News & Reports
Articles
Recovery strategy: "Focus on the leading economic engines"
It turns out that industries producing the materials at the centre of modern life can be a driving force for economic recovery after the pandemic. Stewart Muir looks at how the new Stronger Tomorrow strategy looks to leverage, and evolve, longstanding job and GDP pillars in the natural resource sector.
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How natural resources can relaunch the Canadian economy
In the COVID-19 recovery phase, natural resources are well-positioned to step in to assume their traditional leadership role in creating wealth and jobs for Canadians, writes economist Philip Cross.
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Old growth, new beginning
The province of British Columbia’s Old Growth Strategic Review tackles head-on an issue that has bedevilled the government for decades: ensuring that the seemingly polarizing values of forest protection and public prosperity can somehow be harmonized. Stewart Muir looks at the issue.
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Articles
What are the rules for Net Zero?
Strategic assessment of climate change says new Canadian mines, power plants, pipelines and railways will be covered, but lacks details on how changes to them – and the global energy system – will be measured or enforced.
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Real Jobs, Real Recovery: A Task Force for Canada
This month and next, Resource Works is supporting a national effort to recommend the best path forward out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's the latest on our work.
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What’s required for Canadian economy to recover from the pandemic?
The one-word answer is: Jobs. Jobs of all kinds, but most of all we need to see the kind of high-paying, long-lasting jobs typically associated with investments in economic growth potential, writes Stewart Muir.
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The Green Recovery – and some inconvenient truths
Wishful thinking and empty promises aren’t helping with the needed energy transition. It’s time to turn our minds and our will to the hard work of transformation by mid century based on the realities of our society and our economy, writes Mike Cleland.
Read moreHydrogen: grey, blue, and BC green
We have a social-media follower that we can count on to tell us, frequently, that the real “fuel of the future” is hydrogen. We can understand his thinking: What better than a zero-emission fuel that, when burned, leaves behind nothing but water? No greenhouse gases or noxious particles; no pollution, no problem.
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Energy transition: Canada’s policy?
The last crystal ball we had was a kid’s marble from a Christmas cracker. So we’re not about to make our own predictions about the fate of oil. We’ll ignore Green MP Elizabeth May’s silly claim that “oil is dead,” and will look instead at what professional predictors are seeing in their digital crystal balls.
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Legislators get a briefing on the state of the natural resource sector
Resource Works looks at presentations made by forestry, mining, energy and ranching representatives to British Columbia MLAs.
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Some realistic solutions for the future of energy
Eager to move off the full-throttled despair and chastising that boils over in the clash of ideas about energy? Offering insights and practicality while many of us are still cooped up at home, Stewart Muir talks about realistic solutions to the problems we're facing.
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REALITY CHECK: Guess who's got the most to lose from rash decisions on economic recovery?
We’re at a moment of economic stress, with competing visions for how Canadian society should return to normalcy through the pandemic crisis. Stewart Muir looks at the situation.
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Coming up: BC’s cleanest LNG
Look out. Look ’way out. And stop looking at today’s depressed spot prices in a rocky world market that’s too full of surplus LNG. Look instead to, say, 2024-2025 - which is where the investors in Woodfibre LNG and LNG Canada are looking.
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Fighting fear and uncertainty in the economic recovery
The coronavirus pandemic represents the largest disruption of BC’s labour market in our history. Uncertainty and fear among many businesses, workers, customers and the general public about the continuing pandemic affects how we grasp the new normal and move beyond the crisis. Human resources expert Kerry Jothen weighs in.
Read more10 ways to improve unity and prosperity in turbulent times
Like never before, providers of materials essential to society are under pressure to accept and lead change. Finding inspiration in this dynamic setting means seeking out ideas that can survive in the real world. Stewart Muir looks at some of the ways that people – especially those who work in natural resource fields – are adapting.
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Green pressure on Canada escalating, rapidly
So supporters of a big shift to "green" are putting heat on our federal government to turn Canada into a shiny world leader for renewable energy, now that “oil is dead.” They promote it to Ottawa as a part of the new normal they want to follow the COVID-19 pandemic. But does this logic make sense?
