Good read from @aleach.ca on the oil market and the case—or lack thereof—for a new pipeline. Puts some good context into the talk of Keystone XL revival or Ford's west-east pipeline study.

Almost 10k...

Oil pipelines are back in the spotlight. But with shifting markets, uncertain prices, and Indigenous rights at stake, the decision is complex. In this new paper, economist @aleach.ca examines the risks, benefits, and viability of a new oil pipeline. Read the paper here: irpp.org/research-stu...

NEW PODCAST: • Economist @aleach.ca on the obstacles and challenges for Alberta's pipeline push • The latest on Alberta's teachers' strike • New polling on the Canada-US relationship 🎧 robbreakenridge.substack.com/p/podcast-ob... 📺 youtu.be/YT98bJ-zcUs

Excited to be heading back to Ottawa for this event on Oct 9. Hopefully you can join us, in person or online.

No. He hasn’t stopped with this delusional nonsense. “We don’t need their oil. We don’t need their cars.” Don’t think for one minute this this is over. #cdnpoli

From last night. Don't let anyone convince you that "we export crude and import the refined products back to Canada." that's not how it works.

Here's Canada's refined product sector. We basically produce what we use, with exports and imports on the margin for most products.

Too many Canadians are under the impression that we export crude and import refined products in our trade relationship with the US. The first is true, and the second is true to a much smaller degree only in some parts of Canada for some fuels. In general, we're net exporters of refined products too.

Offered without comment: almost all of the US supply of nuclear fuel is imported. Here's where it comes from:

Oh, hello existential dread and related feelings.

There was never a time when every hard worker had a pension. And if you factor in the share that are public sector here, a class of people PP likely doesn't think of as hard workers on the whole, the story gets even more ridiculous.

We're going to go back to a time when every worker had powerful paycheques...

When was this Canada where "everyone who works hard gets a powerful paycheque and a pension?" And given that much of our remaining pension coverage is in the public service, how is PP going to make this happen? Expand the PS? Force private companies to offer pensions? Push unionization? What?

For the evening crowd, my latest YouTube episode, where @aleach.ca and I talk about the ghosts of pipeline proposals past, and why they failed #cdnpoli

New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I talk to @aleach.ca about the ghosts of pipeline proposals that premiers have been trying to resurrect. #cdnpoli

It's been ten days. It feels like 84 years.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Glad to see the Feds moved in the direction of more flexibility in today’s announced Clean Electricity Regulations. This piece by @aleach.ca and me from a year ago holds up well… (Sorry about the paywall…) www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

I'd volunteer to work on the Canadian version, but I have a highly-developed fear of falling from height.

@jlisayoung.bsky.social opened a browser and chose academic violence...

Graphic design is my passion.

Those who enjoy reading the specific wording of the Constitution in terms of provincial jurisdiction over resources might want to take a glance at sections 91(2) and 92A(2) and (3). Section 92A(3) is particular worth reading carefully.

Where in the US does Canadian crude oil go? Mostly to the midwest, with increasing although much smaller volumes headed to the Gulf Coast. Not as much of a bump into PADD V (West Coast) as I would have expected w TMX. cc @roryjohnston.bsky.social

Each term, I have to recompile all of my data exercises and assignments for my economics class at which time I learn of all of the updates to column names, API content types, and other frustrating changes to public data!

It'll never work, Andrew feeds on the hate. It flows through him and makes him stronger.

Interesting: suddenly past the tipping point of rate of engagement on here vs in the other place. It sure feels like the algos over there have run me into the ground over the past few weeks.

Seems that Alberta must have built a whole lot of wind and solar plants that all came online simultaneously on Jan 1, 2021 and drove up price levels and market volatility? Or, perhaps it was something else? Gee, I wonder what it could have been? An increase in market concentration, perhaps?

A Harvard webinar on what Trump 2.0 will mean for domestic and international climate change policy ... youtu.be/nLFfulRp75I?...

Always google it first. Always.

Updated my data and charts page on Alberta oil production with this week's data. st3.aleach.ca/st_3.html

podcast alert! for those who care about Alberta acting on climate. Check out the Wonk Podcast w/ @aleach.ca talking about the current policy landscape in Canada, amidst the Trump election and worsening dire weather news (and record oil exports and profits for AB) podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

In this week's episode of WONK, host @egreenspon.bsky.social talks to preeminent climate policy wonk @aleach.ca, a professor of economics and law at the University of Alberta, about the rush to renewables, carbon pricing and the pressures facing Alberta:

I spoke with Peter Mansbridge the other day about climate action, where Canada is going wrong (as it’s obvious to all where the US is), what’s going right, and where do we go from here. For all non-Canadians, Peter is our national news icon. I grew up watching him on The National every night!

Hey #energysky, I am looking for links, examples, hints, pointers, etc re: US regulators dealing with the potential for stranded assets in utility rate bases. E.g. gas network pruning, updates to meters, transformers, etc. and other energy-transition-related changes. Help? cc @aripeskoe.bsky.social

Substacks are cool, sure, but before them there were blogs! In ~ 2008, the wildly prescient @jenniferkoshan.bsky.social & @jwatsonhamilton.bsky.social launched what has become a singular phenom in law school blogs: @ablawg.bsky.social! Give it a follow for breaking analysis on all things #CanLaw!

NEW PAPER: Decarbonization isn't just about climate—it's also about public health. We find that economy-wide CO2 reductions can lead to widespread improvements in air quality and health benefits, ranging from $65 billion to $250 billion annually by 2035. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Fancy new bluesky domain works well. In trying to set it up, I broke all the rest of my web domain hosting settings. Not sure it was worth it.

This, and their previous graph on the # of delegates over time both speak very ill of the cop process.

Tenure Track Faculty Opening at Carnegie Mellon in Decarbonization, Climate Change Adaptation, & Related Fields. Please share airb your networks or consider applying. One reason I left a think tank for CMU is because CMU has a lot of folks working on energy & climate. 🔌💡 apply.interfolio.com/154848

Testing with new domain setup.

As @blakeshaffer.bsky.social points out, it's crickets out there on political sustainability of green industrial policy. Industrial policy may be more politically sustainable than taxes, but the issue was and is never that. The issue is the political viability of action on climate change.

I’m so old I remember when people danced on the grave of economists and carbon pricing and insisted only subsidies could withstand politics. 🤪

New at UBC for 2025: the Economics and Computation stream for the VSE's MA program. This new opportunity is in partnership with UBC's Computer Science department. Interested? Learn more at the link below! economics.ubc.ca/graduate/mas...

Anyone have a good #cdnpoli starter pack?

Are there Food Professors on Bluesky? Just wondering.

Productivity is a national crisis, and Canada’s Productivity Summit will help develop solutions to support long-term prosperity. The Oct. 16-17 Summit is hosted by UCalgary’s School of Public Policy and sponsored by the Government of Alberta. Details here: www.ucalgary.ca/news... #cdnecon

Wrote up a Substack on my carbon tax rebate. leach.substack.com/p/my-carbon-...

NEWS: Extreme cold: Alberta electricity system operator rescinds alert after warning of rolling blackouts, with initial thoughts from @aleach.bsky.social edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...