News & Views

Graphing commodities price fluctuations can get boring, but not for long. 

How is modern hydraulic fracturing a little bit like having a baby? For the answer to this and other questions about earthquakes, seismicity, and safe natural gas extraction, read on. 

So long as the climate movement is limited to fracking opponents, safety alarmists and renewables fabulists, it seems like society will continue to encounter friction on embracing less harmful fuels like natural gas. Those like Resource Works advocating for realistic pathways for growing the green economy are in search of a better path.

With many governments unclear on how they can enhance jobs and affordability, it can be frustrating to watch as global economic opportunities are lost to Canada through indecision. Low commodity prices don't help. Here are a few thoughts to weather the tough times...

Across British Columbia, voices are chiming in about the desirability of a clean, green natural gas export industry. Not only will it cut harmful coal emissions around Asia Pacific, British Columbia's LNG is also a key factor in addressing affordability and jobs at home.

The town of Williams Lake, BC has been on the map in a new way since launch of reality TV show Timber Kings.  

The federal budget released this week marked the first opportunity for the new Liberal government to make its mark on public policy where it counts most: in the pocketbook. Let's take a look at what this could mean for resource economy issues.

Compared to energy giants like Saudi Arabia and the USA, Canada is a pipsqueak at throwing its considerable weight around. If there is a time for that to change, now is it. Let's look at a blood tax, argues Stewart Muir.

Resource jobs have always meant opportunity for hard-working British Columbians. Consistently higher-than-average wages in sectors like forestry, mining, oil, and gas have allowed workers to support themselves, support their families, and contribute back into their communities. That's been true throughout BC’s economic history.

For drivers who see <$1 a litre at the pumps, it may look great, what is less easy to spot is the impact of low prices on the goods and services supply chain. But there are a few things we can look at to gain insight into the extent of the problem.

There can be room for responsible, carefully managed, well regulated development that recognizes Aboriginal rights and title. 

The voice for LNG in B.C. is getting louder and British Columbians who care about their communities are making it all happen. Tomorrow in Terrace, Fort St. John, and Fort Nelson, hundreds of grassroots activists will be rallying to show their support for the Pacific NorthWest LNG project.  

What's the way toward a green economy that also embraces our fundamental need for natural resources? A weekend gathering of code-free hackers had some ideas about where to search for answers...

The number of jobs created by resource development, and their importance, has never been more apparent than now - especially for BC's oil-and-gas workers.

Looking after the land today is the only way we'll be able to reap its beneficial products tomorrow. A group of foresters looked deeply into the concept of stewardship and provided some pointers that might just help a broad audience gain better understanding.

After a distinguished career in Alberta, newest Advisory Council member Roger Gibbins returned home to BC and found old ways of thinking had changed a lot. 

Please welcome two British Columbians to our Resource Works Advisory Council. The new members of our province-wide brains trust are Mona M. Forster, who has an extensive background in the mining sector, and Wayne Dunn, who bring 25 years of senior-level global experience in the corporate social responsibility field.

He is, by profession, a registered professional chemist and a registered professional biologist with an interdisciplinary PhD in chemistry and environmental studies. He’s also a dad, a soccer coach (and a basketball and baseball coach), a science-fiction fan, and a regular blogger known to us and an ever-growing audience as “A Chemist in Langley.”

The more it’s squeezed, the more efficient it gets. That's how it is for one Alberta oil company that has found the current global glut of crude oil to be the mother of invention and efficiency - not pain and hardship.

Relations with our largest trading partner could not be more important in 2016. During a recent Vancouver trip, U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman acknowledged the enduring importance of this, noting that even with lower commodity prices the volume of cross-border trade is up. 

Regulators or resource companies – professors or environmental groups. Who do you suppose has the most credibility with the public?

Our Stewart Muir appeared on CBC Radio's BC Almanac show to talk about the green economy. He discussed plans by Canada's premiers to arrive at a national carbon strategy, with leadership from prime minister Justin Trudeau. 

