"Expert" and "Authority" are both highly subjective words, often misapplied to lend more weight to a statement or position than would otherwise be due. Take, for instance, the subject of a previous post of mine, H. Sterling Burnett: "There is plenty of energy left".
Mr. Burnett is described as a "senior fellow" and a "senior policy analyst" for a self-described "non-partisan" institute (the "National Center for Policy Analysis") which just happens to have endorsed positions in the past favoring energy companies and denying global warming or the importance of energy conservation.
It's understandable, if irritating, that 'authorities' such as Burnett feel compelled to present their views under the umbrella of the parent company or organization. But careless use of the facts or deliberate distortion of them is unacceptable when applied to any news venue, whether online or MSM. "750 million years" of coal left? Really?
PeakOil is You
'Experts'
Re: 'Experts'
by Bubbling_Crude » Wed 17 Aug 2005, 23:03:50
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Bubbling_Crude - Peat
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Re: 'Experts'
by oiless » Thu 18 Aug 2005, 00:53:21
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he last time oil prices were at or above today's level, in real dollars, Ottawa imposed made-in-Canada oil prices under its infamous National Energy Program. If and how it plans to redistribute national wealth this time around remains to be seen.
I'd bet there will be no new version of the NEP. The pollitical will is no longer there.
There seems to be a lot of misconception about the NEP, and what it was for.
Certainly it was for price control, it was designed to keep prices of Canadian oil sold to Canadians well below the going world price.
Certainly it was designed to re-dristribute energy tax wealth to the federal government and prevent Alberta making a killing at the expense of the rest of Canada.
However I believe that Trudeau's primary purpose was to secure Canada's oil supplies. The industry was coming under increasing foreign ownership, and Trudeau felt that at least 60% of Canada's oil industry should be Canadian owned. To this aim Petrocanada was formed (national oil company), and the NEP was formulated. As may be imagined these semi-nationalistic policies were not well received by industry. The movers and shakers of the world do not like governments screwing with their profits.
Trudeau soon lost the election and his successor, Ly'in Brian Baloney (Mulroney) set about dismantling the NEP and getting us all set up with NAFTA, between singing "Irish eyes are smiling" with Ronald Reagan. (That was something to make your ears hurt.)
Now most of our oil industry is foreign owned, all but a handfull of our politicians are bought and payed for, and NAFTA ensures that we will supply the US with oil until it's gone, regardless of Canadian needs or wants.
I find it sad and pathetic that Canada produces about 40% more oil than we use each year, then exports 70% of that to the US, then imports approx. 60% of its domestic consumption.
Who do our politicians work for? Not us obviously.
In any case, NEP was not so much about price controls as control of a vital resource, and the Canadian people lost.
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oiless - Lignite
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Re: 'Experts'
by rockdoc123 » Thu 18 Aug 2005, 11:05:46
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ow most of our oil industry is foreign owned, all but a handfull of our politicians are bought and payed for, and NAFTA ensures that we will supply the US with oil until it's gone, regardless of Canadian needs or wants.
I find it sad and pathetic that Canada produces about 40% more oil than we use each year, then exports 70% of that to the US, then imports approx. 60% of its domestic consumption.
Who do our politicians work for? Not us obviously.
In any case, NEP was not so much about price controls as control of a vital resource, and the Canadian people lost.
I find it sad and pathetic that Canada produces about 40% more oil than we use each year, then exports 70% of that to the US, then imports approx. 60% of its domestic consumption.
Who do our politicians work for? Not us obviously.
In any case, NEP was not so much about price controls as control of a vital resource, and the Canadian people lost.
well first off it is not a Canadian resource ....resources belong to the provinces, Canada did not get harmed from NEP but Alberta and other oil producing provinces were decimated. NEP was the nail in the coffin for a number of oil companies including Dome and Hudson Bay. And I think that Canadian oil companies are still very prevalent in the oil and gas business......EnCana, Nexen, Husky, Talisman, Canadian Natural Resources and a host of small independants in total are more important to the industry than Shell and Imperial, certainly much moreso than they were 10 years ago. I would argue that there is actually less foreign ownership now than there was back in the seventies and eighties.
Control the resource...bullshit. Trudeau was responding to the crys from his base of support...Ontario and Quebec...all who felt hard done by because the western provinces were doing better than them financially.
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Re: 'Experts'
by oiless » Sat 20 Aug 2005, 19:33:23
Rockdoc, are the provinces part of Canada? Yes, resources are under provincial jurisdiction, however the provinces are part of Canada. Also the federal government has jurisdiction over off-shore and northern resources AFAIK, as well as some contol over energy policy, both international and interprovincial. However, I don't keep close tabs on the ever changing political machinations of control. To many other things to keep track of.
I'm also not going to waste time trying to track down the distribution of shares and control for oil companies. "Mostly foriegn owned" was probably an exageration on my part. I suspect at least 50% is ostensibley Canadian owned.
I'd say Encana is a transnational corporation with a Calgary head office, god knows who calls the shots, same with Nexen. Husky had a chinese organization as the largest shareholder, last I heard.
In any case, I'm not going to argue the point, you and I have different views of the situation and how it works and there's no point in butting our heads against the wall. Just based on what I've seen so far I'd say you're a disgruntled Albertan, that's the way you come across anyhow.
An overview of Canada's wacky and wonderful byzantine energy politics and policies, for anyone who cares:
http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/paper-2003/brownsey.pdf
I'm also not going to waste time trying to track down the distribution of shares and control for oil companies. "Mostly foriegn owned" was probably an exageration on my part. I suspect at least 50% is ostensibley Canadian owned.
I'd say Encana is a transnational corporation with a Calgary head office, god knows who calls the shots, same with Nexen. Husky had a chinese organization as the largest shareholder, last I heard.
In any case, I'm not going to argue the point, you and I have different views of the situation and how it works and there's no point in butting our heads against the wall. Just based on what I've seen so far I'd say you're a disgruntled Albertan, that's the way you come across anyhow.
An overview of Canada's wacky and wonderful byzantine energy politics and policies, for anyone who cares:
http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/paper-2003/brownsey.pdf
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oiless - Lignite
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