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Alberta's largest union is calling on the government to tighten transportation safety regulations lest migrant workers in that province suffer a similar fate to those killed in a recent crash in Ontario that claimed 11 lives.

"The lax laws governing how farm workers can be taken to and from work sites are a recipe for disaster," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), which represents 145,000 workers.

McGowan notes that in Alberta it is legal for farm workers to ride in the back of pickup trucks and larger trucks due to an exemption to the Alberta Traffic Safety Act/Rules of the Road Regulation.

"The government says it's wrong for all other Albertans to travel in this unsafe way, but says it's OK for farm workers. Why? Are their lives worth any less?"

On Feb. 7, 10 migrant workers from Peru were killed in a horrific collision in the hamlet of Hampstead, west of Waterloo, Ontario, when their 15-passenger van ran a stop sign and collided with a flatbed truck.

Eleven people were killed in the accident including the driver of the truck, making it Ontario's worst crash in at least a decade.

Fifteen-passenger vans such as the one involved in the Ontario crash have been dubbed "death traps on wheels" by some U.S. safety experts, and banned by the U.S. government for the transportation of children.

The vans have also been banned in Nova Scotia, and from transporting public school students in New Brunwick and Quebec, while some Alberta school boards will no longer insure them.

However, Alberta and most other provinces continue to allow farm workers to travel in the vans.

The lax laws governing how farm workers can be taken to and from work sites are a recipe for disaster.

The AFL is calling on the Alberta government to end the exemption for riding in the back of trucks, ban the use of 15-passenger vans, and outlaw vans that do not meet acceptable safety standards, among other improvements for migrant workers.

"During her campaign to become premier, Alison Redford promised tougher rules to protect farm workers," says McGowan. "Farm workers have the right to the same protections as all other Albertans. We expect the premier, as a human rights lawyer, to recognize this and fulfill her pledge now."

On Feb. 17, around 50 protesters gathered outside the Office of the Chief Coroner in Toronto, calling for an inquest into the deaths of the workers killed in the Feb. 7 collision as well as for laws to better protect all foreign workers in Ontario.

The protest was led by worker's rights group Justicia for Migrant Workers, which says that despite several tragedies involving migrant workers, there has never been a coroner's inquest conducted in Ontario to examine the death of a worker employed under the temporary foreign workers program.

"As we mourn this tragedy it is important that we take immediate steps to prevent such a tragedy from ever occurring again," says the group's organizer, Chris Ramsaroop.

In 2007, three female farm workers were killed in B.C. when a van carrying 16 workers overturned on an Abbottsford highway, about 70 km southeast of Vancouver. Only two of the passenger seats were equipped with seat belts.

Epoch Times, Wed Feb 22 2012

One million Canadians work in federally regulated workplaces. They deserve a government that respects their fundamental rights.

Stop Federal Interference in Free Collective Bargaining

Since winning a majority government, Mr. Harper has repeatedly interfered in the free collective bargaining process, essentially removing the right to strike and fixing the rules in favour of employers. Workers at Canada Post and Air Canada learned all too well that employers have little incentive to bargain in good faith when they know the government will intervene on their behalf. Labour relations experts have called Harper's interference "unprecedented," highly unusual," "a wholesale departure," and "creating problems, not solving problems" (CBC, October 13, 2011).

A Paul Dewar government will restore free collective bargaining and stop federal interference.

Establish a fair, neutral mechanism to resolve deadlocked labour disputes

Even though free collective bargaining produces a negotiated settlement 97% of the time, there needs to be a fair, neutral and timely way to resolve those labour disputes that become deadlocked. This is particularly important with the growing trend, seen at US Steel in Hamilton, ON, Rio Tinto in Alma, QC, and Caterpillar in London, ON, where employers lock out workers to force deep wage, benefit and pension cuts.

A government led by Paul Dewar will legislate, at the federal level, Manitoba's innovative "60 day rule," to enable either party involved in an impasse to ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration and end the strike or lockout. Since this rule was implemented in 2000, it has brought several protracted disputes to a fair and neutral resolution while creating a strong incentive for employers and workers to negotiate in good faith. Since its implementation, the number of days lost to strikes and lockouts in Manitoba has fallen by more than 2/3 compared to the previous decade.

Reduce the length and divisiveness of strikes/lockouts by banning the use of replacement workers

The use of replacement workers by employers during a strike or lockout has been deemed a "serious violation of freedom of association" by the United Nations' International Labour Organization. When employers can use replacement workers, negotiations are undermined, work stoppages are prolonged, conflict is heightened and the risk of picket line violence rises.

For decades, BC and Quebec have banned the use of replacement workers by law, recognizing that their use only poisons the collective bargaining process. The federal Parliament passed a partial ban on replacement workers in 1999, but exceptions permitted have been interpreted so broadly that the provision is completely ineffective. Since that provision was passed the use of replacement workers has actually increased by 6%, including high profile conflicts at Ekati Mine, NWT, at Telus in Alberta and BC, and at Vidéotron and Sécur in Quebec.

A government led by Paul Dewar will ban the use of replacement workers in federally regulated workplaces.

Take on the disgraceful workplace injury rate in federally regulated workplaces

While workplace injury rates have been declining by an average of 25% in provincially regulated workplaces, the injury rate in federal workplaces has actually increased by 5% over the past five years. This federal embarrassment is the direct result of deliberate decisions by the Harper government, which has cut the number of workplace safety inspectors by 15% and required any safety regulations to be balanced against the cost to business. As David Macdonald put it, Mr. Harper has used his so-called "war on red tape ... to redefine the problem of injured workers as a cost of doing business."