Gleeful anti-LNG messages shot around social media after Alta Gas of Calgary announced that it was halting further development of the Douglas Channel LNG Project in BC “due to unfavourable market conditions."

A major court ruling was a reminder that British Columbians, and Canadians generally, have the environmental movement to thank for world-leading regulations that make the country a beacon of good practice.

According to Bill Gates, there are four major variables in global CO2 emissions: population, services used, the energy these services require, and the carbon dioxide produced by that energy.

Before a solar panel is assembled, raw materials are mined and refined. Our new infographic illustrates how this all comes together.

Here are 10 reasons why the emerging Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry in British Columbia provides the best and only realistic opportunity for Canada to contribute to a world-wide transition away from a high dependency on dirtier fuels toward a new global energy paradigm.

For those who think the world’s transition from fossil fuels to renewables is going to be easy and speedy, China has a pointed message.

“We are one of the countries with the highest dependency on imported energy from other countries,” said Han Jun, vice-minister of financial and economic affairs, during a visit to Ottawa.

Statistics for 2015 show Port Metro Vancouver experienced a slight downturn consistent with global trends, but overall strength as expected for the nation's largest port

Can we be confident that natural gas and LNG estimates are what companies and politicians say they are?

One hidden time bomb in British Columbia's finances is the rising cost of health care. What role can resources play in ensuring quality services can continue to be provided?

Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told.” “Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says." Yes, those are real headlines, as they appeared in two different newspapers some years ago.

Nanaimo Daily News, Alberni Valley Times, Kamloops This Week, Kelowna Capital News, Prince Rupert Daily News, Nelson Daily News, Abbotsford Times, Richmond Review. You name them: They are gone.  And there are more than those eight on the roll-call of the dead. 

An oft-heard critique of British Columbia’s resource economy is that it is “boom and bust” in nature. In fact, the overall resource bust argument is a non-starter when applied to an economy that produces a broad range of resource goods as BC’s does.

Economic analyst says the world is not going to wait if we can't get things done

"We’ve got to get people thinking in the right direction — natural resources aren’t our enemy. They’re a part of our economy."

“Bill Gates is right”, says one Forbes contributor, referring to Gates’ November interview with The Atlantic where he begins his assessment of the challenges facing a shift to clean energy with a pointed challenge – we have to bring “math skills to the problem” when talking about changing global energy use.

We suppose it was inevitable, the gleeful crowing when Royal Dutch Shell announced postponement of its Final Investment Decision (FID) on the LNG Canada project in BC.

Are we going to get approvals for new pipelines from the federal government or are we not?

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and oil industry leaders met with Prime Minister Trudeau in Calgary last week. After which, Steve Williams, president and CEO of oilsands giant Suncor Energy, told reporters: “We are making progress on market access.”

Clean energy has been getting lots of attention, for good reason. Canada’s role as a top exporter of energy is vital to our economy, and new opportunities are swiftly materialising in which Canada could take the lead. In response, the federal government is now rapidly moving towards an energy agenda that embraces the clean energy and clean technology sectors and a fulfillment of the potential they hold for existing natural resource industries.

What is Ottawa’s secret plan? Are we going to be allowed to sell our oil and natural gas? Are we going to build new pipelines? And how will Ottawa’s new review processes affect Canada’s economy?

This New Yorker cartoon is making the rounds in social media as the United States prepares to become an oil-and-gas exporting nation and Canada gets ready, it sometimes seems, to depart from its resource-trade home base for parts unknown.

It is the new pact reached by the BC government, 26 First Nations, environmental groups, and the coastal forest industry, on ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Canada’s resource sector is not an impediment to economic diversification, it is often the cause of it.

Greener and more efficient use of our precious natural resources can only come from harnessing technology. Here are some ways this is already unfolding around us today.

A new narrative for Canadian natural resources: Watch Resource Works founder Stewart Muir share his vision for a better, more balanced conversation about balanced prosperity

BC's tourism and natural resource sectors have developed in parallel. Here is a case of how mining enabled a stunning visitor drawcard to develop.

Asifa Samji guides engineering practices for a major firm and provides alumni oversight at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.