Alberta Premier Rachel Notley speaks during an announcement of a mandatory cut in oil production to deal with a price crisis that is costing Canada an estimated $80 million a day, in Edmonton on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018. The imposition of oil production cuts in Alberta isn’t just the sign of a province in trouble. It’s proof of a country in trouble. The Notley government is doing this because it’s the only way to force up prices and begin closing the extreme price gap between Alberta oil and West Texas crude. No other authority in this nation — no province and certainly not the Trudeau government — is willing to help staunch revenue losses of $80 million a day. The feds call it a “crisis,” yet do nothing. Notley’s government is ordering production cuts totalling 325,000 barrels daily, 8.7 per cent of the current production total. That will kick in Jan. 1 and is expected to last until the end of 2019, easing off as stuffed storage begins to drain out. This action is by its nature clumsy and intrusive. It’s a necessary exercise in absurdity — ordering some of the world’s most efficient oil producers not to produce […]
