The almost total and complete binding integration of Canadian power with United States industry is being sinisterly planned and brazenly executed fully in the open and with the active and complete participation of the Western Canadian Premiers of Campbell, Stelmach, Wall and Doer and with the full knowledge and support of the federal Harper regime. It is a treasonous act and must be exposed and condemned by all Canadian patriots. It must be halted!
Plans are well underway to create a massive western power grid called the Western Interconnection[1] that stretches from the northern regions of Alberta and BC to the deep south of the western US and into Mexico. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are also drawing up plans to supply power into the grid from Manitoba’s massive hydro potential and Saskatchewan’s uranium supplies through the construction of nuclear power generation facilities.
The joint initiative between the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) plans to bring Canadian power supplies under the jurisdiction of Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) by dividing the Western Interconnection into Western Renewable Energy Zones (WREZ). The plans are outlined in detail in the Western Renewable Energy Zones – Phase 1 Report.[2]
The report outlines four objectives that the joint initiative is to achieve and which was the focus of three days of meetings at the Western Governors’ Association 2009 Annual Meeting, Park City, Utah on June 14 - 16, 2009. The main plenary session was entitled “Tapping the West’s Renewable Energy Potential”. Also on the agenda at the meeting was the topic “Managing Water in a Changing World”. The four Western Canadian Premiers attended the event. Manitoba Premier Doer said, "The reality is we're all producers of energy, we're all sellers of energy into western United States, and into the mid-western United States,"[3]
The 2006 Western Governors' Association Policy Resolution 06-10, “Clean and Diversified Energy for the West” states that:
“This resolution included a series of recommendations to meet the objectives of adding 30,000 megawatts of clean energy to the West by 2015, increasing energy efficiency by 20% by 2020, and providing 25 years of secure, reliable transmission.”
WGA Policy Resolution 09-1 was the outcome[4]. Among other recommendations it lays the basis for long-term uninterrupted supply of clean energy to the Western United States. It also recommended that the Western Renewable Energy Zones – Phase 1 Report was to be completed. Resolution 09-1 states that the Western United States governors “believe” that the United States must:
“Ensure that energy costs are affordable for consumers and support a sustainable, growing economy (in the US no mention of Canada - ed.) and increase the proportion of our energy supplies that come from domestic resources and friendly trading partners (Canada, who else has the energy and you can’t transmit power across the ocean – ed.)”
In the sweeping Policy Resolution, 09-1 went on to say that US energy development must be through a comprehensive national framework with an “aggressive timeframe” with an energy development and supply infrastructure designed to avoid interruptions. The resolution addressed nuclear power as the fundamental “base load” supply and called on the US federal government to act aggressively to meet the targets in the resolution. The Canadian Western Premiers all have detailed knowledge of the scope and breadth of the document and what the implications are for Canada. To deny this would be to lie.
Of the total identified 8452 MW of hydro power capacity potential in the WREZ’s Alberta and BC accounted for 7892 MW or 93% of the total. BC alone accounts for 72% of all “Western” hydro resources. Total wind power capacity in Western Interconnection was estimated to be 95,219 MW. Alberta and BC accounted for 18,372 MW or 19.2% of the total. Of the total Western Interconnection identified capacity (solar, geothermal, hydro and wind) of 198,789 MW Canada accounted for 14% of the total. It must be noted that the vast majority of power is identified as coming from solar in California but the most reliable and most easily accessible is Canadian hydro. And of the total hydro potential, Canada accounts for the majority. BC “shares” a zone with Washington State increasing its share even further.
The report was completed with the help of Canadian Geothermal Energy Association. The report noted that, “British Columbia voluntarily provided a hub on the British Columbia-Washington border to the WREZ process. This represents a 16,000 gigawatt-hour per year shaped energy product that British Columbia could provide to load serving entities (LSEs) at the border.”
What is clear is that there is widespread support and collusion from Canadian authorities for the supply of cheap Canadian power to the US Governors and willingness from those same authorities and elected officials to supply US energy needs first.
The first objective of the initiative is to identify the WREZ throughout the Western Interconnection that feature the” potential for large scale development of renewable resources”. The report identifies and characterizes “resource-rich” areas “screening out” those areas “where development is prohibited or severely constrained by geography, regulation or statues”. The report went on to say that the initiative will further refine WREZ’s and continue to work towards “implementing additional screens that balance the benefits of renewable energy development with the need to protect wildlife and crucial habitat.”
