Husky Energy Inc. confirmed that it laid off 370 employees in October when the job losses were initially announced.
Originally, the jobs were estimated to be approximately 100 until the company confirmed the exact figure earlier this week.
The company has reduced its capital spending in its 2019 budget by $300 million citing reduced oil production and the low price of oil. Estimates show that approximately $30 billion USD in assets has been lost in the energy industry over the last three years.
Calgary has struggled to recover from the downturn in the oil sector. Several companies have either already left Canada or are in the process of moving more operations to the United States.
The oil and gas giant Encana announced last month that it would move its headquarters to the United States. A number of other companies including Suncor Energy, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell have also scaled back activity in the country or sold assets.
“The destructive policies of the Trudeau Liberals have left the company with no choice but to shift its asset base and capital program south of the border,” said former Encana CEO Gwyn Morgan.
Another Calgary-based oil services company, Osprey Informatics, has tripled the amount of business it intends to do in the United States. In 2019, the company conducted 10% of its business in the United States but now projects that 30% of their business will be in the country.
Alberta oil businesses have struggled to get their product to market due to a lack of pipeline capacity and what they perceive as anti-oil legislation like the B.C. Northern coast tanker ban Bill C-48 and the anti-pipeline Bill C-69.
Alberta’s legislature adjourned early Monday afternoon after a person fatally shot himself on the building’s front steps.
Legislative assembly staff confirmed to CTV News that there was a firearm incident on the building’s front steps, assuring the “matter has been contained by security and the Edmonton Police Service,” and that there was no public safety risk.
Speaker Nathan Cooper adjourned the legislature at around 3:15 pm.
“I hate to interrupt, however there is an issue that is important to the assembly,” he said. “I’d just like to take a five minute recess. If both members of the assembly want to pop into their respective lounges, I’d be happy to provide an update in a moment.”
First responders attempted to resuscitate the victim but were unsuccessful. He has not been identified publicly by authorities, though police have confirmed the incident was “non-criminal.”
If you or anyone you know is in immediate danger, please call 911. Suicide prevention and support are also available 24/7 from Crisis Services Canada by calling 1-833-456-4566 or by texting 45645.
Saddened by the tragic event that occurred outside the Legislature this afternoon.
Our hearts go out to the victim’s family & loved ones.
If you need help, or know someone who does, please call Alberta’s Mental Health Helpline: 1-877-303-2642. https://t.co/X0unvBx5yX
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou has penned a letter in which she complains about having to endure house arrest in one of her two Vancouver-area homes.
Wanzhou is being held as she faces an extradition request to the United States for allegedly breaking international sanctions on Iran and committing several fraud charges.
In the letter, Wanzhou says she’s had to endure “fear and pain” since she was arrested at the Vancouver International Airport last December.
“The past year has witnessed moments of fear, pain, disappointment, helplessness, torment, and struggle,” claims Wanzhou.
Wanzhou describes her detention where she gets to read a book “from cover to cover” and complete oil paintings as “the worst days of my life.”
“Right now, time seems to pass slowly. It is so slow that I have enough time to read a book from cover to cover. I can take the time to discuss minutiae with my colleagues or to carefully complete an oil painting,” reads the letter.
Meanwhile, the two Canadians arrested by Chinese authorities on trumped-up charges have been in prison for exactly one year on December 10th.
The Chinese government has limited the amount of time Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are allowed to see Canadian authorities and have barred them access to family or lawyers.
Spavor last saw consular officials, including the newly-appointed ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, on November 19. The two have only been allowed 14 meetings with the embassy since they were arrested last year.
The pair are only allowed 30-minute visits and have allegedly been subject to repeat interrogations. Earlier this year, prison officials also confiscated Kovrig’s reading glasses.
What will Alberta do if Ottawa rejects its Fair Deal Plan? What does building a new pipeline mean for Alberta?
What does the former immigration minister think about the surge of illegal border crossers in Canada?
In this exclusive interview, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Candice Malcolm discuss Alberta independence, the Fair Deal plan, the illegal immigration crisis in Canada and more!
Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean kowtowed to political correctness when he painted the sport as being dominated by “white males.” On November 30th, MacLean lectured viewers about his “white privilege” and the “structural racism” in the sport.
A few weeks ago, MacLean abandoned his former co-host Don Cherry after the mainstream media painted him as a racist for calling on all Canadians to wear the poppy on Remembrance Day.
“As a general rule, they’re often all white and when they’re not all white, the whites often have the speaking part,” said MacLean.
“It was just a real eye-opener that I don’t recognize the structural racism or sexism.”
After Cherry was dismissed by Sportsnet, progressive commentators have tried to paint the sport as having racist undertones and not being inclusive enough.
“The whites often have the speaking role.”
That’s probably the most tribalistic, racist thing ever said on Hockey Night in Canada.
