To answer your last question first, as noted up thread, the Feds collect a 15% tax on oil & gas revenues so, presumably, if we are selling our product for substantially less than the WTI price, it means the Federal government’s 15% will be less than it would be for product sold at WTI pricing.
That said, the more I’m reading on this subject, the less committed I am to my position. If I’m reading my latest research correctly, WCS is not so much an under-refined product as it is a crude oil that simply carries less real value on the open market compared to WTI crude. That being the case, it’ll trade at what the market will bear irrespective of where it gets upgraded or refined.
Having said all that, the fact that virtually our only market is the US, in large part because they own most of the product and make all the decisions keeps the value of WCS artificially low whereas better access to other markets, like China and India, might help drive the WCS price up.
But it also would seem that there isn’t so much a bitumen bubble as there is a “our oil is of a lower grade than the standard” bubble. In that respect, I’m content to concede that point and further hate the Alberta Conservatives and the local media for inventing a problem and misleading us into believing that we’re suffering from one problem when it is, in fact, another.
Fair enough. Stephen Harper is originally from Etobicoke, Ontario. Yet he represents a riding in Alberta, and certain Canadians hate him with a passion.
Very interesting breaking news - Justin Trudeau announces that Liberal senators will no longer be members of the Liberal caucus, but must now sit as independents.
It’s very interesting, and undoubtedly a preemptive strike due to the fact that the Senate audit is due to be released in the coming weeks. He can now say “well, they’re independents now, not Liberals.” That is, of course, assuming there will be audit results that will implicate Liberal senators. That’s just the cynic in me talking though.
I mean, they’re still Liberal senators after all, just now sitting as independents. I don’t think they will change their stripes.
In the mean time the Supreme Court will rule sometime this year on the legalities of real senate reform regarding elected members and term limits.
The key piece, I think, is trying to decouple the Senate from the House. It’s far too tempting for a Prime Minister to manage the Senate despite the fact it’s intended to be a check on the House’s budgetary and legislative power. If you have Senators sitting outside of caucus then you can expect to see the emergence of power brokers not necessarily beholden to the current governing party.
An elected Senate that caucuses with an elected House is redundant.
True, but cronies that aren’t part of the House power structure in an official capacity. I’m sure it happened as often in the past as it seems to now, but I can’t remember a House/Senate as closely coupled as we seem to have now.
Are you saying royalty is not refined? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry.
One of the problems with senate reform is that even if a party wants to reform it, they kind of have to stack the house with their cronies while they’re in power to counteract the crony-stacking that went on before them and will go on after them. I’m not sure what would make the Senate better, but it seems to have some serious flaws as it is now.
That they haven’t actually built the replica stands out to me as an enormously missed opportunity. What the hell are we paying these property taxes for, if not for crazy boondoogles such as this?
