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“It buys us time. It’s not the solution,” said Schmidt.
A meeting of the G20 energy ministers, including federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan, is scheduled for Friday. O’Regan spoke with Brouillette on Thursday and, in a Twitter post, said the two countries “will work together at the G20 to get oil prices stabilized.”
For Alberta, the prospect of an OPEC+ agreement arrives as the economic body blows keep on landing.
A new Statistics Canada report Thursday shows the country lost more than one million jobs last month as businesses shut down due to the virus.
In Alberta, more than 117,000 jobs disappeared. The unemployment rate jumped up to 8.7 per cent from 7.2 per cent in February, although the figure will likely be far higher for April.
There are many colossal problems facing Alberta’s economy today. More job losses are likely to come and many businesses may not re-open once the pandemic passes.
For realists looking across the landscape, it’s a forbidding environment.
But an end to the oil-price war is a necessary first step to rebuild a hard-hit economy.
Chris Varcoe is a Calgary Herald columnist.
