The 2024 Canadian Federal Budget was released on April 16th. This year’s budget is focused on affordability, housing, and spending on social programs such as pharmaceutical care, daycare, and dentist care.   Peter and Jackie discuss the budget, including the size of the deficit and the planned increase in capital gains taxes. They also cover energy-related updates from the budget, such as changes to investment tax credit programs (ITCs), adjustments to the green home subsidy, and the...

The threat of a wider Middle East war is increasing. Over the past weekend, Iran attacked Israel with missiles and drones in retaliation for Israel’s suspected strike on Iran's embassy in Syria. This week, our guest, Raoul LeBlanc, Vice President, Energy, S&P Global Commodity Insights, explains why oil prices have increased over the past few months, including the impact of the growing conflict in the Middle East, OPEC+, and US shale oil growth.  Jackie and Peter also asked Raoul about...

This week on the podcast, our guest is Rebecca Lindland, Senior Director of Industry Data and Insights at Cars Commerce. Cars Commerce has a platform to simplify the next generation of automotive retail, including Cars.com, AccuTrade, Dealer Inspire, and coming soon, Cars Commerce Media Network. Rebecca is a highly respected expert in the automotive industry. She shares her views on the rise of plug-in hybrids, the recent headwinds for pure electric cars, and new auto technology. Here are...

This week our podcast guest is Rachel Walsh, Environmental Commodities Strategist at BMO Capital Markets.   Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked Rachel: Is the hefty Canadian emitter carbon tax starting to impact competitiveness? Is the carbon levy causing industrial emitters to invest in reducing their emissions? Canada and Alberta have introduced incentives to reduce the capital cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Are these incentives enough to kick-start the...

Recently, Alberta announced significant changes to its power market: short-term changes to stop economic withholding and a long-term redesign of Alberta’s deregulated electricity market into a restructured energy market (REM).   This week, our guest, Blake Shaffer, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, helps us understand these changes. Here are some questions Jackie and Peter asked Blake: Why does Alberta need a market...

Peter is back from a one-week whirlwind trip to the UK where he was a guest on a government-hosted tour titled “Energy Commentators Mission.” During his visit, he met people working on the UK energy transition, including with offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and refining.  Tune in to this week’s podcast to hear about Peter’s trip and takeaways, including interviews with some of the people he met in his travels.  We hear from:  Andrew Rodden, Energy Transition Zone...

This week, John Stackhouse, Senior Vice President, Office of the CEO at RBC joins the podcast. John is also the host of the Disruptors podcast. This episode is a joint podcast that is being made available on both the ARC Energy Ideas and Disruptors podcast channels.  John, Jackie, and Peter discuss sustainable finance and Canada’s dearth of capital spending on energy transition and decarbonization.   Questions covered during the podcast: Is the lack of a national taxonomy that defines what...

Peter and Jackie discuss the latest energy headlines and policy announcements on this week's podcast. Listed below are the topics covered: The Alberta Government is lifting the moratorium on new wind and solar project permits, a policy that was enacted in the summer of 2023. The Alberta Government introduces its 2024 fiscal budget.  Before the budget announcement, Premier Danielle Smith made the case for rebuilding the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund to help eliminate the revenue roller...

On February 16, 2024, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced some proposed changes to the draft Clean Electricity Regulations (CER). Initially released in August 2023, the draft legislation requires electricity production in Canada to be net zero by 2035. Peter and Jackie start the podcast by reviewing the recently proposed changes and discuss whether these changes are enough to win over the provinces that object to the proposed CER, including Alberta, Saskatchewan, and...

This week, our guest is Ellis Ross, an MLA in the British Columbia Legislature since 2017, representing the Skeena riding for the BC United political party (formerly the Liberal Party). His region includes the communities of Kitimat and Terrace on the northern coast of British Columbia.  Ellis also currently serves as the Shadow Minister for Energy and LNG. Before being elected to the British Columbia legislature, Ellis Ross was the Chief Councillor for the Haisla Nation, in that position, he...

This week, our guest is Greg Lyle, Founder and President of Innovative Research Group. Innovative Research Group is a full-service market research firm with offices in Vancouver and Toronto. The firm has recently done some interesting polling on how Canadians are thinking about energy infrastructure and energy transition. Greg also talked politics, giving us some insight into how Canadians would vote (based on polling) if a federal election were held today.  Here are some of the questions...

This week, our guest is Carlos Pascual, Senior Vice President of Global Energy at S&P Global Commodity Insights.   Carlos's past roles include establishing and directing the new Energy Resources Bureau at the US Department of State and serving as a senior advisor to the Secretary of State on energy issues. He has also previously been a United States Ambassador to Mexico and Ukraine.  Here are some of the questions that Carlos tackled:  How do you expect the US will react to the recent...