Secondly the report is the culmination of evaluation for the “various transmission strategies”. Relative economic cost models from source to “load centres” have been developed which will be used calculate power delivery potential across each WREZ. Detailed maps have been developed that show hydro, wind, geothermal and solar potential.
Black and Veatch (B&V) the giant international engineering firm was contracted to complete the study and map the findings. Interestingly enough B&V CEO Len C. Rodman will be a keynote speaker at the Sustainable Water Solutions for Cities forum at the Water Leaders Summit, part of the second annual Singapore International Water Week, which is to be held on 22-26 June 2009.[5]
Thirdly the report “recognizes” that regional development should be completed in “concert” with more “localized” efforts. This suggestion that the WGA and the DOE will work towards municipal efforts at energy development is particularly troubling. With Canada-US agreements on “trade” through NAFTA, SPP and now interconnected with the Western Canadian province’s TILMA the picture is coming more into focus.
Finally the report stated that, “[the initiative] will undertake a range of efforts to lay the foundation for promoting the efficient regional development, procurement and delivery of energy from renewable resource areas to multiple population centers throughout the Western Interconnection”. This is the long-term plan which envisages a massive power grid connecting Canada, the US and Mexico.
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach lauding the plans said, “They know that we have an excellent opportunity as neighbours on the North American continent to co-operate,”
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Vice Chair of the WGA commenting on Stelmach’s remarks said that the oil sands are a critical component of US energy security. Echoing Governor Schweitzer’s remarks Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter agreed, saying "it's both western parts of Canada and the United States that can play a role in energy independence." Who’s energy independence?
"The most important energy corridor on the planet is no longer the Persian Gulf. It runs from the oilsands, Fort Mc-Murray to Port Arthur, Texas," Schweitzer said. "A large part of energy independence is going to be dependent upon developing the oilsands."
What is plainly evident from all this chatter is, that large scale plans are being rapidly implemented for the exploitation of Canadian energy resources to bolster a flagging and depleted US energy industry all in an attempt to bring the US out of depression on the backs of Canadian workers. This is all being done without the least consideration for Canadian needs or national development and all with the full knowledge and active participation of our treasonous Western Premiers (or maybe it should be said, the Western Canadian Governors).
What is needed in response to these unpatriotic acts is a national energy and labour policy that develops Canadian industry from east to west. Western Canadian labour federations have a particular important role to play in mobilizing opposition to this blatant and brazen sell-out of Canadian sovereignty. The AFL has made a good start with its research papers and policy statements on Alberta oilsands development but they are inadequate to meet the frenzied theft of Canadian resources by big US energy, finance and engineering monopolies in alliance with the Western Premiers and the Harper regime.
Organized labour is the only impediment that can halt this sell-out. All patriotic forces are called upon to take up this question and elevate it to the national level in conjunction with the Canadian Labour Congress, the CAW and the CEP and placed as the centre piece of a new Canadian labour and national development program - lest Canada is permanently relegated to little more than a country of pick axes, shovels and saws.
Notes
[1] The Western Interconnection is the name of the electricity grid that includes the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming; the part of Texas near El Paso; the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia; and a small portion of northern Mexico in Baja California. It is overseen by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC).
[2] Western Governor’s Association and the US Dept. of Energy, “Western Renewable Energy Zones - Phase 1 Report”, June 2009, http://www.westgov.org/wga/publicat/WREZ09.pdf
[3] Jason Fekete, “Western premiers tout energy corridor at US conference”, Calgary Herald, June 15, 2009
[4] WGA, “Policy Resolution 09-1, Energy Policy, Renewable Energy and Transmission for the West”, http://www.westgov.org/wga/policy/09/index.htm
[5] Black & Veatch, “Black and Veatch reveals forum keynote speakers”, http://www.processingtalk.com/news/bla/bla161.html
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Alberta Energy Sector Workers Held Hostage by Anti-Worker Governments and International Finance Speculators
“Alberta oil sands show signs of life” declared the Globe and Mail headline.[1] The article announced that “many” in the province see indications that the economy may be improving in the Alberta energy sector. Citing the announcement by Imperial Oil that it will precede with the $8 billion Kearl Lake mine and that the “run-up” in oil prices have contributed to the optimism the authors, quoting Grande Prairie Mayor Dwight Logan who said, “I'm hesitant to say this, but I feel like we've almost dodged a bullet,” were quick to point out that the reality may be quite different.
