'Perfect Storm' Engulfing Canada's Economy Perfectly Predictable
Years ago Andrew Nikiforuk, citing experts, warned where Stephen Harper's priorities would lead us.
In
any case, economists now lament that low oil prices have upended the
nation's trade balance: "Canada has posted trade deficits every month this
year, and the cumulative 2015 total of $13.6 billion is a record, exceeding the
next highest, in 2009, of $2.95 billion."
But this unique perfect storm gets darker. China,
which Harperites eagerly embraced as the globe's autocratic growth locomotive,
has run out of steam.
As the country's notorious industrial revolution
unwinds, China's stock market has imploded. Communist party cadres are now moving their money to foreign housing markets
in places like Vancouver.
Throughout the world, analysts no longer refer to bitumen as Canada's destiny, but as
a stranded asset. They view it as a poster child for over-spending, a symbol of
climate chaos, a signature of peak oil and a textbook case of miserable energy
returns. Nearly $60-billion worth of projects representing 1.6 million barrels
of production were mothballed over the last year.
A new analysis by oil consultancy Wood Mackenzie
reveals that capital flows into the oilsands could drop by two-thirds in the
next few years.
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