March 27, 2012
It used to be people accused Alberta of being narrow-minded and suspicious of other provinces. There was never any truth to that stereotype, of course, but now it’s Ontario’s premier Dalton McGuinty who’s making his province sound, well, downright provincial.
March 27, 2012
Big Oil in Canada has more of a conscience and a soul today because of the trail that Hazel Gillespie blazed, torch in hand
Our industry, and indeed Canada, lost one of its best and brightest with the passing of Corporate social responsibility pioneer Hazel Gillespie in late February, at the age of 61. Hazel endured three battles with cancer over...
March 27, 2012
Is your company able to predict from incoming résumés which employees are most likely to have a tenure of ten years or more? Are you able to foresee who, by name, will resign after ten weeks of fly-in/fly-out of the oil sands? And do you know whether the current labour pool has adequate skills and workers to enable your production targets?
March 27, 2012
A few years ago when the government of Alberta announced changes to the royalty regime that negatively impacted the industry, there seemed to be a strong support by the voting public of the changes. The situation at the time begged a fundamental question: How could it be that so many Albertans who benefit from a thriving oil and gas industry, be...
January 30, 2012
Hydraulic fracking, the process where water, sand and a mix of chemicals are used to extract oil and natural gas from shales and other low permeability deposits, continues to be a contentious topic.
January 30, 2012
Another year and the energy story dominating the headlines should be no surprise – oil sands pipelines: specifically, Enbridge’s $5.5 billion northern gateway proposal and trans-Canada Pipelines’ $1.9 billion Keystone XL line.
On the eve of the gateway hearings, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver launched a broadside –...
January 30, 2012
The balmy weather that kicked off the year was the first sign that 2012 is sure to be an interesting year! While I welcome spring-like weather to some degree during the winter months, the deep freeze that quickly followed was a welcome thing ensuring that equipment will get into field and activity levels will ramp up. For 2012, PSAC tabled a...
November 23, 2011
The joint venture in the energy and resources industry is a very common way for businesses to combine their expertise and assets to accomplish a common project, which may not be possible for one party to accomplish on its own. There are many benefits to be derived from such a relationship, but there are also many issues that arise and that need to...
November 23, 2011
Alberta has had a long history of economic development plans having the rug pulled out from underneath them. Think back to the National Energy Program of 1980 (well, don’t think too hard or you’ll ruin your day). More recently, the collapse in energy prices in 2008/09 brought an abrupt halt to all sorts of activity in the province,...
November 23, 2011
In today’s new technological world of mass media, where environmental groups and protesters are also getting their messages heard through the Internet, Twitter, and Face Book, it’s now more important than ever that organizations position themselves effectively in the marketplace. Branding, stakeholder relations, and communications are...
