Weekly Newsletter – February 9, 2024 – Biting the Hand that Feeds You
Yesterday, BCE announced the largest layoffs in the company’s history since 1993 – 9% of the workforce or 4800 people – yes, people, not robots or machines! But they increased the dividend which is good because the people that are laid off will get their severance package and can now buy BCE stock and get a fat dividend. BCE’s reason for cutting staff and programming is that traditional business operations such as midday newscasts are uncompetitive and losing money. BCE is not the only company that is laying people off – the banks and other large financial institutions have quietly been laying staff off since the second half of 2023 and now into 2024. Obviously, companies are looking for ways to reduce costs, maintain their competitive advantage, and keep shareholders satisfied.
To that end, it completely confounds me how a Member of Parliament, named Charlie Angus from Timmins-James Bay, Ontario, and a member of the Federal NDP party would actually introduce a Private Member’s Bill (Bill C-372) that would technically apply to any Canadian who is found to speak positively of our oil and gas industry. Charlie believes that the Canadian oil and gas sector is trafficking disinformation and killing people! The act reads, “It is prohibited for a person to promote a fossil fuel-related brand element or the production of a fossil fuel.” If any person violates this new law then the penalty could be as high as a $500,000 fine, and if a company does this, then it could be up to a $1 million fine and up to 2 years in jail. What is wrong with this person? Maybe this brilliant human being should look at the state of our domestic economy and understand that Alberta, where oil and gas production occurs, has never received an equalization payment, but Ontario has received over $8 billion in equalization payments over the past decade. He must assume that the money just comes from the money tree that grows for a full 4 months of the year in the Timmins and James Bay district.
Currently, Canada ranks as the 5th largest producer of oil and gas globally with the 3rd largest reserves. In 2022, the IEA projected that LNG (liquid natural gas) would grow by 25% between 2022 and 2026 and then grow by another 3.4% per year until 2035. Canada is finally ready to join the party with our first LNG plant ready to go in Kitimat, BC, and with other projects to follow. Meanwhile, the Timmins–James Bay, an area that is focused on mining, actually does not use any diesel or gas-powered machinery to move all of that rock around. The last time I looked, they were using Tonka trucks with 5-year-old kids using remote controls to move all of that rock!
In 2022, the Canadian energy sector accounted for 11.8% of our nominal GDP while employing 400,000 hard-working Canadians. So why would some politician want to destroy the hand that feeds? Is it that this person wants to make headlines, or is it that this person is completely unaware of the contribution that our resource sector has for all of Canada? Maybe Charlie should donate his annual salary plus expenses, which is over $200,000 per year, to a fund that helps promote industries that support the rest of Canada. Or he could focus on the 100,000 or so vehicles that are stolen every year and shipped through the Port of Montreal to vast destinations where they still use oil and gas. Even better, focus on the destruction that illegal drugs such as Fentanyl are having on every community across our country.
Just like many other industries in Canada, Canadian entrepreneurs invested their time, capital, and took immense risks to make a better life not only for themselves but for the people that are employed in the various industries. They were not created by politicians sitting behind a desk criticizing what has gone wrong and without all of these hard-working Canadians paying tax, politicians like Charlie would actually have to go to work. So stop bashing our oil and gas industry and get to work promoting our potential on a global basis so that we can keep feeding your lifestyle.
