Alberta takes decisive action to get more oil to market

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3 years ago

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February 19, 2019

A historic rail deal between Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian National Railway and the Government of Alberta means all Albertans will get a better price for our energy resources.

Premier Notley announces Alberta’s new investment in crude-by-rail export capacity.

This strategic investment by the Alberta government will see an estimated 4,400 rail cars move up to 120,000 barrels per day by 2020. Albertans can look forward to seeing rail cars transport Alberta oil as early as July 2019.

This is another part of our Made-in-Alberta energy strategy – building on Alberta’s energy strengths to get more value from our resources and create more jobs.

“Each and every Albertan owns our energy resources and deserves to get top dollar for them. We are taking decisive actions to protect people and to protect our natural inheritance. When challenges are placed in front of us, we overcome them. I’m going to keep working every day to fight for a better future for every person who calls Alberta home.”

Premier Rachel Notley

In 2018, Premier Notley laid out short, medium and long-term plans to get top dollar for Alberta’s energy resources. In the short term, the province temporarily curtailed oil production to address the storage glut. Over the long-term, the Premier continues to fight for pipelines and today’s rail deal means Alberta can expand take-away capacity over the medium term.

This investment in increased rail capacity totals about $3.7 billion. With the anticipated commercial revenue and increased royalty and tax revenues, the province anticipates generating approximately $5.9 billion over the next three years.

The Government of Alberta will purchase crude oil from producers and load it onto the rail cars at onloading facilities across the province. The crude oil will then be shipped to market. These actions will help industry including small producers who may not have the ability to take this action on their own.

In developing its Crude-by-Rail strategy, the Alberta government has also taken care to ensure that additional rail cars carrying oil will have no impact on the shipments of agricultural products.

Quick facts

$3.7B investment provides Albertans with $5.9B in revenues over three years.
Approximately US$4 per barrel reduction projected in differential between West Texas Intermediate and Western Canadian Select from early 2020 to late 2021.
Additional 120,000 barrels a day of rail capacity is anticipated by 2020.
4,400 rail cars will be used to transport oil. The first complement of rail cars are expected to start transporting Alberta oil in July 2019.
Rail cars include DOT-117J and DOT-117R models, which meet all current safety standards outlined by Transport Canada.

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Alberta

Exercise in ‘patience’ pays off for Kadri, says winning a factor in joining Flames

Published on August 19, 2022

The Canadian Press

By David Alter

Nazem Kadri said the Calgary Flames expressed interest the moment he became an unrestricted free agent, but it was an “elaborate process” before he finally signed on the dotted line on Thursday.

“The patience definitely did me some good,” Kadri told reporters in a Zoom call Friday. “There were some decisions to be made.”

The Flames’ wild off-season took another dramatic turn Thursday when the team signed the coveted free agent to a seven-year, US$49-million deal.

Before the deal could be made official, Calgary sent forward Sean Monahan and a conditional 2025 first-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for future considerations in a move to create salary cap space for Kadri’s contract.

“That’s part of the reason why it’s been taking so long,” Kadri said from Paris, where he is on vacation.

The 32-year-old Kadri was one of the biggest names available in free agency after an all-star season with Colorado that ended with the Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup.

The benefits of returning to Canada, where his NHL career started, and taking part in the ‘Battle of Alberta’ with the provincial-rival Edmonton Oilers were benefits to signing with the Flames, but what ultimately led him to sign was how close he feels the team is to winning a Stanley Cup.

“Ultimately, it’s about winning and that played a huge factor in me coming to Calgary,” Kadri said. “The time is now and it certainly can be close with the moves we’ve made and me hopping on board.”

The 31-year-old Kadri had 87 points (28 goals, 59 assists) in 71 games for the Avalanche in 2021-22. He added 15 points in 16 playoff games, including the overtime winner in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final against Tampa Bay.

That was his return to action after being injured in Game 3 of the Western Conference final after being hit from behind by Edmonton forward Evander Kane.

Kadri’s addition capped a wild off-season for the Flames that saw star forward Johnny Gaudreau walk away in free agency.

The Flames’ leading scorer last season (115 points), and a finalist for the Hart Trophy as league MVP, Gaudreau informed the Flames before the start of the free agency period that we would not be re-signing with the Flames in a desire to move closer to home.

The New Jersey native signed a seven-year, $68.25-million contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets when free agency opened on July 13,.

Calgary was then informed that forward Matthew Tkachuk, who had a breakout season with 42 goals and 104 points, would not sign a contract extension after the upcoming season.

