition from emerging economies for some time. Nevertheless, Mulcair would slow down the energy sector by adding a carbon tax (though he’ll skip the same as applied to the automotive industry).