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Author Topic: Canadians shall pay for MacLine
Québécois in the North
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posted 18 May 2007 11:41 AM      Profile for Québécois in the North     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Why should the world's richest company invest a dime when it wants to open the pristine Canadian North to massive gas exploitation and double NWT's greenhouse gas emissions, when Canada's New Government™ is offering to let Canadians pay the tab ?

The good ol' formula of privatizing profits and socializing deficits...


From: Yellowknife | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 18 May 2007 11:46 AM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Does the federal NDP have a stand on this?
From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged
Québécois in the North
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posted 18 May 2007 01:00 PM      Profile for Québécois in the North     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
According CBC North the Ottawa takeover rumor has been denied by Indian Affairs minister, Jim Prentice.

quote:
It's not an option that I am looking at as minister. Plan A or Plan B or any plan has to be a free enterprise-based model for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

Prentice told CBC.

An Imperial Oil (ExxonMobil) spokeperson suggest "royalties and tax reductions" might be a better way to save the project.

I think it is worth noting that oil and gas investors in the canadian North already enjoy the lowest royalty rates in North America.

The latest avalaible public datas on Oil and gas actvity in the Canadian North show that, in 2006, 11.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 6.76 million barrels of oil were pumped off the NWT's ground. Out of this Canadians earned a mere 30,7 millions$ worth of royalties (up 91% from 2005!!!) -- not nearly enough to provide 70 needy northern families with affordable permafrost thawing-ready housing.

Banana republic, anyone?


From: Yellowknife | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
Québécois in the North
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posted 18 May 2007 01:38 PM      Profile for Québécois in the North     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The Sierra Club of Canada, which leads the anti-pipeline Mackenzie Wild campain, has issued a Press Release on this matter.

quote:
Will Harper Repeat Trudeau’s National Energy Mistake?

Ottawa, Edmonton — A federal buy-out of the $16.2 billion Mackenzie Gas Project would duplicate the worst failures of Pierre Trudeau’s National Energy Program says Sierra Club of Canada.

“Wasting billions of taxpayer dollars to nationalize the Mackenzie Gas Project to provide expensive natural gas for tar sands development and U.S. consumption is exactly the wrong thing to do if Canada is serious about fighting global warming,” said Stephen Hazell, Sierra Club of Canada’s executive director.

[snip]

“The federal proposal to compensate Imperial Oil, Exxon Mobil, Conoco-Phillips and Shell for expenses incurred so far suggests that the federal government doesn’t really believe in private enterprise and free markets. These companies voluntarily assumed the risks associated with the Mackenzie Gas Project, knowing full well that northern gas reserves are small, the regulatory process is complicated, and the environment hostile to pipeline construction,” said Meredith James, Mackenzie WILD campaigner.

“If these wealthy corporations have come to the conclusion that the project is not viable, they should explicitly abandon it, period.”


[ 18 May 2007: Message edited by: Québécois in the North ]


From: Yellowknife | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
Québécois in the North
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posted 18 May 2007 02:06 PM      Profile for Québécois in the North     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Boom Boom:
Does the federal NDP have a stand on this?

Well, I dont know about the official position but I discussed the Mackenzie pipeline issue quite a few times with Western-Arctic MP Dennis Bevington -- who also happens to be the NDP critic on Energy.

In short, Bevington supports the pipeline as long as Northerners are the primary beneficiaries (which is not the case under the current territorial-federal arrangement which sees all royalty monies diverted to Ottawa's pocket).

He is a strong opponent of corporate subsidy for the pipeline. He says the government would better invest in northern communities pipeline-readiness instead (social infrastructure, training, alternative development schemes, etc.).

In december, he made a valuable presentation at the pipeline earings. Among other things, Bevington recommended the review panel to ask that "the Government of Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories outline a development strategy with guidelines and mechanisms to control any expansion of the Mackenzie Gas Project".


From: Yellowknife | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
Fidel
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posted 18 May 2007 02:47 PM      Profile for Fidel     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Québécois in the North:

The good ol' formula of privatizing profits and socializing deficits...


Naturally. And they have the nerve to call it private enterprise.


From: Viva La Revolución | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Boom Boom
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posted 18 May 2007 03:16 PM      Profile for Boom Boom     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Québécois in the North:


Well, I dont know about the official position but I discussed the Mackenzie pipeline issue quite a few times with Western-Arctic MP Dennis Bevington -- who also happens to be the NDP critic on Energy.

In short, Bevington supports the pipeline as long as Northerners are the primary beneficiaries (which is not the case under the current territorial-federal arrangement which sees all royalty monies diverted to Ottawa's pocket).

He is a strong opponent of corporate subsidy for the pipeline. He says the government would better invest in northern communities pipeline-readiness instead (social infrastructure, training, alternative development schemes, etc.).


Much appreciated.


From: Make the rich pay! | Registered: Dec 2004  |  IP: Logged

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