Poilievre Blamed Climate Taxes While Big Oil Guzzled Profits
As gas prices pinched, the Conservative front-runner followed the right-wing script by ignoring ‘sky high’ billions for oilsands firms.
A cavalcade of right-wing pundits and think tanks echoed this attack on federal climate policy. But the idea that carbon prices were the primary driver behind record-high gas prices is incorrect, according to experts like University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe, who told CBC that “it’s really about global oil prices, and that’s really driven by things far beyond the Government of Canada’s control.”
Reported in The Tyee August 16,2022
Canadian oil and gas companies, along with their shareholders, were doing fantastic. That’s the story contained in recent earnings reports from the top four oilsands producers, which together announced combined profits of over $12 billion for the second quarter of this year.
“Overall, the first half of 2022 delivered solid results, and we’re positioned for an even stronger second half of the year,” gushed Alex Pourbaix, president and CEO of oilsands producer Cenovus, as his company announced $2.4 billion in earnings for the second quarter of this year.
“In the second quarter of 2022, Suncor reported the highest quarterly adjusted funds from operations in its history,” interim president and CEO Kris Smith said during an August earnings call as the company reported nearly $4 billion in net earnings. “And we returned record adjusted fund flow right back to our shareholders.”
Imperial Oil meanwhile reported net earnings of $2.4 billion, and CNRL reported $3.5 billion —
Reported from DW Deutsche Welle Germany’s international broadcaster