The effects of the global capitalist depression on Alberta energy sector workers are particularly acute and have been covered up and relegated to the back pages of the corporate media. In its place is substituted petty bourgeois gossip on mergers and acquisitions, speculation on stock market prices fluctuations and academic theories of “long-term” development and environmental calamity which all amount to nothing more then finance-academia titillation for the parasitically idle classes.
Creating a phoney atmosphere of stability within a real and deepening crisis of employment, access to EI and pensions and resource sell-out the mouthpieces of big oil attempt to ingratiate themselves with the power circles of Calgary energy finance. In an effort to absolve the Harper and Stelmach governments in alliance with the oil monopolies of any responsibility for the economic crisis, betrayal of a national energy policy and deflect criticism from a Made-In-Canada energy crisis the media with support from academia at the University of Calgary hide the true affects for Alberta workers.
Gil McGowan president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) said:
“Kearl Lake will create a couple of thousand short- to medium-term construction jobs - and in the current economic climate, that's a welcome thing."
“But over the longer term, this project is deeply troubling because it's focused exclusively on the extraction and export of raw bitumen. The real money - and the real jobs - in this business are in upgrading and refining. Unfortunately Kearl will be sending all of those benefits down the pipeline to Exxon refineries in the US Midwest and Gulf Coast.”[2]
With unemployment in Alberta now reaching 123,000 workers and EI benefits only covering a third of those unemployed, for the majority of out-of-work Albertans the situation is reaching crisis levels. Access to EI benefits are delayed for 10 weeks in Alberta throwing over 34,000 onto the welfare roll.[3] Thousands are losing their homes and rental suites. Workers’ savings are being depleted at a furious pace and debt loads incurred by boom inflation cycle are eating into retirement savings.
The AFL has called on the Western Premiers to convene a national pension summit to demand that the Harper minority Conservative government ensure that all Canadians have full access to pensions and EI benefits. The AFL President said:
"As a result of the global recession and the collapse in equity markets, it has become painfully obvious that our existing patchwork system is not up to the task of providing adequate retirement income for most Canadians."
"Workers in western Canada are being unfairly discriminated against by arbitrary rules that make it much harder for them to qualify for the EI benefits they've paid for. But it's not clear that the new pact between the federal Conservatives and Liberals will do anything to address this fundamental inequity,"
“Energy companies are also storing fuel on tankers, with some 62 million barrels estimated at sea, according to shipbrokers and traders.”[4] The U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration estimated in its May 12, 2009 Short-Term Energy Outlook report that globally, “there are also an additional 130 million barrels of crude oil in floating storage.”[5] Total global daily consumption is about 82 million barrels per day.
So what does this have to do with Alberta unemployment, access to EI and pensions?
This massive inventory of oil and LNG is speculatively traded on spot markets like a “hot potato” passing from one hand to the next but never leaving the tanker. This speculation is artificially pushing prices higher. By maintaining prices at artificially high levels the costs are passed onto Canadian workers who pay world market prices. In other words with all the energy, oil and natural gas that Canada has the costs to prop up global oil speculators and stabilize US oil production capacities are being subsidized by Canadian workers.
A Made-In-Canada domestic price is needed. Halt the shipment of raw bitumen to US upgraders and refineries. Create a national energy policy that forms the basis for industrial expansion in Canada and trade with the world. This will only occur when energy is placed into the hands of workers and the energy industry in nationalized. The necessity to remove the Harper regime at the first opportunity is urgent and can only be achieved on the basis of labour unity acting in its own interests first around a national program of industrial expansion based on the expansion energy.
Notes:
[1] Katherine O'Neill, Dawn Walton, “Alberta oil sands show signs of life”, Globe and Mail, June 22, 2009
[2] Gil McGowan, Statement on Kearl, May 26, 2009, http://www.afl.org/news/default.cfm?newsId=589
[3] Renata D'Aliesio, “As unemployment surges, Albertans waiting 10 weeks for EI”, Canwest News Service, June 21, 2009
[4] Edward McAllister, “Oil slips on dollar, U.S. industrial data, Reuters”, June 16, 2009
[5] US Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, “Short-Term energy Outlook, May 12, 2009, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/may09.pdf
The effects of the global capitalist depression on Alberta energy sector workers are particularly acute and have been covered up and relegated to the back pages of the corporate media. In its place is substituted petty bourgeois gossip on mergers and acquisitions, speculation on stock market prices fluctuations and academic theories of “long-term” development and environmental calamity which all amount to nothing more then finance-academia titillation for the parasitically idle classes.
