NDP leader Thomas Mulcair takes aim at oilsands

[styky]

NDP leader Thomas Mulcair takes aim at oilsands

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/lea ... story.html
By Derek Abma, Postmedia News May 5, 2012 1:01 PM

OTTAWA - NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said Saturday that, because of the way it raises the value of the Canadian dollar, other parts of the country are paying a price for the prosperity enjoyed by natural resource sectors such as the oilsands in Alberta.

"It's by definition the 'Dutch disease,'" Mulcair said Saturday on the CBC Radio show, The House.

The "Dutch disease" is a reference to what happened to the Netherlands economy in the 1960s after vast deposits of natural gas were discovered in the nearby North Sea. The resulting rise in its currency was thought to have caused the collapse of the Dutch manufacturing sector, and Mulcair said the same thing is happening in Canada.

"The Canadian dollar's being held artificially high, which is fine if you're going to Walt Disney World, (but) not so good if you want to sell your manufactured product because the American clients, most of the time, can no longer afford to buy it."

The Canadian dollar has traded higher or close to parity with the U.S. dollar for most of this year and last.

Mulcair cited Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick as some of the places affected by the high loonie.

"We've hollowed out the manufacturing sector. In six years since the Conservatives have arrived, we've lost 500,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs."

Mulcair also discussed the need for the "internalization of the environmental costs" of oilsands and other natural resources development and making the "polluter pay."

He said he's not against oilsands development, but said it should be carried out in a sustainable manner.

There was some reference to an article Mulcair wrote for Policy Options magazine, which was published just prior to his winning the NDP leadership race in March. In it, he proposed a "comprehensive cap-and-trade plan that would be based on the principle that polluters pay."

He rejected the notion, brought up by the show's host, Evan Solomon, that he was using the oilsands as a "wedge issue" that pits other parts of the country against Alberta.

"This is a question that we have to address across the board because we are such a resource-rich country," Mulcair said. "We've got to learn how to add value here, to stop shipping raw logs, to stop shipping raw bitumen."

However, Alberta Environment Minister Diana McQueen, who was also on the show, said Mulcair was being divisive in his treatment of the oilsands.

She called it "old-style politics; trying to pit one part of the country against another. . . . It really is disheartening to see such divisive comments coming from a federal leader, and I'd certainly invite the honourable leader to come out and meet with us. I'm not sure that he's done that. I'm not sure if he's actually visited the oilsands."

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/leader+Thoma ... z1u16a2E2j

[styky]

OTTAWA - NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said Saturday that, because of the way it raises the value of the Canadian dollar, other parts of the country are paying a price for the prosperity enjoyed by natural resource sectors such as the oilsands in Alberta.

Prosperity causes poverty!!!!

[Jean]

Uh, perhaps i overestimated Mulclair.

Looks like he won't even try to win in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

[RedDog]

There is soon to be nothing left in the entire solar system not the fault of Alberta. Of course nobody's raised Gaza, the West Bank, Greece or the crumbling at light speed European Union. Yet.

[kowalski]

once again Chreteinstein has arisen from Quebec now in the form of Mulcair in a pincer attack with Redford to lower the Canadian $ to 64 pennies or less. Our only hope may turn out to be the return of Lord Black.

[Hodgson]

This ain't gonna end well for the NDP.

I hate the Liberals, but damn, I wish they'd get themselves together so these left-wing insane clowns don't hog so much limelight.
My God.
The NDP.
WTF?

[RedDog]

This ain't gonna end well for the NDP.

I hate the Liberals, but damn, I wish they'd get themselves together so these left-wing insane clowns don't hog so much limelight.
My God.
The NDP.
WTF?

Yes. That was a nice little Layton swan song but that was the peak. Next time around Paybec will be reminded hourly they are in receipt of over $8 billion a year extorted from provinces without NDP governments or leadership contributions. Why is that? That has to be asked again and again. Slagging the primary source of the money can indeed not pan out well down the entitlement garden path.

[Peter O'Donnell]

If Fort McMurray was in eastern Canada, these policies would never be spoken.

Such envy -- and such a dangerous game to play with national unity, because frankly, eastern Canada, we don't need you out here. The only thing I get from eastern Canada is a bad smell and legal documents. Maybe the one causes the other.

[RedDog]

If Fort McMurray was in eastern Canada, these policies would never be spoken.

Such envy -- and such a dangerous game to play with national unity, because frankly, eastern Canada, we don't need you out here. The only thing I get from eastern Canada is a bad smell and legal documents. Maybe the one causes the other.

I've thought the same and posted such previously. There is absolutely nothing I need them for. Nothing whatsoever. They just cost my neighbours and I money whereas I receive no tangible benefit for that investment.

Wait, I do need them for something. I need them to take the neighbour's sister back to Cornwall where she can wail away night and day there on her phone smoking. Tomorrow would be ideal. Please and thank you.

