Northern leaders are responding to the decision from Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd. to withdraw its application for its Frontier oilsands mine project south of Fort Chipewyan, Alta.
The federal government was slated to make a decision this week on whether to approve the $20-billion, 260,000-barrel-per-day Frontier project.
On Sunday, Teck Resources cited the ongoing debate over climate policy in Canada as among factors for its decision to halt the approval process. The company did not explain what economic benefits would have been brought to the N.W.T., or if the decision to withdraw was influenced by opposition from the South Slave region.
Smith’s Landing First Nation Chief Gerry Cheezie, who is among the leaders in the Northwest Territories who showed opposition to the project, said he was happy to hear the news.
Cheezie previously said his community wasn’t consulted, and that contaminants from the mine could enter the water supply and N.W.T. communities would feel the downstream effects of the mine. He wanted the N.W.T. government to step in.
If you can’t attract investment capital into Alberta, the chances are less so for the North.– Doug Matthews, Energy analyst
“Government and industry … have got to understand that we have rights — legal rights — that have been fought for and won in the Supreme Court,” he said.
He said he cancelled the rally planned for Tuesday outside the Legislative Assembly. Instead, Cheezie said he plans to write a letter to the N.W.T. premier and cabinet and request a meeting to discuss how to deal with these kind of projects with Indigenous governments.
Teck’s Frontier oilsands project was planned for northern Alberta. The company pulled its application for the project on Sunday. (CBC News)
He said this fight, along with other Indigenous leaders opposing projects on their land, is the “start of a new era.”
“Indigenous governments are giving the signal to government that they can’t continue to deny us and ignore us, or these things will continue to happen until our grievances are being settled,” Cheezie said, pointing at the rail blockades sparked by arrests of protestors on Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nation territory earlier this month.
In a statement, Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya commended Teck’s decision, calling the Frontier project a “lightning rod for all the concerns about the health of the Mackenzie River Basin.”
Yakeleya added that despite Teck’s withdrawal, water management and protection remains an ongoing concern for Indigenous people.
“This is no time to get complacent,” Yakeleya’s statement reads in part.
‘People still have to put food on the table’
Chief April Martel of K’atl’odeeche First Nation near Hay River, N.W.T., who supported Cheezie, said she was pleased to hear the process was halted but thinks northern leaders have to create a plan to participate in the regulatory process in the future.
“We’re very excited that the process has stopped,” she said. “You need to be, you know, 10 steps ahead of them.”
“Get all your ducks in a row. Get everything checked, you know, make sure you have a plan in place right now … With everything that’s going on, it might move forward again.”
N.W.T. MLA Frieda Martselos said she thinks there needs to be stronger federal leadership. (Mario De Ciccio/Radio-Canada)
N.W.T. MLA for Thebacha, Frieda Martselos, the former chief of Salt River First Nation, said the decision bodes poorly for the Canadian economy.
“When major projects are withdrawn, it has bearing on the economy,” Martselos said.
She said a move like this affects the “little guys more than the big guys.”
“The way things are going in Canada, we’re not going to have [an] economy. Nobody’s going to want to come to invest here,” she said. “That’s kind of scary because people still have to put food on the table.”
Martselos said she thinks there needs to be stronger federal leadership.
Damaging to potential investments
Doug Matthews, an energy analyst who has spent much of his career in the energy sector with the N.W.T. government, said it’s not surprising that the company “pulled the plug” — since the company has indicated in the past that the project may not be economical.
Given the federal government’s looming decision, Matthews said the move may have been a strategy for the company to take control of either a potentially damaging federal refusal to approve the project, or an approval that could potentially be later plagued by lawsuits.
When it comes to what it means for future investments for northern Canada or the country as a whole, Matthews said that it it could be bad news.
“We’ve shown as a country we just can’t get a project done — whether it’s a pipeline, whether in this case it’s a mine, it’s just not possible. That means investment dollars will not be flowing into the country and that’s a problem,” he said.
It could be even more difficult for companies in the territories, he added.
Teck Resources has withdrawn the application for its new Frontier oilsands mine. The federal government was supposed to decide on the $20-billion project this week. 2:42
“If you can’t attract investment capital into Alberta, the chances are less so for the North,” he said.
Matthews said the situation could be an opportunity for industry and environmentalists to come to terms with the other.
“The development industry, the resource industry need to get with the program in terms of environmental damage,” he said.
“At the same time environmentalists have to get with the program that wind power does not generate resource revenues.”
HALIFAX – Chorus Aviation Inc. says its shareholders have voted to approve the sale of the company’s regional aircraft leasing business to HPS Investment Partners.
The Halifax-based company says the $1.9-billion deal was greenlighted by 98.1 per cent of votes cast by shareholders at a special meeting. The transaction needed approval by a two-thirds majority vote.
Chorus also says the waiting period mandated under U.S. legislation has expired and that it has received approval from Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
Chorus announced the sale of its plane leasing business to New York City-based HPS in July for $814 million in cash and $1.1 billion in aircraft debt to be assumed or prepaid by the buyers at closing.
The deal marked a one-eighty for Chorus, which bet big on aircraft leasing just two years earlier by buying London-based plane-leasing outfit Falko Regional Aircraft Ltd.
Chorus, which also provides regional service for Air Canada via Chorus subsidiary Jazz Aviation, says the sale remains subject to the other regulatory approvals and customary conditions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.
TORONTO – AGF Management Ltd. says its net income attributable to equity owners totalled $20.3 million in its latest quarter, down from $23.0 million in the same quarter last year.
The investment manager says the profit amounted to 30 cents per diluted share for the quarter which ended on Aug. 31, down from 34 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Total net revenue for the quarter amounted to $102.0 million, up from $84.0 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, AGF says it earned 37 cents per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 34 cents per diluted share a year ago.
The company says its total assets under management and fee-earning assets totalled $49.7 billion at Aug. 31, up from $42.3 billion a year earlier.
Kevin McCreadie, AGF’s chief executive and chief investment officer, says the company was pleased to see early signs of improvement with positive retail net flows complementing its solid investment performance amid an uncertain economic backdrop and significant market volatility.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.
As of January 2024, Canada is home to more than 3,600 recreational cannabis retail shops and this number is increasing annually with a single store to every 10,000 Canadians. The retail sector has been facing multiple challenges and one is surely overabundance of stores within smaller communities. Too many retailers compared to users of cannabis. The use of cannabis has remained relatively the same, while multiple retailers and online sales forces are competing for this marketplace.
Failures within the retail field are not a surprise, as Tokyo Smoke closes its multiple stores, and most shops’ profit margins remain small and diminishing over time. Mass closures may happen within certain provinces such as Ontario where situations of multiple retailers are situated right beside a competitor. Massive amounts of revenue have been collected by provincial governments while these stores remain open to every possible financial flux possible.
The black market remains healthy and profitable. An excuse to legalize pot was to challenge illegal pot sales and make it difficult to sell this pot outside of legal means. 22% of Canadian pot smokers get their supply from the black market. They say the pot tastes better and is slightly less costly. Legal pot management is costly and this cost is passed onto the customer. With gummy sales growing, the cost of management by legal means is difficult and costly too.
It seems the government may need to rethink its policy regarding cannabis and the possibility of legalizing further types of illicit drugs in the future. A total ack of imagination exists within the policy network where old-fashioned prejudice towards addiction and the use of narcotics is seen as criminal and threatening to society. All the while the number of traffic stops due to drivers under the influence of narcotics continues to grow, and the use of drugs by the youthful generation continues to be a problem. A solution to our society’s problems will never come from present-day authorities.