CTV’s The Social host Jessica Allen responded to Cherry’s firing by referring to young hockey players as unthoughtful “white boys.”
“They all tended to be white boys who weren’t, let’s say very nice, they were not generally thoughtful, they were often bullies. Their parents were able to afford to spend $5,000 a year on hockey,” said Allen.
Allen’s comments led to outrage among Canadians who called on Allen to be fired from the program. However, CTV addressed the comments saying that the response led to “debate and introspection.”
Since his firing, Cherry has moved on to start his own hockey podcast called “Don Cherry’s Grapevine.” On one of the shows, Cherry spoke about the “impossible conditions” handed to him by the network in response to his comments.
“Evidently I said something and everybody knows what I said and I offered to explain, not an apology but I guess I was going to smooth it over but they made conditions that made it impossible for me to do it,” said Cherry.
“I just couldn’t do it and I guess I bit the bullet. I don’t know what else to say, I said what I said and I still say everybody in Canada should wear a poppy.”
Comedian Mike Ward, who was fined $42,000 by Quebec’s human rights tribunal for making jokes about a disabled singer, is refusing to pay.
After a Quebec appellate court upheld the fine, Ward is vowing to take his case to the Supreme Court, arguing that no government tribunal or court has the right to penalize comedians for telling jokes, however distasteful people may find them.
The notion that the Conservatives are in turmoil is a questionable one, but it shouldn’t be getting this much attention from the mainstream media. There are real events that actually matter and worthy of our attention.
Ultimately, it’s up to the members of the Conservative Party to decide Scheer’s fate when there’s a mandatory leadership review in a few months.
Reporting from the United Conservative Party’s Annual General Meeting in Calgary, True North’s Candice Malcolm catches up with businessman and Dragons’ Den star Brett Wilson.
Canada is more divided than ever, and many Canadians are rightfully concerned with the direction of the country.
Wilson says this is entirely one person’s fault – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. According to Wilson, Trudeau has torn apart confederation.
Everyone knows that Canada has a problem with illegal immigration. Tens of thousands of migrants illegally flow across our unmanned border every year, and tens of thousands more arrive at Canadian airports under false pretences with the intention of overstaying a visitor visa or destroying their travel documents and claiming asylum.
Canada received 50,390 asylum seekers this way in 2017, another 55,035 in 2018 and is on track to receive nearly 50,000 again this year.
As my colleague Sue-Ann Levy reports in the Toronto Sun, asylum seekers will cost taxpayers in the City of Toronto $75 million this year. This comes in addition to the burden on provincial taxpayers, who pay for gold-plated social services for asylum seekers, and the $1.3 billion estimated by the Parliamentary Budget Office for the Feds to process these applications.
What many Canadians don’t realize, though, is that this is just the start of our illegal immigration woes.
There are other, more sophisticated schemes that enable hundreds of thousands of migrants to come to Canada while circumventing our immigration laws.
According to a new bombshell report, one in three people who are in Canada with a student visa are not enrolled at any educational institution in the country. This worrying report comes from none other than the neutral researchers at Statistics Canada.
As Douglas Todd reports in the Vancouver Sun, there is no indication that 30.5% of international students are signed up to attend a Canadian post-secondary school.
According to the most recent immigration levels report tabled to Parliament, Canada issues nearly 320,000 study permits each year. The number of international students in Canada in 2018 was 573,000 — four times as many as there were in 2000 and 73% more than four years ago.
As Lindsay Shepherd reports for True North, apparent fraud in the English Language exam program makes it even easier for fake students to come to Canada. Shepherd spoke to respected Toronto immigration lawyer Richard Boraks, who provided evidence of fraudulent language certificates being issued and explained how many foreigners come to Canada with student visas but have no intention of studying — or leaving.
“Look at Laurentian University. They set up entire courses [for international students largely from India], and none of the kids showed up,” said Boraks. “They all went to work illegally, working 60-80 hours as truck drivers.”
A Globe and Mail investigative report shed further light on this phenomenon, explaining how trucking companies send inexperienced “student” drivers out on the dangerous winter roads, sometimes causing deadly crashes, in exchange for reference letters that help these fake students gain permanent residency.
Crooked immigration consultants around the world are known to tell their clients the easiest way to get to Canada is by pretending to be a student, then working illegally until they can qualify to stay permanently.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently appointed a new immigration minister, Toronto MP Marco Mendicino. Unlike Trudeau’s previous immigration ministers, Mendicino has an extensive background fighting against those who seek to undermine our safety and security.
As a federal prosecutor, Mendicino worked to put members of the Toronto 18 al-Qaeda terrorist cell behind bars.
While Mendicino will no doubt have to follow Trudeau’s marching orders to welcome 350,000 newcomers each year through legal channels, he should also focus his attention on cracking down on the hundreds of thousands who come to Canada illegally.
