A12 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| FRIDAY,MARCH27,
EDITORIAL
PHILLIPCRAWLEY
PUBLISHERANDCEO
DAVIDWALMSLEY
EDITOR-IN-CHIEFC
anada’s struggling oil industry rode into 2020 on a
smallwave ofoptimism.
The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion projectwas finally approved last June and had survived a series of
court challenges. Buoyed by the prospect of greater export
capacity and higher production, Alberta Premier Jason Ken-
ney presented a budget in February that bet on rising oil pric-
es and higher employment. Alberta wasn’t back by any
means, but it was heading in the right direction.
And then March happened.
Saudi Arabia launched an oil price war on March 10 –flooding the world market with cheap crude and crashing the
price per barrel. And then, as the coronavirus pandemic
spread and countries began locking themselves down, de-
mand vanished as well.
Airlines have parked their planes. People have parkedtheir cars. On Thursday, the benchmark Canadian heavy oil
price fell by almost a third, to its lowest point on record.
Stocks of Canada’s oil and gas companies have collapsed.
Workers and companies in every province are being hurtby the induced economic coma caused by the forced closure
of non-essential businesses and the calls to self-isolate, but
no patient was quite as unhealthy as the oil and gas sector
before it began, or quite as important to Canada’s economy. It
must survive.
Which is why Ottawa and Edmonton are working on abailout deal for the oil and gas sector whose value is reported
at $15-billion. The figure is massive for a single industry, given
the $107-billion package for the entire country, but there is a
reason for that: Oil is, by far, Canada’s top export.
For some critics, the proposed bailout raises the questionof why Ottawa would assist an industry that is unlikely to
exist in the same form by the end of the century, and whose
products result in many of the greenhouse gas emissions that
are contributing to global warming (remember that?).
But it is just plain wrong to think that Alberta’s oil and gassector, which collectively employs 100,000 Canadians,
should be left to suffer its fate. Would anyone say the same
about the airlines, food manufacturers and forestry compa-
nies that employ so many people?
On the other hand, this is not the moment to solve thesector’s longer-term problems. Any help over the next
months should be about the crisis at hand.
To that end, Ottawa’s plan, which hasn’t been officially an-nounced but is expected soon, seems to be mostly on the
right track, based on what has been reported to date.
The package will likely include mechanisms to providemore access to credit, which is always the right thing to do
during economic crises. Companies, especially struggling
small- and medium-sized ones, need money to keep oper-
ating when revenues disappear. There is nothing particular
to the oil and gas sector about such a move, other than that
its need has been exacerbated by Saudi Arabia’s price war.
Also on the table is a payroll tax reduction, which again issomething that can be applied to businesses across the coun-
try, but which could be particularly important to the oil and
gas sector at this moment.
But there is also talk of significant funding to hire laid-offoil and gas workers to clean up the abandoned wells that lit-
ter the province, something that companies and the Alberta
government have together been lax about to the point of irre-
sponsibility.
This part of the plan is problematic. It would amount tofederal employment aid designed specifically for Alberta’s
needs, fixing a problem of the province’s own making, and
targeted to workers in one particular sector.
Alberta should feel free to do this on its own. But if Ottawais going to fund emergency work programs, they must be
available to all Canadians. It’s not fair that a laid-off restau-
rant worker in Halifax is eligible for $2,000 a month in emer-
gency funding for four months, while the laid-off oil worker
in Alberta is offered relatively lucrative work at taxpayer ex-
pense.
That said, there is no question that the fossil fuel industryhas been hit with a double whammy, and needs particular
assistance. And given the importance of the sector and the
construction of the Trans Mountain expansion, there is every
reason to believe that targeted assistance to keep the indus-
try solvent will pay off in the coming decades, and benefit all
of Canada.
Oil,Alberta,
andaneeded
rescuepackage
HOME FOR A RESTRe Canada To Begin Enforcing
Self-isolation For Travellers
(March 26) and Go Home From
The Airport. That’s An Order
(Editorial, March 26): More than
three weeks ago, Canada’s Chief
Public Health Officer Theresa
Tam stressed that the time to act
is now, and that our window of
opportunity was closing fast. I
feel the government itself did
not heed that sense of urgency.
It seems the Prime Minister
naively expected that all Cana-
dian travellers would respect the
voluntary mandate to self-iso-
late. Knowing how quickly the
virus can spread, it should have
been evident that even 99-per-
cent compliance would not be
enough.
