Oil and gas company Canadian Natural Resources Limited is deferring an expansion to one of their oilsands mines, citing uncertainty until the federal government finalises their environmental policies, which naturally led the Conservatives to theatrically start going into histrionics. The problem, of course, is that the facts don’t exactly line up with this kind of outsized reaction. These mines have not really been subjected to carbon pricing and have, in fact, generated carbon credits for the company that they can sell at a profit (thanks to Alberta’s absurdly generous carbon credit system that undermines the effect of more stringent carbon pricing). And their talk about sequestering emissions misses the point.
As always, Andrew Leach is here to explain.
I noticed that in some of the replies, it was stated that CNRL’s owner is trying to leverage this for more corporate welfare, which would not surprise me in the least.
Ukraine Dispatch
A Russian drone damaged a civilian ship carrying corn from the port of Odesa. Repair crews have restored power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, necessary for its cooling operations. Russia and Ukraine have swapped 200 prisoners of war, out of a planned 500 each. Ukraine’s new F-16 fighter jets have been starved of American-made missiles for more than three weeks, limiting their ability to shoot down missiles and drones.
Good reads:
- Mark Carney is capping off his Asia Pacific trip with a stop in Tokyo, where there will be a number of other theatrical deal-signings.
- Dominic LeBlanc will be in Washington today to meet with Jamieson Greer (as Howard Lutnick is in big trouble with the administration).
- Canada is moving to enhance the trade deal with the EU into areas like digital trade, to be kicked off at an event in Toronto on Thursday.
- Patty Hajdu and her BC counterpart announced $71 million in job retraining benefits for those in the forestry or other affected sectors.
- Secretary of state Stephen Fuhr clarified that they will not be splitting the submarine contract, that one vendor will get all twelve subs.
- Chief of Defence Staff, General Jennie Carignan, says that Canadian Forces could be called upon to support allied countries in the area, as our resources are limited.
- Canadian military officers on exchange with American forces have been assigned “other duties” outside of the combat zone, according to National Defence.
- The Privacy Commissioner found that Loblaws took an unreasonable length of time to delete PC Optimum accounts after people requested them to.
- A group of companies are aiming to mobilise $100 million in support of atmospheric carbon removal (but I suspect they’ll start begging government).
- Liberal MPs are having a briefing call with Anita Anand today about the Iran conflict, and their concerns over the shifting narrative and initial support for it.
- Pierre Poilievre “has reservations” about Carney’s choice for the new PBO—without saying who it is—because he prefers Jason Jacques. (More in my weekend column).
- Economics professor Walid Hejazi assesses what it would look like for Canada if we no longer had a trade agreement with the US.
- Thomas Juneau evaluates Carney’s various statements on Iran and the realpolitik that drives the contradictions.
- Matt Gurney makes the case for a larger military that nevertheless does fewer missions abroad (though I’m not sure it’s entirely sound).
- Mike Moffatt and Cara Stern explore the paradox of Canadians being wealthier on paper thanks to housing values, but poorer overall—because of housing prices.
Odds and ends:
The AIDS Committee of Toronto is shutting its doors after four decades, and here is a necessary look back at its role over the AIDS crisis in Toronto and Canada.
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