A government led by Paul Dewar will improve workplace health and safety by: hiring 50 additional workplace safety inspectors, enough to replace those cut by Mr. Harper and to make progress on injury reduction by adding more; and

putting workers' lives before profit by exempting workplace health and safety from the 2007 Conservative budget directive requiring all new regulations to be balanced against the cost to business.

Reinstate the Federal Minimum Wage and implement a Living Wage Plan

In 1996, the Liberals abolished the federal minimum wage. This has left the federal government without a key tool in the fight against poverty. Paul Dewar believes the federal government has a moral responsibility to show leadership in improving wages for working families, and that if you work full time you deserve a living wage.

A government led by Paul Dewar will reinstate the federal minimum wage and set it at a level that raises living standards for working families; and implement a phased, multi-year plan to raise the minimum wage to a living wage (defined at 60% of the average Canadian wage).

Stop the attack on public sector workers

Conservative politicians and pundits are waging an aggressive war against public sector workers, attacking their hard-won pensions, benefits and collective bargaining rights. This is not just an attack on middle class working families; it is an attack on the people who care for our loved ones when they are sick, who police our streets and staff our jails, who keep our food and water supplies safe, who protect our environment, who deliver supports for the unemployed, and who deliver the other public services working families count on.

Instead of attacking public sector workers, a government led by Paul Dewar will stop the attacks on public sector workers, restore free collective bargaining, and honour contracts.

Reject Bill C-377, the Conservatives' discriminatory attack on unions

Hiding behind phony rhetoric about accountability, the Conservatives are pushing Bill C-377, a discriminatory attempt to saddle unions with costly and unnecessary red tape. Unions are democratic organizations whose leaders are selected by regular elections and whose members already have a right to detailed financial reports. This discriminatory bill unfairly singles out unions and ignores business and other lobby organizations that don't have the democratic structures unions have.

A government led by Paul Dewar will oppose, or if necessary repeal, Bill C-377.

Extend language rights to all Quebec workers employed in federally-regulated industries

There are 130,000 private sector workers under federal jurisdiction in Quebec. Unlike 3.8 million of their fellow workers in Quebec, these workers are denied the rights enshrined in the Quebec Charter of the French Language. All workers in Quebec, regardless of jurisdiction, should be allowed to carry out their activities in French. All work-related documents should be available in French. Employers should be forbidden from firing, laying off, demoting or transferring a staff member who speaks only French or who has insufficient knowledge of a language other than French.

A government led by Paul Dewar will extend language rights to all Quebec workers in federally-regulated industries.

Enforce the "Westray Bill"

More than eight years ago, Parliament passed a law, known as the "Westray Bill," enabling criminal charges for employers responsible for workplace deaths. Despite this breakthrough, few charges have been laid and none have been laid in federally regulated workplaces. A 2011 CLC symposium involving police officers, crown and private legal counsel, federal labour department officials and labour activists found that few resources have devoted to enforcing the Westray Bill, that law enforcement officials lack training about the Westray provisions, and that investigative protocols have not been updated to facilitate Westray prosecutions. It was clear that it will take a deliberate, coordinated effort supported by appropriate resources to successfully prosecute employers responsible for workplace deaths under the criminal code.

A Paul Dewar government will invest the resources necessary for criminal prosecutions of employers responsible for workplace deaths. These resources would support training for law enforcement officials, development of appropriate investigative protocols, and hiring dedicated prosecutors for workplace health and safety.

pauldewar.ca, Wed Feb 22 2012

A proposed new pension system puts the retirement security of New York firefighters, teachers, police officers and other public employees at risk, and the New York State AFL-CIO is fighting back.

In this new video and in state-wide radio ad and newspaper op-eds, the state federation urges lawmakers to "rebuild the middle class, not attack what's left of it.

A proposed new pension system, known as Tier 6, puts workers between "a rock and hard place," says New York State AFL-CIO President Mario Cilento. In a column in Journal News, he writes the system would force new state and local workers to:

choose between a dramatically diminished defined-benefit pension plan and a defined-contribution 401(k)-style plan.

Strong defined-benefit pensions offer a reliable, predictable benefit based on a retiree's number of years worked and salary. It allows workers to plan for the future and provides retirees with predictable income. It also pools risk for all members of the plan. Defined-contribution, 401(k)-style plans base a retiree's benefit on how much he or she can save in an individual account.

He also warns that private employers will see the state's shift "as an invitation to reduce or eliminate benefits." If you're a New Yorker, click here to send a message to your state legislators to oppose the Tier 6 plan.

afl-cio now blog, Wed Feb 22 2012

INDIANAPOLIS - Union members went to federal court Wednesday to ask a judge to block Indiana's new right-to-work law from being enforced, the first lawsuit and latest conflict over the divisive legislation.

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Hammond, said Marc Poulos, an attorney representing the union. The suit names Gov. Mitch Daniels, Attorney General Greg Zoeller and Labor Commissioner Lori Torres.

The right-to-work lawsuit is the latest filed over a wave of conservative legislation pushed through the Indiana General Assembly over the last two years. Indiana also faces lawsuits over 2011 legislation that cut Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics because the group provides abortions, and the state is in court over tougher illegal immigration laws and the nation's broadest use of school vouchers.

Daniels signed the right-to-work legislation into law last month, making Indiana the 23rd state to ban unions from collecting mandatory fees for representation. Indiana was the first in the generally union-friendly Rust Belt to pass such legislation, and the first nationally in about a decade, as Oklahoma did so in 2001.

Indiana Democrats vehemently objected and boycotted the House session for several days, and union members turned out by the thousands to protest what they called "the right to work for less bill."