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Questions abound in fate of Wet'suwet'en governance
Non-Indigenous elected officials are staying quiet about a title deal made with a small group of unelected hereditary chiefs, despite calls for transparency from elected Wet'suwet'en chiefs. What's really going on in this challenging situation? Stewart Muir, who travelled widely in the affected areas earlier this year, weighs the facts so far.
Read moreWhoa, did activist Bill McKibben just cite Resource Works in Rolling Stone?
Resource Works, already recognized by UVic researchers as one of Canada’s Top 50 most influential organizations in the resource space, has now caught the attention of an American anti-tar-sands crusader writing in Rolling Stone magazine.
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Four things that District of Squamish councillors are getting wrong about Woodfibre LNG
Pushed by anti-LNG pressure groups, District of Squamish councillors have decided to offer their own response to emissions reduction guidelines set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), urging the BC Environmental Assessment Office to refuse a five-year environmental certificate extension for the $1.6 billion Woodfibre LNG project. The councillors supporting this motion are getting a couple of things very wrong.
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An unlikely fan base for Michael Moore's latest documentary, Planet of the Humans
A recent documentary backed by filmmaker Michael Moore and directed by Jeff Gibbs, Planet of the Humans, has received effusive praise from the most surprising of audiences. Moore, of course, is known for pointed critiques of capitalism and American politics. Yet oil- & gas-loving conservatives are among the film’s most vocal champions on social media. What gives?
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REPORT: Team Canada for the Rebuild
The COVID-19 response has changed the boundaries between the public and the private sectors. Post-pandemic Canada will have to function differently than pre-pandemic Canada.
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CHARTS: A timely reminder of what natural resources do for Canada
With humanity demanding products like masks, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, reliable 24/7 fuels and medical products based on plastic and metal, there's no getting away from it: the world needs Canada's resources. And herein lies the solution for troubled times.
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One year of delay adds $812 million to a Canadian pipeline's costs: study
Unrecoverable personnel and overhead costs make up 90 per cent of losses due to regulatory delays.
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Double testing – blood and saliva – is the quickest way Canadians can get back to normal for as long as we are without a coronavirus vaccine
NEWS ANALYSIS: Health Canada has yet to approve a single blood test despite having 34 products under review, writes Stewart Muir. A faster approach that protects health is needed.
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Innovation and regulatory certainty will be central to restarting Canada's economy post-COVID-2019
Stewart Muir and Margareta Dovgal look at emerging ideas for a strong recovery from the pandemic.
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Critical thinking matters amid calls for folding up Canada's oil & gas sector
Renewables-only advocates have seized upon the pandemic as a way to pressure federal politicians into using their powers to deep-six Canada’s domestic oil and gas industry, writes Stewart Muir.
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How the Natural Runners brought a light touch to the story of natural resources
The annual Vancouver Sun Run attracts 50,000 entrants each April for a festive 10 km race. Sadly, in 2020 there won't be a race due to the pandemic. However, here's some good news.
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Notes from Flight 163, the oil sands shuttle from Toronto to Edmonton
"On a recent Monday morning, I found myself on Air Canada Flight 163 from Toronto Pearson to Edmonton," writes Stewart Muir. "As the plane loaded, I began to sense there was something not so regular about the passengers boarding the Airbus 320 for a regularly scheduled flight."
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Resource sector finds ways to carry on despite COVID-19 crisis
But government support needed to weather the storm. Don Hauka filed this report assessing the status of natural resource projects underway in British Columbia.
Read moreOur LNG? Yes, there is a market.
It was sad to see Andrew Weaver citing health reasons as he stepped down as leader of the BC Green Party, and announced he would not seek re-election as MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head. We had to respect his tenacity in the legislature as a champion of fighting climate change, and for seeking to keep governmental feet to the fire on the issue. But we still shake our heads over some of his pronouncements on LNG in BC.
