Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
If we had JUST invested to take advantage of continued demand from Asia, we would be a much better place right now.
Oil & gas aren't our only natural resources.
Hydro Power
Uranium
Lithium
Nickel
Water?
Potash (demand in Sask is strong and they're hiring like crazy)
Etc, etc.
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I think the important point is... who is "we" when you say if we had just invested. It all relies on corporations to decide if something is financially feasible or if it's worth it. Can that money make better money somewhere else? Up until now, most decided that. Government restrictions/red tape aren't the only effect here.
I can't even count on two hands how many times I requoted equipment to an EPC firm for a proposed LNG project, only to be told it was deemed economically unfeasible by that public company and it was motherballed again. This is going at least 15 years back. Same reasons we constantly ask why refineries are no longer being built each time we have one go down and there's a shortage, no one is investing in it, but they can surely build one. Then we got caught up in either subsidizing it or letting it die.
The problems with the O&G projects, specifically for transport, is not as simple as saying the government makes it difficult. A big factor in that is the demand to have any project be more profitable than others. I agree there are demands from the government that add cost and time to projects and are perhaps excessive, but perhaps we need to do something and remove that whole massive profit idea from the formula. Perhaps we need to actually nationalize the transportation of key resources, have the government build and own the projects if no corporation thinks they are worth it, and then the benefiting factor is more exports and better GDP. Now we just need a government who will do that, beyond what Trudeau did with TransMountain.
I guess my coles notes is.... if we are going to continue relying on for-profit corporations to build a nations key infrastructure, we will continue to have problems.