Indiana enacts right-to-work law

Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said the governor's office had no comment, but Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said late Wednesday that his office would defend the state from the legal challenge.

"Legal challenges are part of the process to test whether laws are constitutional. Though we respect the right of private plaintiffs to disagree with this new law, the State's position is that the Legislature was within its authority to create a new policy concerning mandatory union dues. My office's duty is to defend the laws the Legislature passes and we will do so diligently here," Zoeller said in a statement.

Poulos said the union would file a motion seeking a temporary restraining order to block the law for 10 days until a judge can decide on its longer-term fate. He hoped a hearing could be held as early as Monday, but said he did not know how long it would be before the judge ruled.

Last year, a federal judge in Indianapolis struck down a law restricting Medicaid funds from abortion providers about six weeks after Planned Parenthood went to court. The ruling is under appeal.

A draft copy of the lawsuit provided to The Associated Press by the union, which has 4,000 members in northern Indiana, claims the right-to-work law contains multiple violations of both the state and federal constitutions.

Among other things, the union claims the law violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by treating building and construction workers and public workers differently from others. The law's provisions regarding construction trades took effect immediately, impairing existing contracts, the union said. Public employees aren't allowed to opt out of union membership to the same degree as private-sector worker, the union said.

"No legitimate state interest is served by requiring public sector employees to subsidize the cost of representation services for private sector employees who refuse to pay any fees to the Union," the lawsuit said.

Union members had protested that the law unfairly makes union members who pay dues also pay for the representation of non-union members who choose to opt out under the new law.

The lawsuit also said that the law violated the prohibition against ex post facto laws — retroactively making legal activity illegal — in both the state and federal constitutions. The Indiana law makes violations a class A misdemeanor.

The union also claimed the state law is pre-empted by and conflicts with the National Labor Relations Act.

CBS News, Wed Feb 22 2012

Last chance to see Ralph Nader and Maude Barlow at Beyond Acute Care Conference

• You have only until tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday, Feb. 22) to register for the Beyond Acute Care: Covering Seniors and the Disabled with the Medicare Umbrella. This is an important event affecting all Albertans, bringing in experts from around the world and across Canada, including world-renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Maude Barlow, of the Council of Canadians. For information on the conference and to register, click here; want to find out what the conference is all about? Watch this great animated video here.

For information about the speakers at the Beyond Acute Care conference, click here ...

Great video ad shows there is a Better Way for Alberta

• It just doesn't add up! Alberta is one of the wealthiest jurisdictions on Earth, but can't seem to find enough money to adequately fund the public services that Albertans want, including health care and education. The reason? Our tax and royalty system is broken and wealthy individuals and corporations aren't paying their fair share. But there is a Better Way. Watch the great video ad for Better Way Alberta. Here the cheeky radio ads, follow the campaign on Twitter and like the Facebook page at www.BetterWayAlberta.ca. For more information ...

Tax and royalty giveaways continue in Alberta's Budget 2012

• The first budget from Conservative Premier Alison Redford showed that little has changed in the government's attitude to the oil industry and wealthy corporations. There was no sign of an end to billions of dollars in tax and royalty giveaways and no honest conversation with Albertans on how to fix the province's broken revenue system. For more information ...

Alberta government must act now to prevent farm-worker tragedy

• A transportation tragedy on the scale that killed 11 farm workers in Ontario in early February is looming in Alberta unless the government acts now to prevent it, says the AFL. It called on the Conservatives to close the legal loopholes that allow farm workers to be transported in the back of open trucks and in other dangerous vehicles now - not to wait until there's a tragic accident in this province. For more information ...

Urgent Action

• Join HSAA members on information pickets - HSAA will be holding information pickets tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 22)from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Bargaining with AHS broke down after 10 months when they finally tabled a monetary package that included an "offer" of 0, 0 and Cost of Living and failed to address the issues brought forward by the HSAA membership. Please show you support by joining them at the following locations:
  • Edmonton: University of Alberta Hospital - 112th Street entrance
  • Edmonton: Royal Alexandra Hospital - Kingsway Avenue
  • Edmonton: Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital - 111th Avenue
  • Calgary: Foothills Medical Centre - Main Entrance on 29th St. NW
  • Calgary: Peter Lougheed Centre - 36th St. NE
  • Red Deer: Red Deer Regional Hospital - 50A Ave
  • Medicine Hat: Medicine Hat Regional Hospital - 5 St. SW
  • Fort McMurray: Northern Lights Regional Health Centre - Hospital Street
  • Grand Prairie: Queen Elizabeth II Hospital - 105 Ave

HSAA President Elisabeth Ballermann will be addressing the media from the University of Alberta Hospital picket.

For further information, visit http://www.hsaa.ca/home

• Attend the Calgary launch of Kevin Taft's Follow the Money - Ever wonder why Alberta's so rich, but our schools and hospitals seem to be so poor? MLA Kevin Taft has the answer in his new book, Follow the Money, and accompanying video documentary by award-winning producer Tom Radford. Join us for the Calgary launch of Follow the Money at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, at Memorial Park Library, 1221 2 Street S.W., Calgary. For details ... To view a clip from the documentary, click here ... For more information on the book ...

Events

• February 24-25: Beyond Acute Care conference with Ralph Nader and Maude Barlow
• February 24-26: EDLC Annual Labour School
• March 8: International Women's Day
• March 21: International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination
• March 21-23: CUPE Alberta 62nd Annual Convention
• March 22: World Water Day
• April 3: International Day for Mine Awareness
• April 6: World Health Day
• April 21: Earth Day
• April 27: International Day of Mourning for workers who have been killed, suffer disease or injury as a result of work.