What looked like a potential nightmare for Calgary started to turn around when the Flames dealt Tkachuk to Florida for a package that included forward Jonathan Huberdeau, who had 115 points last season, and defenceman Mackenzie Weegar.

The Flames then locked up Huberdeau long-term with an eight-year, $84-million contract extension.

“It’s alarming to anybody when you lose players of that magnitude,” Kadri said. “But I think Brad (Flames GM Brad Treliving) has done a great job getting some return and valuable players.”

This is not the first time the Flames have tried to add Kadri to their roster. The Flames attempted to acquire him from the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2019, but Kadri used the no-trade clause in his contract to veto the deal. Kadri was then traded to the Avalanche on July 1, 2019.

“I didn’t see myself leaving (Toronto),” Kadri said about the situation. “That had nothing to do with the city of Calgary or the organization, I just wanted to stay where I was.

“It’s important for me to clarify that. I think it’s important because I’ve always admired the city of Calgary and Canada in general. I’m a Canadian boy. I love playing in Canada but it’s certainly ironic, but it was always a team that was on my radar.”

Kadri was selected seventh overall by Toronto in the 2009 NHL draft and has 512 points (219 goals, 293 assists) in 739 career games with the Maple Leafs and Colorado.

The London, Ontario native has yet to have his day with the Stanley Cup, but his plans include taking it to his hometown.

He also said he’s going to bring it to Toronto, where he spent his first eight NHL seasons.

“I’ve done a lot of growing up in that city as well and there’s been lots of supports of mine there,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2022.

Alberta

‘Just horrid’: Police watchdog now investigating death of man in Alberta RCMP cell

Published on August 19, 2022

The Canadian Press

CALGARY — An Alberta man is hoping for answers now that the province’s police watchdog is investigating the death of his son while in RCMP custody.

Addison Hartzler, 30, was found dead in an RCMP holding cell in Grande Prairie, Alta., on June 3, nine hours after he was arrested for public mischief on suspicion he had falsely reported a break-and-enter at the home where he was staying.

Greg Hartzler said he was told his son was acting in a “psychotic and delusional” manner, but police didn’t call paramedics or have him assessed by a doctor.

“They never even sought any medical attention in the entire nine hours they had him in custody. At no point in time was he ever assessed medically,” Hartzler told The Canadian Press Thursday.

“If they had, I believe he would have gone to the hospital in Grande Prairie directly from the house instead of the holding cell.”

The case was being investigated by RCMP, but Hartzler requested the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team look into it.

He was only informed Wednesday that ASIRT had taken over the investigation as of Aug. 9.

Hartzler said he wants to know if the RCMP was negligent in his son’s death and to protect other parents from going through a similar experience.

“Oh, Lord — If we can be an advocate for this, I guess maybe that’s our lot in life,” Hartzler said.

“From a father’s perspective and a family’s perspective, it’s just horrid. We were expecting him to be at our house that morning. By noon he was planning to leave Grande Prairie to come to his brother’s graduation,” he said.

Hartzler said his son had been in the Grande Prairie area northwest of Edmonton since April looking for work. He said they talked a day before his son’s death and the younger Hartzler seemed fine as he watched an NHL playoff game.

The father said he is relieved ASIRT is investigating.

“We’re trusting that we at least get somewhat of a better investigation with ASIRT doing it and hopefully more objective than what I believe RCMP (would do), even though it was their special unit. We’re hopeful we will get a more thorough investigation,” Hartzler said.

“At the end of the day, everything and every direction we turn to points to negligence. As Canadian people, we have to start saying enough is enough and the RCMP has to be held accountable for these types of actions.”

An RCMP spokeswoman said it’s not unusual for the special unit to do the investigation on cases where there are injuries to people in custody.

“What typically occurs is that even though it remains with us, there is an ongoing process where information about the investigation is shared with ASIRT so they have awareness of what happened and the facts and information as it progresses,” said Cpl. Deanna Fontaine.

“In this case, in the course of that, a decision was made by ASIRT to take it back.”

Alberta Justice said the original decision to leave the investigation with the RCMP was made due to a lack of resources with ASIRT at the time.

“ASIRT’s resourcing issues at the time were well known and were raised in correspondence with the Hartzler family’s lawyer in the interest of being fully transparent regarding the capacity challenges the agency was facing,” said spokesman Jason van Rassel.

“We can now confirm that the director of law enforcement referred this case to ASIRT for investigation on Aug. 9. As this matter is now with ASIRT, Alberta Justice and Solicitor General isn’t able to provide further comment.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2022.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press