Read moreNational energy policy? Where?
It should be no surprise to learn that Teck’s decision to back-burner its $20-billion Frontier oilsands mine was preceded by secret thumbs-down signals from some federal cabinet ministers.
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Health authority monitoring on-leave employee heading up taxpayer-funded protest camp
A British Columbia civil servant has a surprising second job – she is a director at the Unist'ot'en camp originally created to block any pipeline that might be planned for a North West corridor. Her government employer is monitoring the situation, just weeks after $400,000 in public funding was announced for the camp. Veteran journalist Stewart Muir assembled a number of facts about the situation.
Read moreConsultation, accommodation, no veto
We will ignore, for the moment, the Twitter photo of BC First Nations activists with raised middle fingers, and the adolescent message: “F*** your white supremest #TransMountain pipelines!” We will note, though, this from Tsleil-Waututh Nation member Will George: “if it has to get ugly, it will get ugly.”
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Another century, another pipeline
In 1956, the Liberal government of Louis St. Laurent was tasked with defending the decision to establish a Crown Corporation in order to build the Trans-Canada Pipeline. Sound familiar?
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Who’s “right” on the CGL pipeline?
Thoughtful and intelligent views do exist on the natural gas project across British Columbia's north. Many others are stunningly simplistic, and are often emotional, and/or romanticized. Others are outright racist.
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Resource Labour Market Information Report 2020
Report will identify job growth in forestry, mining and mineral exploration, oil and gas extraction including liquefied natural gas, paper manufacturing, primary metal products, resource-based construction, utilities and wood product manufacturing in British Columbia.
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Start 2020 right with January 14 must-attend conference
Historic changes to British Columbia’s legal system are now in place that will affect how business is done in the province. And, soon, across Canada. It's a step forward for Indigenous peoples and all Canadians. Don't be left out: attend this event January 14 to know what's in store for 2020.
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New Frontier for the oilsands
There’s a constant lack of long-term thinking, and business basics, on the part of so many vocal opponents of major resource projects.
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Declaration of rights opens the door to billions in First Nations partnerships
The benefits to First Nations that participate more fully in the B.C. economy will be measured in billions of dollars. A win-win result will create society-wide benefits. A full-day gathering in Vancouver on January 14, 2020 will look at how a new legal landscape will affect this trend.
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FORESTRY CRISIS: Messages for community leaders
From the Interior to the Island to Metro Vancouver and its suburbs, British Columbia forest workers are facing the biggest threat in decades.
Read moreSeeking a way to compete: British Columbia forestry at a crossroads
Longtime forestry journalist Gordon Hamilton went in search of solutions to the crisis in the woods.
Read moreExamining the Evidence
Do climate lawsuits serve the interests of municipalities and local residents?
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Mining and the green economy
Radical improvements needed for metal mining to impact climate change as much as it needs to in coming decades.
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The City of Richmond's contorted relationship with fossil fuels
After voting to sue fuel companies for their role in climate change, local officials signed off on a jet-fuel pipeline project that will create decades of emissions. Awkward? Stewart Muir looks at the issue.
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How things were made right after the Mount Polley spill
Dr. 'Lyn Anglin, founding president and CEO of Geoscience BC, takes a look at what happened at the British Columbia copper and gold mine after its 2014 tailings accident.
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Another shipload of Canadian heavy oil sails for China
Despite some myths, crude oil from the Alberta oil sands has a ready market across the Pacific, writes Stewart Muir.
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Why I work in oil and gas – a personal narrative
Deidra Garyk is a Canadian energy advocate based in Calgary.
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The shame "is on us" if we don't grasp opportunity
Agri-foods visionary Murad Al-Katib – Saskatchewan's lentil king – shared advice on pursuing resource options with Stewart Muir of Resource Works.
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Saskatchewan's resource reliance facing "unnecessary uncertainty"
Bronwyn Eyre, the province's minister of energy and resources, expressed frustration about constraints facing forestry, mining and energy opportunities.
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