Chinese deals make Canada seem like junior partner

According to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his recent trip to China was about advancing and protecting the "national interest."

But after taking a look at the likely outcomes of Harper's vision for trade with China - especially his goal of making it easier for China to gobble up an increasing share of bitumen from Alberta's oilsands - it's fair to ask, whose national interest is our prime minister really advancing: Canada's or China's?

While non-resident, foreign control of Canada's oil industry is not a new phenomenon, what's different this time is the role being played by the Chinese government. State-owned oil companies such as Sinopec, the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) and Petro China are not "free-market players" - they are owned by the Communist Party of China and are responsible for implementing Chinese national interests.

China has long recognized the importance of securing safe and affordable crude oil to feed the dragon that is the Chinese economy. That's why they and have invested nearly $20 billion in Canadian oil in the past few years.

The Chinese have not been shy about using their growing ownership clout to advance their national interests. In 2011, for example, Sinopec bought Conoco Phillips' share in Canada's largest oilsands producer, Syncrude, and quickly used its new seat on the company's board to veto moves toward increased Canadian-based upgrading.

More recently, the Chinese have turned their attention to securing control of the pipeline infrastructure that would take Canadian bitumen to refineries in China.

Perhaps you thought the Northern Gateway pipeline was solely a project of Canadian pipe-line company Enbridge Inc. Think again.

Enbridge offered a limited group of investors the right to equity ownership in the project in return for financing the National Energy Board regulatory approval process and predevelopment of the project. For $10 million each, these funding participants receive preferred access and toll rates as shippers on the pipeline.

Only six of the funding participants have identified themselves. This means there might be four others, or, perhaps some of the six participants hold more than one partnership right. The six companies are Sinopec, MEG Energy Corp., Nexen Inc., Cenovus Energy, Suncor Energy Marketing Inc., and Total E&P Canada.

With these funding partners, almost all roads lead to Chinese state control. Sinopec, which also owns a fleet of tanker ships, has direct participation and indirect links through its 50-per-cent joint venture partnership in the Northern Lights heavy crude project with Total E&P Canada. CNOOC owns 17 per cent of MEG and is a joint venture partner with Nexen in a number of ventures, including a 35-per-cent working interest in the Long Lake oilsands project. Three of the funding participants are joint venture partners in Syncrude - Sinopec at nine per cent, Suncor at 12 per cent and Nexen at seven per cent.

Canadians are being told by the oil industry and federal and provincial government leaders that the Northern Gateway pipeline and increasing Chinese involvement in the oilsands will be good for Canada because they will open new doors for demand and drive up prices of Canadian resources. But while higher oil prices may be good news for some producers, they will be harmful to Canadian consumers and Canadian businesses outside the energy sector. Increasing profits for a handful of energy companies will come at the expense of increased energy costs for everyone else.

Moreover, Enbridge documents filed with the National Energy Board confirm that, once the Northern Gateway pipeline is built, oil producers plan to restrict supply of conventional and heavy crude oil flowing to Ontario refineries. The pipeline will be used to redirect 20 per cent of the supply currently going to refineries in Ontario to refineries in northeast Asia. Reduced access to reasonably priced feedstock will threaten the economics of Canadian refineries and many will struggle to survive.

All of this raises serious questions about the Harper government's decision to champion a "rip-it-and-ship-it" export strategy over a value-added strategy for Canadian resources.

It's not a surprise, nor is it inappropriate, for the Chinese to look after Chinese national interests. That's why they want the Northern Gateway pipeline.

Nor is it inappropriate for the Americans to look after American national interests. That's why many Americans want the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport Alberta bitumen to refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

But the resources in question are not owned by the Chinese or the Americans. They're not owned by oil companies. They're owned by the citizens of Canada.

Who, we ask, is looking after the Canadian interest?

Why do we always have to accept the role of junior partners in some other nation's energy security strategy?

In the case of China, why do we want to get in bed with a country with low environmental standards and even lower employment and human-rights standards?

The good news is there is an alternative. In-stead of looking for new markets in the Far East, Alberta's oil producers should look for markets in the Canadian east.

Eastern Canada relies on imports for most of the oil it consumes. Although all Western Canada's needs, and some of Ontario's needs, are met by domestic crude, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces are completely dependent upon unpredictable and volatile markets in the Middle East and declining production in Norway and Mexico - exactly the kind of vulnerabilities that the U.S. and China are desperately trying to protect against by locking in access to Alberta bitumen.

The government of Canada must stop allowing itself to be used by other countries as a tool to meet their energy security goals and, instead, implement a national energy security plan for Canadians.

By maintaining and enhancing upgrading and refining activities in Canada, with high environmental and labour standards, we can make sure that Canadians keep much more of the value created from resource development within the country. And by developing markets in Eastern Canada instead of Asia, we can ensure that Eastern Canada has stable and secure crude oil and petroleum product access, thereby insulating our economy from excessively high oil prices that are the undesirable fallout of impending international oil market turmoil.

Robyn Allan is an economist and former president and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. Gil McGowan is president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

Edmonton Journal, Feb 20 2012
Byline: Robyn Allan and Gil McGowan

The public debate surrounding Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline has suddenly veered off in a new direction, powered by economic nationalists and the suggestion that rather than exporting oil to China, we should be refining it here at home.

The latest entry in this unfolding discussion comes courtesy of the Alberta Federation of Labour, which earlier this month released a report by B.C. economist Robyn Allan claiming the Northern Gateway project will damage the Canadian economy and hurt consumers because it will lead to markedly higher gasoline and other fuel prices.