Creating a phoney atmosphere of stability within a real and deepening crisis of employment, access to EI and pensions and resource sell-out the mouthpieces of big oil attempt to ingratiate themselves with the power circles of Calgary energy finance. In an effort to absolve the Harper and Stelmach governments in alliance with the oil monopolies of any responsibility for the economic crisis, betrayal of a national energy policy and deflect criticism from a Made-In-Canada energy crisis the media with support from academia at the University of Calgary hide the true affects for Alberta workers.
Gil McGowan president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) said:
“Kearl Lake will create a couple of thousand short- to medium-term construction jobs - and in the current economic climate, that's a welcome thing."
“But over the longer term, this project is deeply troubling because it's focused exclusively on the extraction and export of raw bitumen. The real money - and the real jobs - in this business are in upgrading and refining. Unfortunately Kearl will be sending all of those benefits down the pipeline to Exxon refineries in the US Midwest and Gulf Coast.”[2]
With unemployment in Alberta now reaching 123,000 workers and EI benefits only covering a third of those unemployed, for the majority of out-of-work Albertans the situation is reaching crisis levels. Access to EI benefits are delayed for 10 weeks in Alberta throwing over 34,000 onto the welfare roll.[3] Thousands are losing their homes and rental suites. Workers’ savings are being depleted at a furious pace and debt loads incurred by boom inflation cycle are eating into retirement savings.
The AFL has called on the Western Premiers to convene a national pension summit to demand that the Harper minority Conservative government ensure that all Canadians have full access to pensions and EI benefits. The AFL President said:
"As a result of the global recession and the collapse in equity markets, it has become painfully obvious that our existing patchwork system is not up to the task of providing adequate retirement income for most Canadians."
"Workers in western Canada are being unfairly discriminated against by arbitrary rules that make it much harder for them to qualify for the EI benefits they've paid for. But it's not clear that the new pact between the federal Conservatives and Liberals will do anything to address this fundamental inequity,"
“Energy companies are also storing fuel on tankers, with some 62 million barrels estimated at sea, according to shipbrokers and traders.”[4] The U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration estimated in its May 12, 2009 Short-Term Energy Outlook report that globally, “there are also an additional 130 million barrels of crude oil in floating storage.”[5] Total global daily consumption is about 82 million barrels per day.
So what does this have to do with Alberta unemployment, access to EI and pensions?
This massive inventory of oil and LNG is speculatively traded on spot markets like a “hot potato” passing from one hand to the next but never leaving the tanker. This speculation is artificially pushing prices higher. By maintaining prices at artificially high levels the costs are passed onto Canadian workers who pay world market prices. In other words with all the energy, oil and natural gas that Canada has the costs to prop up global oil speculators and stabilize US oil production capacities are being subsidized by Canadian workers.
A Made-In-Canada domestic price is needed. Halt the shipment of raw bitumen to US upgraders and refineries. Create a national energy policy that forms the basis for industrial expansion in Canada and trade with the world. This will only occur when energy is placed into the hands of workers and the energy industry in nationalized. The necessity to remove the Harper regime at the first opportunity is urgent and can only be achieved on the basis of labour unity acting in its own interests first around a national program of industrial expansion based on the expansion energy.
Notes:
[1] Katherine O'Neill, Dawn Walton, “Alberta oil sands show signs of life”, Globe and Mail, June 22, 2009
[2] Gil McGowan, Statement on Kearl, May 26, 2009, http://www.afl.org/news/default.cfm?newsId=589
[3] Renata D'Aliesio, “As unemployment surges, Albertans waiting 10 weeks for EI”, Canwest News Service, June 21, 2009
[4] Edward McAllister, “Oil slips on dollar, U.S. industrial data, Reuters”, June 16, 2009
[5] US Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, “Short-Term energy Outlook, May 12, 2009, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/may09.pdf
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Flaherty Has a Plan!
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced today that “we have a plan”! This is such a relief to all Canadian workers. We can now all rest well at night knowing that the Finance Minister is on the case.
