Trevor Tombe is an associate professor of economics at the University of Calgary, and a research fellow at the School of Public Policy. Financial transfers from Ottawa – and the provinces’ disputes over them – are central to the Canadian experience. They are a key reason why our country exists at all, but also a […]

It was one of the toughest decisions Alberta has ever taken, wrote Premier Rachel Notley. She’s right. Alberta — one of the largest oil and gas producers on earth — will cut oil production by 325,000 barrels per day or roughly 8.7 per cent, starting in January. This was a big decision, but one firmly grounded in both […]

Premier Rachel Notley said it would be one of the toughest decisions that Albertans would make as a province. And now she’s made it. Beginning January, Alberta will impose mandatory production cuts on the energy sector for the first time in decades — a measure aimed at reducing an oil glut that’s punished the price […]

Data collected by the University of Calgary’s The School of Public Policy shows unemployed Albertans are, on average, out of work for nearly 21 weeks, a duration nearly three times longer than the average from 10 years ago. The report released Wednesday indicated that, as of October 2018, the average unemployed Albertan was out of […]

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has appointed three experts to work with the energy industry to find ways to close an oil price gap that she says is costing the Canadian economy $80 million a day. Notley says Canada is losing out because oil from Alberta is selling about $45 a barrel less than West Texas […]

Alberta oil producers have been struggling with low crude prices for months, but the situation leapt to national prominence this week as prices skidded below $14 US a barrel and some companies began calling for the provincial government to mandate production cuts. Opinion on whether Premier Rachel Notley should intervene in the marketplace is divided […]

Imagine producing a bumper crop of a product in high demand around the globe, only to learn you must settle for a discounted price because there’s no easy way to get your product to market. Canadian grain farmers experienced that situation in 2013 and again last winter when their harvest outstripped the transport capacity of […]

After the near collapse of NAFTA, Canadians learned a lesson. With our trade tied overwhelmingly to the largest economy in the world, a lack of alternative markets means we are behind the eight ball when we negotiate trade deals with Washington. The Trump administration said it wanted to “rebalance” NAFTA. This was no “give and […]

With the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project stalled, and overall Canadian pipeline capacity limited, the pressure to ship crude oil out of Alberta continues to grow. The amount of oil shipped by rail has been increasing and showing little signs of letting up. The National Energy Board reported in June that crude-by-rail exports from Canada […]