But a critical look at economic data convincingly shows that Allan's assumptions pertaining to the impact of Northern Gateway on domestic crude oil prices are unrealistic, and therefore her claims and conclusions are essentially meaningless.

To begin with, Allan mistakenly assumes that exporting 525,000 barrels of crude oil and bitumen (both raw and upgraded) per day via the Northern Gateway pipeline (as Enbridge is proposing) would increase the price of every barrel of oil produced in Canada by $2 to $3 per barrel over a 30-year period.

The United States absorbs virtually all of Canada's crude oil exports and Enbridge suggests that, based on current and anticipated differentials between crude oil prices in Asia and the U.S., netbacks to Alberta could be $2 to $3 per barrel greater on oil marketed in China. But there is no guarantee that the existing price differentials will be maintained. In fact, they almost certainly will not be.

The high crude oil prices in Asia, where oil demand is growing more rapidly than in most other parts of the world, will undoubtedly attract incremental supplies from Canada, the Middle East and other world regions until world regional oil price differentials mainly reflect transportation costs from one region to the next.

Further, the Northern Gateway Project will facilitate the shipment of a relatively small portion of Canada's conventional crude oil and bitumen production to the Asia Pacific. According to the National Energy Board's most recent projections, at full capacity the Northern Gateway oil pipeline will only be capable of transporting 17 per cent of Canadian oil production in 2020. With further growth in production (mainly from the oilsands), the percentage of Canadian oil shipped to Asia via Northern Gateway will slip to under 10 per cent.

This means that, even in the unlikely circumstance that producers will be able to realize a $2 to $3 per barrel higher netback on oil shipped to Asian markets, the lion's share of Canada's oil exports will continue to be transported to U.S. refineries where the netbacks to Alberta will typically be based on the West Texas Intermediate oil price marker.

To argue that once the Northern Gateway oil pipeline is operational, every barrel of oil produced in Canada will cost Canadian refiners from $2 to $3 more and that this will push up fuel prices and accelerate inflation, makes no sense.

The National Energy Board predicts further oilsands development will increase Canadian oil production by 3.3 million barrels per day from 2010 to 2035. But rather than driving up oil prices, this will help keep world oil prices from increasing as much as they might otherwise.

The International Energy Agency's 2011 World Energy Outlook predicts that world oil demand will increase to 99 million barrels per day by 2035 from 87 million barrels per day in 2010. Increased oil supplies to meet those additional needs must come from somewhere. If oilsands production growth is constrained and the shortfall is not made up by increased production from other parts of the world, the world oil price will inevitably increase beyond the levels the IEA suggests.

Since Canadian oil requirements are not anticipated to increase much in coming years, apart from possible replacement of the relatively small supplies currently being imported, virtually all of our incremental production will be available for export. But the most recent long-term projections by the U.S. Energy Information Administration indicate that U.S. oil import requirements are likely to diminish in coming years as domestic production of crude oil and equivalent products grows and demand for transportation fuels decreases. This underscores the need for Canada to seek out and develop new markets.

Contrary to what Ms. Allan and the Alberta Federation of Labour would have us believe, shipping a portion of the anticipated increase in Canada's oil production to markets in the Asia Pacific will put neither Canadian consumers nor the Canadian economy at risk.

Special to The SunGerry Angevine is a senior economist in the Fraser Institute's Global Resource Centre.

Vancouver Sun, Sun Feb 19 2012
Byline: Gerry Angevine

Pollution, bribes, more. Nikiforuk pries open the record of China's oil giant, business partner for Northern Gateway pipeline.

Sinopec, Enbridge's Chinese business partner for the Northern Gateway Project, has a long record of corruption, human rights violations, environmental pollution and doing business with terrorist-linked governments.

A Tyee investigation found that the world's seventh largest corporation has been the subject of major bribery scandals at home and has systemically invested in rogue petro states from Angola to Myanmar.

The state-owned company has tried to improve its image in recent years with a series of multi-billion dollar investments in North America and the oil sands.

Yet Sinopec's earlier deals in Syria and Iran now are the subject of intense global controversy as the United States and European Union intensify sanctions against both countries.

"Today, energy is already the main driver of China's international behavior. Its energy needs have brought Beijing to turn a blind eye to human rights violations in Sudan, Myanmar and Uzbekistan," testified oil analyst Gal Luft before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs last year. "China's energy deals with Iran have already brought Beijing to block U.S. attempts to the UN Security Council to impose crippling sanctions against Tehran for continuing to develop nuclear weapons."

Sinopec also stands accused of violating Canadian law. In 2007 the collapse of several storage tanks at Canadian Natural Resources Horizon oil sands mine site killed two temporary Chinese workers and injured several others. A subsidiary of Sinopec flew the workers in for the job yet may have defrauded many of their wages, according to the Alberta government.

Two years later, the Alberta government served Sinopec and CNRL with an unprecedented 53 charges for failing to ensure worker health and safety. (Each charge comes with a maximum fine of $500,000.) Ever since then, Sinopec has stubbornly fought the charges, saying that its subsidiary has no presence in Canada and that the charges weren't served properly.

Sinopec's legal team now wants the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn a ruling that would force it to stand trial for ignoring Alberta's health and safety regulations.

"I've been watching Sinopec ever since the tank farm collapse and nothing has lessened my concern about this company. It's not my idea of a good corporate citizen," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

He says that Canadians should be asking if Sinopec's investments in the country are "in Canada's interest or in China's best interest?"