Responding to pressures to explain how the minority Conservatives will reduce the ballooning federal deficit[1] they created by transferring billions of dollars of speculative debt from the balance sheets of the big banks onto the backs of Canadian workers following the G20 summit Flaherty said, “Temporary spending will end. We'll use the surplus first of all to pay off the deficits we incur now.”[2] Where the “surplus” is come from Flaherty doesn’t say.
Today it was also announced by Stats Canada that productivity by Canadian workers grew 0.3% over the first three months of the year. This was said to be “largest gain Canadian businesses have posted in two years”.[3] The Globe and Mail report showed that the decline in overall output fell 1.9% from the previous quarter while the number of hours worked by Canadians was reduced by 2.2%, hence the 0.3% gain in “productivity”.
The report also showed that “labour costs” were lower due to the falling rate of wage increases which fell from 1.5% to 1.2%. Inventories were high even as workers were slashed from payrolls. The report concluded that the trend is far from over and that much more “harsh corrections” are required. Beata Caranci, director of economic forecasting at Toronto-Dominion Bank was quoted in the G&M article as saying, “They're (employers) going to have to become far more aggressive”.
It was noted that the inventories are going to have to be reduced by $70 billion over the next year. In a foot note it was pointed out that a “scale-back” in oil sands activity was also identified as “boosting” efficiency.
So what is Flaherty’s “plan”? Cut wages, throw more workers out of work and work the remained longer. Oh and make sure that “temporary programs” for worker relief are axed as quickly as possible. This is good plan if you are a banker because the gains made in all this increased productivity will be paid back to you with interest for the loans Canadians made to the banks so that the banks could loan the money back to the federal government for Flaherty’s “temporary programs”. This is one big shell game on the backs of workers.
[1] Globe and Mail, “Deficit swells from $34-billion to $50-billion – in 4 months”, May 27, 2009
[2] Globe and Mail, “We have a plan to return to surplus: Flaherty”, June 16, 2009
[3] Globe and Mail, “Productivity rises through deep job cuts”, June 16, 2009
Responding to pressures to explain how the minority Conservatives will reduce the ballooning federal deficit[1] they created by transferring billions of dollars of speculative debt from the balance sheets of the big banks onto the backs of Canadian workers following the G20 summit Flaherty said, “Temporary spending will end. We'll use the surplus first of all to pay off the deficits we incur now.”[2] Where the “surplus” is come from Flaherty doesn’t say.
Today it was also announced by Stats Canada that productivity by Canadian workers grew 0.3% over the first three months of the year. This was said to be “largest gain Canadian businesses have posted in two years”.[3] The Globe and Mail report showed that the decline in overall output fell 1.9% from the previous quarter while the number of hours worked by Canadians was reduced by 2.2%, hence the 0.3% gain in “productivity”.
The report also showed that “labour costs” were lower due to the falling rate of wage increases which fell from 1.5% to 1.2%. Inventories were high even as workers were slashed from payrolls. The report concluded that the trend is far from over and that much more “harsh corrections” are required. Beata Caranci, director of economic forecasting at Toronto-Dominion Bank was quoted in the G&M article as saying, “They're (employers) going to have to become far more aggressive”.
It was noted that the inventories are going to have to be reduced by $70 billion over the next year. In a foot note it was pointed out that a “scale-back” in oil sands activity was also identified as “boosting” efficiency.
So what is Flaherty’s “plan”? Cut wages, throw more workers out of work and work the remained longer. Oh and make sure that “temporary programs” for worker relief are axed as quickly as possible. This is good plan if you are a banker because the gains made in all this increased productivity will be paid back to you with interest for the loans Canadians made to the banks so that the banks could loan the money back to the federal government for Flaherty’s “temporary programs”. This is one big shell game on the backs of workers.
[1] Globe and Mail, “Deficit swells from $34-billion to $50-billion – in 4 months”, May 27, 2009
[2] Globe and Mail, “We have a plan to return to surplus: Flaherty”, June 16, 2009
[3] Globe and Mail, “Productivity rises through deep job cuts”, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Workers Require Greater Understanding
Many changes have occurred since the last posting of FSP. The absence of commentary on this blog has been precipitated by the collapse in the Canadian economy and the curtailment of oil sands projects in Alberta. This has forced thousands of oil sands workers from all over the country to find alternate sources of income as indirect and direct labour is cut, idled or shifted into other areas.
