dutch disease

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Elizabeth May has chosen to respond to my critique of her Green Party website post - 4 facts about Keystone XL - here on the Huffington Post Blog.


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Recently, Green Party leader Elizabeth May orchestrated an open letter to United States Secretary of State John Kerry, urging the U.S. to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. In her note, Ms. May states that she sent Mr. Kerry "4 facts about Keystone XL." Unfortunately, two of Ms. May's facts aren't actually facts, and two of her facts are so lacking in context as to constitute merely factoids.


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It seems everyone has advice on how Western Canada should manage its resources. NDP leader Thomas Mulcair blames the oilsands for “Dutch disease,” the notion that high resource prices cause a hollowing out of manufacturing. It’s a largely mistaken claim, given that manufacturing in Western economies has been under pressure from more competition from emerging economies for some time. Nevertheless, Mulcair would slow down the energy sector by adding a carbon tax (though he’ll skip the same as applied to the automotive industry).