Biggest refinery complex in Asia

Transparency International and Revenue Watch gives Sinopec one of the lowest rankings for fighting graft and corruption (32 per cent) in their most recent report on oil companies. Sinopec ranks ninth out of 44 leading oil and gas companies.

Formed in 1998 by the Communist Party of China, Sinopec (China Petrochemical Corporation) now operates the greatest refinery complex in Asia with annual operating revenues of nearly US$290 billion and some 600,000 employees.

Yet the firm, whose 30,000 filling stations make it a familiar brand among Chinese citizens, reports meagre profits due to state subsidization of gasoline and diesel fuel prices.

Sinopec is one of three Chinese national oil companies that went public in 2000. The China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is now the world's fifth largest oil company while Sinopec is the largest state-owned firm in terms of revenue. The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) remains the smaller of the three monopolies.

Directors of all three companies are appointed by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through its Organization Department, an agency created by Chairman Mao in 1924. The CCP still holds 80 per cent of the company's shares. Every executive of China's three oil monopolies are, as the Economist magazine puts it, "cadres first and company men second."

Aided by state banks that provided soft loans and supported by China's "Going Abroad" policy, Sinopec and CNCP went on a global prowl for energy to feed China's growing economy. China, the world's second largest energy consumer, now imports half its oil.

In recent years Sinopec has amassed more overseas assets (oil fields and refineries) than any other Chinese company and recently conducted more mergers and acquisitions (74 deals worth nearly $50 billion since 2004) than Exxon Mobile.

'Human rights? We care about oil'

After Canada weakened its foreign investment rules in 2010, Sinopec bought a nine per cent stake in Syncrude (Canada's largest bitumen producer) for $4.5 billion. The controversial deal gave the refining giant the right to veto any Syncrude decision on where to upgrade and refine bitumen.

Sinopec, which also partnered with Total on another oil sands project, is also a key financial backer of the Northern Gateway pipeline.

The $6-billion proposal would pump raw bitumen from Alberta to the port of Kitimat and expose the pristine waters of British Columbia's Pacific coast to massive supertanker traffic and potential oil spills.

The Canadian government backs the project, but First Nations, environment groups, labour unions and other civic groups oppose it for a variety of economic, political and environmental reasons.

But Sinopec began its dramatic climb in the global oil business by systematically acquiring assets in troubled petro states throughout Africa and the Middle East, including Myanmar, Sudan and Iran.

"No matter if it's rogue's oil or a friend's oil, we don't care," explained one Chinese energy advisor to the Washington Post in 2005. "Human rights? We don't care. We care about oil. Whether Iran would have nuclear weapons or not is not our business. America cares, but Iran is not our neighbor. Anyone who helps China with energy is a friend."

Michael Klare, a U.S. oil expert at Hampshire College, says Sinopec choose "the pariah states because that's where there was an opening. The good stuff was already locked up by western companies."

Multi-billion dollar investments in Myanmar's oil and gas fields in 2004 financially strengthened that nation's brutal military junta. Church groups and non-governmental organizations have strongly criticized CNCP and Sinopec for cooperating closely with the Burmese military rulers.

Darfur and other investments

The Sudan has been another hotspot. Sinopec's investments combined China's weapons sales to Sudan's genocidal government even prompted Harvard University to divest its stock in the company in 2006 due to "deep concerns about the grievous crisis that persists in the Darfur region of Sudan and about the role of Sinopec Corporation."

Investments in extreme political environments for oil has been part of a coordinated overseas investment strategy that often includes political support for petro states at the United Nations, says a 2007 report published in the Australian journal Security Challenges.

"China is securing deals with the kinds of sweeteners that only its state-controlled entities can provide: billions of dollars in economic and military aid; access to China's growing markets; and diplomatic support at the United Nations where China can wield its veto power in the Security Council."

In 2004, Sinopec bought $2-billion worth of oil assets in worn-torn Angola and then invested billions more in the country (China now gets third of its oil from Africa). Although western oil companies (Chevron and Exxon Mobile) and governments have benefited from rampant corruption in the petro state, Sinopec has not raised the bar.

Human Rights Watch reported in 2010: "The rise of China as Angola's main trading partner has helped the Angolan government resist reforms, not least because China and Chinese companies do not call for good governance."

In another Africa controversy, Sinopec seismic crews dynamited wildlife habitat, hunted bush meat and contaminated rivers with oil waste in Gabon's famous Loango National Park.

The incident even prompted a reprimand from the European Union. After the government of Gabon stopped the exploration program, the company explained that they were just acting like other oil companies and weren't aware of Loango's sensitive ecological status.

"China is wrecking international efforts to bring economic and political sanity to impoverished and conflict-ridden communities in Africa by bankrolling corrupt and repressive regimes," declared a 2007 report by AfricaPractice.

Libya, Iran and Syria

Sinopec's investments in the Libya, Iran and Syria have also drawn widespread criticism.

After Sinopec purchased $2-billion worth of heavy oil assets from a Canadian firm (Tanganyika Oil) in 2008, China has steadfastly defended the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Last week its Security Council members blocked a UN resolution that called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside.

Back in China, a country without a free press, a variety of corruption scandals and chronic environmental violations have quietly dogged the company.

In one celebrated case, a bribery scandal involving the company's former chairman Chen Tonghai put a spotlight on the extreme level of corruption in China's powerful state-owned companies.

In 2010, Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court convicted Chen, former chairman of Asia's largest oil refiner, for taking $29-million yuan in bribes (US$4 million) between 1999 and 2007. Chen allegedly helped individuals "seeking illegal interests." The verdict did not name the bribers.