[styky]

Saskatchewan's Brad Wall goes after Mulcair's oilsands comments on Twitter

By: The Canadian Press

Posted: 1:50 PM | Comments: 25 (including replies) | Last Modified: 4:55 PM

REGINA - Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall used Twitter Monday to poke at Thomas Mulcair and comments the federal NDP leader made about resources and the high Canadian dollar.

Wall took issue with comments Mulcair made over the weekend while discussing the oilsands.

The NDP leader told a CBC radio program that the oilsands are artificially inflating the Canadian dollar and hollowing out the country's manufacturing sector.

He called it the definition of Dutch disease — a reference to the Netherlands and how a natural gas find in that country led to declines in manufacturing in the 1960s.

While the oilsands are largely an Alberta issue, Saskatchewan's economy is heavily dependant on resource revenue and Wall demanded Mulcair explain himself.

"Resources have been the cure, not the problem," tweeted Wall, whose Saskatchewan Party government is opposed by the NDP in the provincial legislature. "What is his cure?' Higher resource taxes? NDP needs to explain."

Mulcair told the radio program he wants to see the oilsands developed in a responsible way that sees more refining done in Canada and less raw product sent abroad.

Mulcair is not the first politician Canadian politician to raise the issue of the high Canadian dollar and the oilsands.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty drew Alberta's scorn earlier this year when he said he preferred a lower dollar to a growing oil and gas sector in Western Canada.

His remarks were characterized as unnecessarily divisive by Alberta Premier Alison Redford, who argued the whole country benefits by supplying goods to a strong resource sector.

McGuinty later tried to tone down his remarks saying he is proud of the work being done in all parts of the country.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... 68145.html

[Brexx]

Mulcair is a typical NDP idiot. They are against anything that makes a profit, even though they are the political arm of the unions whose members make their living working for profitable companies.

Its not the oil sands that are to blame for the decline of the manufacturing sector. Even when the Canadian dollar was in the 60 cent range you didn't see car plants and other manufacturers flocking to Canada. They went instead to the southern USA. Why? Unions mostly.

Mulcair is trying to blame the oil sands for what his own lot is largely responsible for.

[Smaug]

Ah, Muclair has discovered the west must pay formula. It is exceedingly curious how many Quebec based politicians have come up with that formula. What fun we will have if Muclair can ride that one to election victory.

And why not? It is just another National Energy Program wrapped in green bullshit. The only thing he needs to add is below market gas for central Canadians and he would get a majority.

[styky]

Ah, Muclair has discovered the west must pay formula. It is exceedingly curious how many Quebec based politicians have come up with that formula. What fun we will have if Muclair can ride that one to election victory.

And why not? It is just another National Energy Program wrapped in green bullshit. The only thing he needs to add is below market gas for central Canadians and he would get a majority.

I take it then that you've read his joyful response to the new socialist government in France then http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... 10825.html

[styky]

Opposition leader needs to rethink position on resources

Tom Mulcair's derision of oilsands is raising the ire of the West as he tries to pit one part of the country against the other

By Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun May 9, 2012

Unusually, a premier is stepping forward to do battle with official Opposition leader Tom Mulcair over the pace of western Canadian resource development.

Saskatchewan's Brad Wall put up his dukes this week, con-fronting what he considers a nationally divisive and erroneous posture adopted by the new NDP leader on the oilsands and other resource developments in the region.

Wall tweeted his displeasure over comments Mulcair made in a radio interview last week-end about "Dutch Disease" - whereby Canada's robust petrodollar supposedly is dam-aging the manufacturing sector in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

While it's not often a premier jumps jurisdictions to confront a federal politician who is not the prime minister, the Saskatchewan Party premier is an ideal candidate to take on Mulcair.

Stephen Harper is under the gun for running roughshod over the environment in order to expedite resource development. And Alberta's Alison Redford would be seen as narrowly trying to safeguard the golden oilsands goose.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Op ... z1uNqfn3DC

[styky]

Brad Wall could tell Tories what's scary about Mulcair
John IBBitson | Columnist profile | E-mail
Globe and Mail Update
Published Wednesday, May. 09, 2012 7:00AM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, May. 09, 2012 2:02PM EDT
Thomas Mulcair needn’t worry about the picayune Tory attacks on his caucus. But he should worry a lot about Brad Wall.

The attacks can be found on a new Conservative-sponsored website: Mulcairsndp.ca. They feature highly unflattering profiles of the shadow cabinet – accusing MPs of flirting with separatists, supporting higher taxes, opposing free trade.

The worst offender is pensions critic Irene Mathyssen, who was allegedly once a cabinet minister in Bob Rae’s government, with all that that entails.

With these early salvos, the Conservatives are attempting to brand the NDP as the party of separatists and socialists. But most people who voted NDP in the last election voted for Jack Layton, not his team; in the next one they’ll vote, or not, for Tom Mulcair. The absence, thus far, of a full frontal Tory assault on the new leader is ... interesting. ......................http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le2427281/