Workers have been laid off, transferred into other jurisdictions or onto EI or “back on the books”. Thousands have gone back home to eastern Canada or in search of employment in other provinces. Temporary foreign workers have been sent back to their country of origin. Engineering houses have reduced staff, service and consultant contractors have had contracts terminated. Families are under severe economic pressures as the expansion of oil sands extraction and production has shifted into a phase of “wait and see”, consolidation and combine.
This is the situation that this commentator has had to confront which has been the cause of the absence of any commentary on this blog. The necessity for ongoing discussion, commentary and analysis from the perspective of energy sector workers is needed to an even greater degree than has been achieved to date. Rapidly changing conditions within in the energy sector as reflected in state-monopoly relations, the Canadian economy and Canada-US relations dictate that a more consistent and critical approach is applied to this task and with greater urgency.
Workers require greater understanding of the political and economic relations going on within the nation from a Marxist analysis. It is not good enough to comment on the situation in the energy sector without vetting it through close working class scrutiny based on Marxism.
This is to say, how do the rapid changes and the complex relations emerging within inter-monopoly and inter imperialist affairs affect the Canadian working class? What are the critical developments within the industry that affect workers? How can we as workers understand these changes better to move towards regaining control of our nation and nationalizing key section s of industry for the benefit of all Canadian people not just the finance, oil and military speculators, investors and parasites?
Analyzing the relationships between the state and the oil monopolies is of particular necessity. Canada-United States economic and political relations over attempts to further bind Canadian production, extraction and exploration within the “North American” reality requires deeper study. The growing antagonistic relation within competing energy interests are of particular concern as competition for control of markets requires to some degree a “decoupling” of current development strategies to change in anticipation of these new markets.
Further, federal-provincial relations requires greater understand by workers to prepare us for guiding our actions and relations within our own class, to defend our own class interests and to guide our actions and attitudes towards our organized labour bodies to assert a greater and more decisive influence on the nation’s affairs.
All these questions and more require ongoing study, discussion and analysis. To date this blog has not achieved these requisites. It has not approached the level that the sharpening class antagonisms are demanding of the left for ideological and theoretical understanding. Moving forward it is critical that this analysis is guided by partisan approach to the working class.
Workers have been laid off, transferred into other jurisdictions or onto EI or “back on the books”. Thousands have gone back home to eastern Canada or in search of employment in other provinces. Temporary foreign workers have been sent back to their country of origin. Engineering houses have reduced staff, service and consultant contractors have had contracts terminated. Families are under severe economic pressures as the expansion of oil sands extraction and production has shifted into a phase of “wait and see”, consolidation and combine.
This is the situation that this commentator has had to confront which has been the cause of the absence of any commentary on this blog. The necessity for ongoing discussion, commentary and analysis from the perspective of energy sector workers is needed to an even greater degree than has been achieved to date. Rapidly changing conditions within in the energy sector as reflected in state-monopoly relations, the Canadian economy and Canada-US relations dictate that a more consistent and critical approach is applied to this task and with greater urgency.
Workers require greater understanding of the political and economic relations going on within the nation from a Marxist analysis. It is not good enough to comment on the situation in the energy sector without vetting it through close working class scrutiny based on Marxism.
This is to say, how do the rapid changes and the complex relations emerging within inter-monopoly and inter imperialist affairs affect the Canadian working class? What are the critical developments within the industry that affect workers? How can we as workers understand these changes better to move towards regaining control of our nation and nationalizing key section s of industry for the benefit of all Canadian people not just the finance, oil and military speculators, investors and parasites?
Analyzing the relationships between the state and the oil monopolies is of particular necessity. Canada-United States economic and political relations over attempts to further bind Canadian production, extraction and exploration within the “North American” reality requires deeper study. The growing antagonistic relation within competing energy interests are of particular concern as competition for control of markets requires to some degree a “decoupling” of current development strategies to change in anticipation of these new markets.
Further, federal-provincial relations requires greater understand by workers to prepare us for guiding our actions and relations within our own class, to defend our own class interests and to guide our actions and attitudes towards our organized labour bodies to assert a greater and more decisive influence on the nation’s affairs.
All these questions and more require ongoing study, discussion and analysis. To date this blog has not achieved these requisites. It has not approached the level that the sharpening class antagonisms are demanding of the left for ideological and theoretical understanding. Moving forward it is critical that this analysis is guided by partisan approach to the working class.
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