According to the China Times, the Sinopec chairman confessed to his crimes and received a suspended death sentence. Sinopec did not comment on the case at the time but later urged Beijing to crack down on "corrupt" foreign business practices.

One Chinese TV report said that Chen had "taken a huge amount of bribes and abused his power to gain inappropriate benefits for his mistress. He led a decadent life, and his behavior is a severe breach of party disciplines."

A U.S. state department cable released by Wikileaks later revealed Chen's mistress had slept with several high ranking party officials and was a spy.

The promiscuous socialite had also been having affairs with several other high-level officials, including Sichuan Party Secretary and former Agricultural Minister Du Qinglin. The woman had been introduced to these men as "someone working with a Chinese military intelligence department." However, investigators now believe she is a Taiwan intelligence operative.

The company's website now says, "the Party Committee of Sinopec Group has attached great important to the development of the corruption punishment and prevention system."

After the high profile scandal, the CCP changed the leadership of all three oil companies in 2011. The current head of Sinopec, Fu Chengyu, known as Chairman Fu, served as the head of CNOOC and was a former party secretary.

But paying bribes remains such a common practice in Chinese business culture that even China's central bank admitted in 2011 that corrupt Chinese officials smuggled an estimated$123.6 billion out of the country over a 15-year period.

A 2007 Carnegie study concluded that, "The direct economic loss owing to corruption represents a large transfer of wealth -- at least three per cent of GDP per year -- to a tiny group of elites. This annual transfer, from the poorer to the richer, is fueling China's rapid increase in socioeconomic inequality and the public's perception of social injustice."

'Luxury liquors scandal'

Meanwhile, Sinopec has had other problems at home.

Most prominent was the "luxury liquors scandal." In 2011, the Guangdong office of refining giant (Guangdong Province is China's largest oil market), spent $200,000 on 50-year-old bottles of Kweichow Moutai and Chateau Latife Rothschild, at a time when ordinary Chinese faced stiff oil prices. In response, Sinopec said the purchases were part of its "normal operations."

One corporate watchdog recounted: "Sinopec's chairman stated that the public had a right to criticize Sinopec, as it is a state-owned enterprise. Meanwhile, it was reported that Sinopec Guangdong held internal meetings to discuss how the public relations department should handle media interviews and required all departments to trace the leak in order to punish the whistleblower."

Sinopec's environmental record is one of serial violations for air pollution and water contamination. It's one of 175 firms listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange that account for 750 environmental violations in mainland China, home to 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities.

In 2007, China's top environmental agency ordered the company to suspend an oil field operations due to chronic river pollution. Sinopec refused to comment.

In another case, Sinopec added manganese at 98 times its proper concentration to one of its formula gasolines in 2010. The "problem with oil" scandal affected 900,000 tonnes of oil and damaged hundreds of vehicles.

Sinopec later reported that "the worker and involved staff accountable for the incident were severely punished afterwards. In the meantime, we formulated a long-term quality control system as precautionary approach in the future."

'Nothing short of shameful'

In Canada, Sinopec is still contesting its role in the death of two of its contract workers in the oil sands in 2007.

"It's nothing short of shameful," says McCowan of Alberta's Federation of Labour. "It's clear from our perspective that Sinopec's construction subsidiary puts its workers at risk by ignoring Alberta health and safety rules, standards codes and the rules for temporary foreign workers... If this is the future of Chinese state investment in this country, I think that Canadian workers and the Canadian public should be very concerned."

Three months after meeting with Sinopec's Chairman Fu last November, Natural Resource Minister Joe Oliver launched an unprecedented attack against critics of the Northern Gateway pipeline. (Oliver made no mention of Sinopec's open flaunting of Canadian law.)

The former investment banker accused "environmentalists and other radical groups" of thwarting Canada's opportunity to diversify trade with China. The minister characterized the largely Chinese funded project as a "nation building project."

Michael Klare, a global oil and politics expert at Hampshire College in Massachusetts and author of The Race for What's Left, suspects that the Canadian government's overtures to China's national oil companies over the Northern Gateway Pipeline are all part of a coordinated chess game.

"I suspect that Harper is in league with right-wing Republicans in the United States to embarrass President Obama. Look, you are going to lose out on this democratic and wonderful Canadian oil to China and all because of Obama's extremism."

Last year, the Obama administration temporarily rejected the Keystone XL pipeline which would have pumped bitumen to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. "I think it will be one of the top three presidential election issues."

Canada's apparent embrace of China's state capitalism is "all to put pressure on Obama to give in. I don't think the Northern Gateway project is a serious, genuine play," says Klare.

Sinopec's poor record is not unique in the oil patch, even among state owned companies.

"The national oil companies are shaped by the political culture in which they originate," says Klare. "Sinopec is neither the worst nor the best of the bunch." Mexico's national oil company, Pemex, is much more corrupt, adds Klare.

Moreover, Sinopec's rapid revenue growth is a "recipe for corruption and environmental destruction, wherever it occurs."

The Tyee, Feb 18 2012
Byline: Andrew3 Nikiforuk

The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline will deliver an inflationary oil price "shock" to Canadians of US$2 to $3 per barrel "every year for 30 years," a B.C. economist predicts.

Robyn Allan, former president of the Insurance Corp. of B.C. and senior economist for B.C. Central Credit Union, cites studies by Alberta Energy and the University of Calgary that predict Enbridge will trigger even higher domestic oil prices -- ranging between $8 to $10 per barrel respectively. She has taught money, public finance and economics at the university level.

Higher oil prices without any change in real economic activity -- the Enbridge case -- create inflation, she continues. Inflation from higher oil prices will be especially painful for Canadians since Canada must import almost half of its crude oil from offshore. It still has no pipeline to ship western crude to eastern markets.

