In Alberta, four big oilsands producers — Canadian National Resources, Suncor, Shell and Cenovus — reportedly engaged in secret negotiations with the government and a rogues’ gallery of radical enviros from Toronto and Montreal, from the Pembina Institute and from ForestEthics, all of whom have long-standing positions against both the oilsands and pipelines.
Lenin once quipped that capitalists would sell him the rope he’d use to hang them. Being smart in business does not make you politically astute. These smart Alberta oilmen have forgotten that appeasing your enemies emboldens them.
h/t Jamie
Remember Dome signed a deal with devil with the NEP in the 80s. While the rest of tge industry was reeling Dome formed Dome Canada full of offshore lands and armed with super depletion where spending a dollar got you 2 bucks from the liberral government. All existing oil was pegged and new oil on federal lands was world price. A liberal insider in dome got them the jump in days . CNRL and the Alberta gov, AE in bed on the upgrader shell and the gov in on the carbon sequester
Sold out thier partners
It is some billions that the Alberta gov. Had already kicked in under the Tories .at the same time when they claimed a bare cupboard for healthcare. Funny thing Edwards is a high profile liberal
Any wonder KD stole his wife Cal. Used to have respect for the Buffetts and Edwards types, I was younger and never realized how far some go in selling their souls for one more dollar.
They never seem to get it. They sit down with the ‘progressives’ and try to negotiate a compromise, like they would any business agreement. They set aside ‘sensitive’ areas which will go unused or developed, restrict the techniques they can use, agree to waste time and money on half-baked green technology, fund education to say how bad they used to be, promise to hire locals and natives barely qualified (if at all) for the job.
And after months of hammering out an agreement both sides can live with, the greens and socialists (but I repeat myself) are back in front of the media, screaming about their rape of Sacred Mother Earth. They do not seem to get that the pukes across the table aren’t big on bargaining in good faith.
If one leads a “good” life, and their neighbours and society at large do also, then the society that their children will inherit will be a better one. Go forward 5 generations or so, and the society will be a heaven compared with the original. If one leads a selfish life, and their neighbours and society at large do also, then the society that the children will inherit will be a poorer copy of the original. After 5 generations they’re live in a relative hell with stories of a golden age that once was but that none really believe could be true. Greece didn’t get to where they are overnight. It took a lot of…. not work, but perhaps good intentions, blind eyes, and wilful negligence?
Consider that we live on through our children. Whether our souls will live forever I don’t know (and don’t care to address now), but if Darwinism has anything to shout about it’s that we want our genetics to live on. By that token, we should want to leave the best advantage for our kids that we can. It’s a form of the prisoners dilemma, if we’re “good” and play by the societal rules, then all will benefit. I figure we’re on the second or third generation where society at large thinks there’s no such thing as good and evil. If there’s no such thing as evil then self interest is the main guide that most will follow. This means promotion of me and mine above others, the rest of society can take care of itself. If we’re two or three generations in to this particular far, then how much farther do we have to fall?
And this is on topic: can people be trusted to do what is in society’s best interests when they themselves will benefit, or are they more likely to sell out society at large so that they and theirs will benefit?
Oil Executives would do well to take a page from the 1980 movie “The Formula” staring George C. Scott and Marlon Brando.
At one point in the movie detective George C. Scott is schooled by the chairman of the largest oil company in the world, Marlon Brando. Brando, far too polished to admit that it was he contracted out a series professional assassinations against those people who stood in the way of him acquiring “the formula”, educates Scott about oil industry history.
He tells Scott that the growth of the industry and the myriad spin off industries created by big oil rely entirely on controlling the supply and price of the product. Brando goes on to speculate that whomever had the the formula effectively would control the industry for the foreseeable future.
Brando then tells Scott that “the formula”, a process that turns coal into oil, must remain safely under the control of the industry until they have finished buying up the world’s supply of coal. Then the industry will be in a position to guarantee the product’s supply and price for centuries to come. It’s just good for business. That’s all.
The point of the movie is that big oil, like big government, must occasionally eliminate those who threaten its existence. Brando was just ensuring that the greater good of the industry was his priority.
Outside of Turdeau and Notley stuffing Alberta with “Syrian Refugees”, net migration of deadbeats into Alberta has nearly slowed to a dead stop!
In a few more years, the NDP will be history and this economic & political correction will have straitened out allot of issues Alberta was heading the wrong way with.
I think of it as burning off some old growth forest.
There’s no evidence that Albertans are doing anything about the dipper government. I’d say they’re looking at another decade of NDP.
trust 99, he knows stuff!!!
It would be wrong to think that decision by the oil execs to meet with the eco-parasites is simply misguided goodwill. It is anything but. “Big Oil” has all the principles of any other corporate welfare bum. All their propaganda to the contrary aside, there is no more worry or care about what economic effects their sucking and/or blowing today might have on folks in Alberta than how things might work out in Azerbaijan.
Any meeting was simply convened for the purpose of working out formulae so that all parties could continue to fleece the public: “Look, we’re all splendid birds of a feather, so let’s not go beating ourselves up while we all could be sitting down and enjoying the pie. Heck, we’ll even give you a “win” in Alberta if you lay off on us in Arabia.”
It’s the unholy trinity in action folks: big business (and that includes the enviro-parasites), big government, and big unions. And if we can’t see big unions in this picture, it probably means that we just aren’t digging deep enough.
I’m sure there are many other back scratching incidents going on that would make for some great stories should an intrepid journalist do a little digging.
C_Miner – in your last few sentences you nailed the soft underbelly of Democracy in producing a better country. It only works if the character of the citizens prompts them to act (and vote) in a way that benefits others or the country as a whole, not just themselves. Once the character of a nation goes “me first”, the system is in trouble.
C_Miner – in your last few sentences you nailed the soft underbelly of Democracy in producing a better country. It only works if the character of the citizens prompts them to act (and vote) in a way that benefits others or the country as a whole, not just themselves. That generally goes hand in hand with a moral compass that recognizes a source of Truth outside the individual. Once the character of a nation goes “me first”, the democratic system is in trouble.
Stupid is as intentional ignorance pushes stupidity forward.
Corporate executives are not friends of the middle class. Status, prestige and access to subsidies from taxpayers comes from allying with power brokers. The energy industry is not immune to these personal and economic pressures.
Frankly, energy workers and farmers need to look to Quebec students or 1931 Estevan coal miners to get political attention. Banging on pots is cheesy but be creative in protesting. Hit politicians where it hurts – bad PR, tragic stories about suffering families, relate carbon taxes being equal to X months groceries per year, public protests provincially and federally. They want to talk about catastrophic weather in small pacific islands in 2100. Counter it with the human cost of energy poverty, unemployment and family breakdown in Canada right now. Much to my distaste politics is about emotion and telling a good story.
The middle class needs to make noise to become a power broker.
When corporate rent seekers are in the room with government and or ENGOs (so-called stakeholders), anyone not in the room should be worried.
“…that would make for some great stories should an intrepid journalist do a little digging…”
Journalist? Digging? No wonder you use the handle hahaha! 😉
In any event, so much for “Ethical Oil”.