This week on the podcast, our guest is David Detomasi, an associate professor and distinguished faculty fellow in international business at the Smith School of Business at Queens University. He is also the author of “Profits and Power: Navigating the Politics and Geopolitics of Oil.” First, Jackie and Peter discuss the potential impact of the Canadian government’s proposed cap on oil and gas emissions on smaller oil and gas producers. A reminder that the deadline for providing feedback on...

This week, our guest is Roger Dall’Antonia, President and CEO of FortisBC.  FortisBC is a leading energy provider in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The utility serves about 1.1 million natural gas customers and 185,000 electricity customers.  Roger explains the benefits of using natural gas to meet the peak winter heating demand and the challenges of using electricity to do the same. Because of the unique ability of gaseous fuels to flex up and meet demand, even on the coldest days, Roger...

Peter and Jackie start the year by reviewing the extreme cold in Alberta that caused a spike in electricity demand, resulting in the Alberta Electricity System Operator (AESO) issuing four grid alerts between January 12th and 15th. The electricity supply-demand balance was the tightest on Saturday evening (January 13th), causing the Alberta Government to issue an emergency alert to people's mobile phones. About 200 MW of demand fell off the system within minutes of issuing the notice.   Peter...

On this week’s podcast, Jackie and Peter review the final takeaways from COP28. Next, they discuss the key energy themes that shaped the past year.  The 2023 top themes include: 1)  Artificial intelligence (AI) becomes mainstream 2)  Investors now understand the clean energy interest rate nexus 3)  2023 will be the hottest year on record  4)  Affordability issues slow the uptake of clean energy technologies 5)  Policy-driven energy transition led by the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) 6) ...

Peter and Jackie start this week's podcast by discussing the latest developments at COP28 in Dubai, including whether the wording “phase-out” or “phase-down” of fossil fuels will be included in the final text. Next, they talk about the Canadian energy policy announced by the Canadian federal government at COP28, including draft legislation to reduce methane from oil and gas by 75% from 2012 levels by 2030.  The government also issued a document on the proposed cap on oil and gas emissions,...

This week, our guest is Matt Jamieson, President and CEO of the Six Nations of Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC). SNGRDC’s mission is to achieve economic self-sufficiency for their community by 2030.  The Six Nations of the Grand River is located near Toronto and is Canada's most populated First Nation, with just over 30,000 members.  The Nation has established the Six Nations of Grand River Development Corporation, which has a separate governance and decision-making structure from...

This week, Kelly Shue, Professor of Finance at Yale School of Management, joins the podcast.  Earlier this year, Professor Shue and her co-author, Professor Samuel M. Hartzmark, published “Counterproductive Sustainable Investing: The Impact Elasticity of Brown and Green Firms.”  Their research paper concludes that the sustainable investing practice of divesting high-emitting companies (referred to as “brown” firms) in favor of low-emitting companies (referred to as “green” firms) is...

This week, our guest is Paolo Maccario, President and CEO of Silfab Solar. Silfab Solar is a Canadian company headquartered in Mississauga that manufactures solar panels in Ontario, Washington State, and South Carolina.  The South Carolina facility will manufacture solar panels and cells with operations expected to be online in the third quarter of 2024.  Cells are a critical input to making modules, and the South Carolina facility will be the first of its kind in North America.  Paolo...

This week, Jean-Denis Charlebois joins the podcast. Jean-Denis is the Chief Economist at the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).  The CER released a report in June outlining three potential future energy scenarios, titled “Canada’s Energy Future 2023: Energy Supply and Demand Projections to 2050.”   Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked Jean-Denis: Why did the CER publish net-zero scenarios for the first time in this recent edition? Are you concerned about how these scenarios are...

This week, Peter and Jackie discuss recent news headlines, including some scary topics on this Halloween podcast recording. Here are some of the topics they discussed: · Rising geopolitical risks.  Why are the oil markets calm in the face of the Israel-Hamas conflict and the potential for an oil outage?  · ExxonMobil and Chevron announce significant acquisitions.  In contrast to the news headlines, Peter and Jackie argue that these acquisitions could make sense, even in the scenario that...

This week our guest is Jason Schneider, Director, Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) and Reeve of Vulcan County in Southern Alberta. The RMA is a progressive, independent association committed to meeting the diverse and changing needs of Alberta’s 69 counties and municipal districts. Since 1909, the RMA has helped rural municipalities advocate for strong, effective local government.  The RMA did not ask for a pause on new permits for renewables projects in Alberta; however, they do have...

This week our guest is Rob West, founder and CEO of Thunder Said Energy. Founded in 2019, the firm aims to help decision-makers find economic opportunities in the energy transition. Rob lives nine time zones away in Estonia and is an uber-productive energy expert, covering a wide range of topics in his consultancy.   Here are some of the questions Peter and Jackie asked Rob: What are your views on the likely demand for oil and gas in 2050? Assuming that oil and gas demand remains relatively...