As oil prices rise, income is transferred from consumers to producers, causing greater unemployment, higher interest rates and a decline in business investment.

Northern Gateway, Allan says, "will serve to permanently reduce GDP, increase unemployment, cause labour income to fall and decrease government revenues."

As it is, real average income has grown just 0.5 per cent per year over the past 33 years, while median income, due to economic inequality, has risen only 0.2 per cent, the Conference Board of Canada says.

"The price increase Northern Gateway hopes to realize is tantamount to a private-sector levied tax on consumption," Allan says. "The only difference is the revenue will be channelled into the corporate treasuries of Canadian corporations, foreign corporations and corporations acting on behalf of foreign governments, not into goods and services for Canadians."

With Enbridge, Allan warns, Ottawa has abandoned its pledge not to export raw bitumen to countries with lower greenhouse gas emission targets than Canada's. She predicts the massive export of raw bitumen to China will give Canada the so-called "Dutch Disease" whereby the exploitation of natural resources triggers a decline in manufacturing output.

The main symptom of the Dutch Disease is a rapid appreciation of the currency caused by raw resource sales and foreign direct investment. Growth stalls in other economic sectors, particularly the value-added ones of manufacturing and skilled employment, Allan continues. This causes a "reduction in the standard of living of many Canadians as spending power is transferred from consumers to multinational oil producers.

"The inflation Northern Gateway represents will lead to higher interest rates, a permanent and long-term decline in GDP, a loss of existing jobs, decline in labour income... as well as a deterioration of government revenue."

The 2011 census shows Canada's manufacturing sector -- the sector that provides good, well-paid, value-added employment and stable and secure lives for Canadians -- has already shrunk from 20 per cent of the economy in the mid-1970s to just 10 per cent today.

Canada has lost 580,000 manufacturing jobs since 2002 alone.

The retail sector has replaced manufacturing as the main source of employment. Retail jobs are primarily precarious, short term and low wage with little or no benefits, leaving families insecure and struggling.

Allan was refused intervenor status by the National Energy Board at its pipeline hearings. Her 74-page brief has instead been made part of the Alberta Federation of Labour's submission.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver challenged Allan's price-shock claim on the CBC Radio program The House on Feb. 4.

"We don't see a major increase in prices as a result of this at all, if any," Oliver said. He boasted instead of "international prices for our resources" creating "$132 billion in extra revenue to Canada."

Allan is critical of the Harper government's decision to abandon former energy minister Jim Prentice's 2010 pledge not to ship raw bitumen to countries with lower emission standards than Canada's. Three major Chinese state oil companies -- Petro China, Sinopec and China Investment Corp. -- have purchased stakes of between $15 billion and $20 billion in the tar sands and Enbridge's pipeline to Kitimat.

"So we actually have a situation where the Chinese Communist government, through its national oil companies, has restriction over the right of Canada to refine oil," she told The House host Evan Solomon. "Essentially they're saying we can't create jobs in Canada by refining that oil."

Statistics Canada reports that in 2009, 35 per cent of all assets and 41 per cent of all profits from Canada's oil were controlled by foreign interests. ExxonMobil, BP and Imperial Oil are among the intervenors at the NEB's Gateway hearings. Five of Enbridge's 12 board members, including its chairman, are U.S. citizens.

Allan concludes Ottawa has abdicated its responsibility to create an energy policy beneficial to Canadians.

Winnipeg Free Press, Feb 16 2012

Premier must fulfill her pledge to protect workers and close legal loopholes, says AFL

A transportation tragedy on the scale that killed 11 farm workers in Ontario last week is looming in Alberta unless the government acts now to prevent it, says the province's largest labour group.

"The lax laws governing how farm workers can be taken to and from worksites is a recipe for disaster," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), which represents 145,000 workers.

In Alberta, an exemption to the Alberta Traffic Safety Act/Rules of the Road Regulation allows farm workers to ride in the back up pickup trucks and larger trucks. "The government says it's wrong for all other Albertans to travel in this unsafe way, but says it's OK for farm workers. Why? Are their lives worth any less?"

Alberta also allows farm workers to travel in 15-passenger vans, dubbed "death traps on wheels" by some U.S. safety experts. These vans have been banned in Nova Scotia, banned by the U.S. government for transportation of children and banned by some school boards in Canada, while some Alberta school boards will no longer insure them.

"These vehicles aren't good enough for our children and they aren't good enough for our workers. It's time to take them off the road," says McGowan.

The AFL today calls on the Alberta government to:

• End the exemption for riding in the back of trucks;
• Ban the use of 15-passenger vans;
• Outlaw vans that have been modified below acceptable safety standards; and
• Give paid farm workers the same rights as all other Albertans, by including them under Employment Standards and Occupational Health and Safety rules.

"The exemptions from road rules is just another example of our government hanging on to outdated, dangerous attitudes that date back to the 19th century. Alberta's farms are industrial worksites like any you'll find in urban areas, involving the use of heavy machinery and heavy loads," says McGowan.

"During her campaign to become premier, Alison Redford promised tougher rules to protect farm workers, but, so far, it's a case of Promise Made, Promise Broken. Farm workers have the right to the same protections as all other Albertans. We expect the premier, as a human-rights lawyer, to recognize this and fulfill her pledge now."

This call for action coincides with a national day of action tomorrow (Friday) demanding justice for migrant farm workers, including those who died in Ontario.

• Backgrounder

See below photographs of a 15-passenger van being used to transport Alberta farm workers