Most B.C. and Alberta First Nations favour oil and natural gas development. So why do we let activists claim otherwise?
By Gregory John and Mark Milke Canadian Energy Centre A common tactic of anti-oil-and-gas activists and some international organizations over the past decade is to group all Indigenous people under the false narrative of broad opposition to energy development. Those with anti-development agendas ostensibly enlist Indigenous allies as the easiest way to delay or stop…
How to mitigate job loss, fear and uncertainty for workers as British Columbia navigates its post-pandemic recovery
COVID-19 represents the largest labour market disruption in British Columbia’s history. Uncertainty and fear among businesses, workers and customers about the pandemic affect how we grasp the new normal and move beyond the crisis. They will only resume their lives and work when they feel safe, and see very low-risk pathways back to commerce and…
TC Energy Corporation – the former TransCanada – has sold off a nearly two-thirds share of a controversial pipeline that will carry natural gas from northeast British Columbia to a contentious LNG export terminal in Kitimat TC Energy announced it will sell 65 per cent of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline Project to private equity firm…
And 2019 shows signs of being an even better tourism year for the province, according to an ATB report
Alberta offers international tourists numerous places to visit. And international visitors seem to love coming to this province. Last year, international visitors (including business travellers) spent almost $2.2 billion in the province. And spending in the first three months of 2019 was 26 per cent higher than during the same period last year, says a…
The Prince Rupert facility is expected to ship approximately 1.2 million tonnes of propane annually to customers in Asia
Calgary-based AltaGas Ltd., an energy infrastructure company with a focus on regulated utilities, midstream, and power, announced on Tuesday the grand opening of its Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (RIPET), located in Prince Rupert, B.C. It’s the first marine export facility for propane in Canada. The company said the facility began introducing propane feedstock in…
Rod Graham of Horizon North talks about why quality and consistency pays off when housing workers
Rod Graham is president and chief executive officer of Horizon North. What does Horizon North Logistics do? Graham: Horizon North has two sides to our business. Our industrial services division has been a key part of our business since our inception in 2006, providing workforce accommodations, camp management services, access solutions, maintenance services and utilities.…
Precious little good will can come from Victoria city council's campaign, but it will certainly cost a great deal of money
The City of Victoria wants to round up municipalities to sue oil companies for damages from climate change. Not only is such a case virtually impossible to prove, it’s also full of rich ironies. Weather-related damages, termed “perils” in Canadian insurance plans, are more commonly called acts of God. How ironic that environmentalists envision the…
We know what a world without fossil fuels looks like – we used to live in it. It was cold, poor, dark, ignorant, starving and backwards
West Coast Environmental Law, an advocacy organization based in Vancouver, has persuaded a group of British Columbia mayors and city councillors to write threatening letters to major oil and gas companies. The letters demand the companies pay large arbitrary sums to compensate for a list of supposed harms associated with greenhouse gases from fossil fuel…
Joint venture will design, engineer and construct a 4,500-person workforce accommodation centre in the Kitimat, B.C., area
ATCO has entered into a joint venture with a subsidiary of Bird Construction Inc. to design, engineer and construct a 4,500-person workforce accommodation centre, known as the Cedar Valley Lodge, in the Kitimat, B.C., area. In a news release, ATCO said the facility will be built through its wholly-owned subsidiary ATCO Structures LNG Limited Partnership.…
OPA! of Greece marks its 20th year with the same commitment to quality, healthy choices and variety
Theodore “Dorrie” Karras is president and CEO of OPA! of Greece. Can you explain the history of OPA! and how it started? Karras: Opa! started 20 years ago in 1998. Founders Nick Tiginagas and Don Gebauer opened the first location in Market Mall in Calgary. At the time, Greek food was not prevalent in food…
Scotiabank report says Alberta will have employment gains of 1.8% this year, 1.2% in 2019 and 1.2% in 2020
Alberta and British Columbia have been the country’s economic growth leaders since 2000 and will continue to be so this year, says a new report released on Monday by Scotiabank Economics. The bank’s latest Provincial Outlook said both western provinces will see economic growth of 2.4 per cent this year, eclipsing the Canadian average of…
CEO Carol Kitchen talks about how UFA is part of the fabric of rural Alberta, helping agriculture feed people around the world
Carol Kitchen is president and CEO of UFA. Calgary’s Business: What’s the United Farmers of Alberta and what does it do? Kitchen: United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is a member-owned co-operative. We’re a progressive and diversified business that provides the products, services and solutions our owners and customers in rural communities need to successfully run…
Alberta recorded the fastest economic expansion last year and B.C. posted its strongest pace in more than a decade, says Morneau Shepell report
If you’re working in British Columbia and Alberta, a new report by Morneau Shepell contains good news. The company’s annual survey, Trends in Human Resources, released on Tuesday, says the two provinces will lead the country in expected salary increases in 2019. B.C. will lead the pack at 2.8 per cent, followed by Alberta at…
A new report by PetroLMI, a division of Energy Safety Canada, details the changing face of the energy workforce
Canada’s oil and gas industry has undergone a significant transformation in the past decade. And as the industry has adjusted to the ups and downs of the economy, there were corresponding shifts in the distribution of the industry’s workforce and the daily experiences of those workers, says a new report by PetroLMI, a division of…
Canadians are retiring in unprecedented numbers and young couples are having fewer babies. Here's how we can fill the workforce gaps
By Jock Finlayson and Kristine St.-Laurent Business Council of B.C. The latest Canadian census revealed three major population trends: we’re having fewer babies, progressively more baby boomers are transitioning into retirement and most people are living longer. Together, these trends point towards a population that’s greying faster than at any time in Canadian history. Overall, it’s a good…
By Gregory John and Mark Milke Canadian Energy Centre A common tactic of anti-oil-and-gas activists and some international organizations over the past decade is to group all Indigenous people under the false narrative of broad opposition to energy development. Those with anti-development agendas ostensibly enlist Indigenous allies as the easiest way to delay or stop…
