Is China saying they would rather deal with Venezuela who is nationalizing it oil resources, than Stephen Harper? The media today is full of PetroChina’s announcement yesterday speaking of investing in Canada saying “The environment is not comfortable. We tried to come here and we can’t.”
They went further to say “We sincerely wanted to do something and open up a new market for Canadian crude…but Canada doesn’t want to open up is own markets to us.” OUCH!
So we can thank our "business friendly PM for the $4B pullout of Chinese investment in the Gateway pipeline project to the new Prince Rupert Port that was to carry 400,000 barrels per day.
This smells of bad politics. How much have Mr. Harper and his “New” government succumbed to the status quo of Canadian energy export being essentially to only one market…the American market. How is this in the long term best interest of Canada in a new globalized and interdependent world? Is Harper only interest in Canada being dependent on one market source for our energy?
I am all in favour of continental energy supply. It is a key to the Americans getting out of Iraq – which then need to do sooner than later. I wonder of the wisdom of sacrificing investment, market access and geo-political and even environmental relations with the rest of the world – particularly like China and India - as a consequence of a continental energy arrangement. We essentially have continental energy established under NAFTA – if only the Americans would honour the NAFTA accord in areas like beef and softwood.
America is Canada’s friend and neighbour. In a globalized world as an exporting nation we need many more friends and neighbours. Looks like Alberta better get be ready to go it alone with attracting foreign investment. We need the capital and the markets to optimize the opportunities before us. Mr. Harper is more interested in his relationship with the deceptive and duplicitous Bush administration than the best positioning of Canada. I am no Alberta separatist or even a Firewall supporter but boy oh boy does Harper ever given those perceptions a leg up in this province.
They went further to say “We sincerely wanted to do something and open up a new market for Canadian crude…but Canada doesn’t want to open up is own markets to us.” OUCH!
So we can thank our "business friendly PM for the $4B pullout of Chinese investment in the Gateway pipeline project to the new Prince Rupert Port that was to carry 400,000 barrels per day.
This smells of bad politics. How much have Mr. Harper and his “New” government succumbed to the status quo of Canadian energy export being essentially to only one market…the American market. How is this in the long term best interest of Canada in a new globalized and interdependent world? Is Harper only interest in Canada being dependent on one market source for our energy?
I am all in favour of continental energy supply. It is a key to the Americans getting out of Iraq – which then need to do sooner than later. I wonder of the wisdom of sacrificing investment, market access and geo-political and even environmental relations with the rest of the world – particularly like China and India - as a consequence of a continental energy arrangement. We essentially have continental energy established under NAFTA – if only the Americans would honour the NAFTA accord in areas like beef and softwood.
America is Canada’s friend and neighbour. In a globalized world as an exporting nation we need many more friends and neighbours. Looks like Alberta better get be ready to go it alone with attracting foreign investment. We need the capital and the markets to optimize the opportunities before us. Mr. Harper is more interested in his relationship with the deceptive and duplicitous Bush administration than the best positioning of Canada. I am no Alberta separatist or even a Firewall supporter but boy oh boy does Harper ever given those perceptions a leg up in this province.
Stephen Harper has once again undermined Alberta, his home province, because he can take it for granted - and he does...regularly. He has not done the rest of Canada any favours with this attitude towards China either. It looks more like we will have Harper in power until November 2009 - a whole year longer than George Bush will be President. We all are astonished over how much more harm Bush has done and still can do to the States (and the planet) in the time he has left. Harper is a small player but with up to 16 months more, he can be a disaster akin to Bush if only on a Canadian scale.
I'm sure that Dion, the individual who wants Canada to meet its Kyoto targets in the next year, would be very pro-investment in the oilsands which produces an enormous amount of GHG. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't China invest when the Liberals were in power? It's not like this project began one year ago.
Anon - I think you misrepresent the Dion position on the timing of Canada achieving the Kyoto targets. Because our politicians have squandered so much of the lead time and the tepid response and reluctant conversion to Green of Mr. Harper - Canada is now a laggard on climate change adaptation.
ReplyDeleteThere is plenty of blame to go around. The time has come to fix the problem and not just fix the blame.
As for the Chinese investing during the Liberal regime - they did. Sinopec is 40% owner of the major Fort Hills oil sands project and there is another small investment in a company called MEG which is a SAGD oil sands company. In addition Chinese interests have bought or bought into a number of oils sands leases recently...during Harper's government.
I am afraid Mr. Bernier's defence in the Globe today is of little comfort in explaining and rebutting the Chinese allegations agains the Harper government.
Of course Canada is part of the WTO and officialy welcoming of foreign investment. But Bernier does noting to quell the sense that the Harper government is bending to US pressures to keep China out of strategic energy investment in Canada. The smell test is that this "event" is more of a geo-political drama driven by American security and continental energy supply concerns than it is a genuine Canadian foreign investment issue.
Is that is the official policy position of the Harper government?We elected him so it is, after all, Harper's prerogative to set such policy as our government. I just think Canadians ought to know what is happening here and have it clearly stated as such.
Ken, it's interesting how Bush is lambasted here on the environment yet no mention of China's complete disregard for the environment and continued human rights violations. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteThat the Chinese are ostensibly backing out from further oilsands investment is nothing more than a temporary phenomenon, and probably a bargaining chip. If they do indeed go into Venezuala, they go with their eyes open. No matter what the spin they put on it, it will not be a socialist partnership of two "great peoples' republics".
ReplyDeleteBottom-line: The Chinese want oil, but they want to pay as little as possible to get it. The Venezualans under Chavez have written their own obituary in the oil business. By forcing out American and European companies, they have lost the expertise to maximize their production, which will now stagnate and even likely decline. They don't even know how much oil they currently produce, as they have none of the sophisticated monitoring that we have here in Canada. And with Chavez needing the cash to run his "socialist utopia", they are not going to be reinvesting into the industry, merely harvesting the cash. Without reinvestment, production will decline; it is a cardinal rule of the oil business.
Or, they end up bringing in the Chinese as "partners". They do that, and they can forget about workers' rights and environmental concerns. Be interesting to see what would happen if the Venezualans later decide to abrogate contracts with the Chinese much like they have done with Exxon. The difference is that Exxon does not have a hundred million or so soldiers.
I don't believe that the Canadian government need bend over backward to help ANY other nation achieve security of supply, including the Americans. The oil reserves are there. They aren't going anywhere, and the price of oil is determined on world markets.
Where is Ed Stelmach? Why does he show no interest in what is happening? He's a huge disappointment.
ReplyDelete