Health

Deputy Premier aims to increase trade with Middle East

Edmonton... Alberta Deputy Premier and Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations Ron Stevens will support a delegation of 30 Alberta companies to the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), the largest oil and gas conference in the Middle East.

The four-day conference brings together more than 1,800 exhibitors from around the world, featuring 200 international speakers and is one of the highlights of the Oct. 30 to Nov. 14 mission.

Maple Leaf poultry plant plucks more than chickens

Abuse of Temporary Foreign Workers underlies labour dispute

EDMONTON, Oct. 7 /CNW/ - Maple Leaf Foods' misuse of the temporary
foreign worker (TFW) program is an attempt to maintain an artificially low
wage in their poultry plant according to the United Food and Commercial
Workers Local 1118 and is a key element in the ongoing strike at the plant.
"Canadians were assured by the government that TFWs would always be paid
fair market wages and promised that employers like Maple Leaf would not be

Canada oil sands slowdown may halt runaway costs
10.24.08
Canada - By Jeffrey Jones

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A slowdown in spending on multibillion-dollar projects to develop Canada's oil sands, one of the world's largest deposits of crude, should help cure one ailment the industry has so far been unable to shake: runaway inflation.

Enbridge weighs stake for aboriginals
From Herald News Services
Published: Saturday, October 25, 2008

Enbridge Inc. is considering offering aboriginal groups an equity stake in its planned 525,000-barrel-a-day Northern Gateway oilsands export pipeline in order to secure support for the project, a company official said Friday.

Enbridge, Canada's No. 2 pipeline company, is still working out details of how large a stake it would offer to native communities along the pipeline's route. As well, it has to firm up how any such stake would be financed.

Somebody local with a grudge targeting oilpatch?
Stephen Hume
Vancouver Sun
Monday, October 20, 2008

News of a second pipeline bombing in British Columbia's Peace River district splashed across headlines from New York to New Zealand.

Almost as quickly, anxious residents of Tomslake, about 700 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, speculated about al-Qaida, first nations militants and eco-extremists.

Nexen, Opti delay decision on next oil sands phase
Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:22pm EDT

CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Nexen Inc and Opti Canada Inc have postponed a decision to expand their new Long Lake, Alberta, oil sands project, citing the financial market crisis and uncertainty over costs to curb carbon emissions, a Nexen official said on Monday.

The partners in the C$6.1 billion ($5.1 billion) development, which is now in start-up mode, had expected to decide by the end of this year whether to begin work on twinning the project.

Shysters enslave foreign workers
By TOM GODFREY, SUN MEDIA
19th October 2008

Immigration officials are targeting a network of shady recruiters who are charging foreign construction workers huge fees for jobs that are available free in Canada.

The shysters are forcing workers to turn over their earnings and live like slaves after they arrive here.

Crude Profits
Saturday October 18, 2008
by Joshua Neuhouser

OIL SANDS-PART 2: "Where I Come From Is Ground Zero"
By Chris Arsenault*

Michael Mercredi, a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan/Dene First Nation, says people in his small community are experiencing rare cancers because of the tar sands.

Credit:Chris Arsenault/IPS

FT. MCMURRAY, Oct 17 (IPS) - The wheels of the Caterpillar 797B, the world's largest truck, are always going round and round at Shell Canada's Albian Sands mine.

Bailout boosts refinery
Hyperion stands to get big tax break

Thom Gabrukiewicz • tgabrukiew@argusleader.com • October 10, 2008

Hyperion Resources could benefit in its quest to finance and build an oil refinery near Elk Point with a 50 percent tax write-off - an extension of an existing credit that was inserted into Congress' historic, $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.