Over three weeks, a non-com-
pliant 1 per cent may have in-
troduced many thousands of
new cases into Canada – cases
that could have been avoided
had the Quarantine Act been
triggered much earlier.
Phil JacquesLondon, Ont.Short of driving snowbirds home
in the back of army lorries and
stationing guards outside their
homes, politely asking travellers
to go straight into self-isolation
always seemed like a pipe
dream.
The government had many
alternative measures at its dis-
posal: It could have reminded
them, bribed them, legislated
them or forced them to comply.
We will knowthe government
is serious about its COVID-
rules if the army is called, which
historically is how most wars
have been fought. Until then, the
rest of us may have to rely on
prayer and a very indulgent God.
Patrick CowanTorontoAWAYWEGORe Government Urges Canadians
Abroad To Return Home, While
Planning For Those Who Can’t
(March 26): A big shout out of
support to Canada’s embassy
employees around the world,
who are striving to repatriate
tens of thousands of Canadians
spread out in the hills, valleys,
seasides and streets of multiple
countries on different conti-
nents.
Theirs is not an easy task.
Contacting men, women and
children. Trying to assemble
them in central locations where
aircraft can land, while ensuring
they have food, water and
shelter.
Obtaining local flight clear-
ances. Liaising with Ottawa on
aircraft availability and flight
times. Checking documents and
health status.
Dealing with emotionally
stressed people while remaining
calm. Seeing everyone off safely
while remaining behind.I managed an evacuation
when law and order broke down
in Indonesia in 1998.
This is a much bigger global
endeavour in unparalleled cir-
cumstances.
We should, however, be confi-
dent in the professionalism of
our representatives abroad to
meet the challenge.
Gary SmithFormer Canadian
ambassador, Perth, Ont.My family was “evacuated” from
Cuba late last week. The six of us- myself, my wife, daughter, son-
in-law and two grandchildren –
were blown away by the efforts
of our government to get us
through this crisis.
The airline could not have
been more helpful in accommo-
dating our needs.
Canada’s diplomatic staff in
Cuba let us know they were
there for us. Our wireless carrier
waived roaming charges. When
we boarded the plane, we were
welcomed as if everything was
fine.
At the airport in Ottawa, bor-
der agents were welcoming, even
at 2 a.m. Then, waiting for us,
was a warm taxi with a friendly,
well-informed driver.
Rod Grainger and familyOttawa
MONEY MOVESRe This Pandemic Could Trigger
A Spiral Of Disasters – If We Let It
(Opinion, March 21): Money
should not be seen as crucial as
one might think to the COVID-
response.
There is ample proof in the
work of a large number of empir-
ical economists, unencumbered
by free-market dogmas, that a
sovereign state has the power to
create money in any quantity it
deems necessary.
What limits there are would
be political choices, such as fiscal
prudence. Canada is such a state.
The real question should be:
Do we have the human, institu-
tional and material resources to
do our share?
Of course we do. Imagine the
gloomy absurdity of a small bat-
tered residue of humanity sitting
around in 200 years saying of us:
“They had everything they need-
ed to stop it, but they didn’t do it,
because they said they couldn’t
find the money.”
Worrying about money in a
time of great crisis seems like a
fatal digression.
Let’s get moving: Draw up the
plan, gather resources and get to
work. Now.
John HarropNaramata, B.C.Re The Markets – And Investors –
Will Be Fine, If History Is Any
Indication (Report on Business,
March 25): How far back do we
have to go to find stock prices as
low as we’ve seen recently?
Not as many years as the fin-
gers on one hand, it turns out.If you look at the TSX total
returns index – the best one to
benchmark against, I believe,
because it includes dividend in-
come – it is still no worse than
what it had dropped at the start
of 2016.
We’ve been here before. We
got out of it then, we’ll get out of
it this time.
Michael MooreTorontoCOMING ATTRACTIONSRe A Tough Road Ahead For In-
dependent Cinemas (March 20):
I now count myself a near-
addicted film-festival-goer, but
my enthrallment with world cin-
ema began in that lovely old the-
atre at 400 Roncesvalles Ave., in
west Toronto.
I had the pleasure of living in
the area from 1967-68 and dis-
covered the somewhat rundown,
but nonetheless functional,
theatre.
I recall Russian and Bulgarian
films, but as much as I enjoyed
them and had no difficulty with
subtitles, I loved the gregarious
nature of the audience.
It was not unusual for some-
one to open up a “picnic” pre-
pared especially for the cinema:
kielbasa, pickles and bread from
the Polish neighbourhood.
Somehow it made the movie
experience a bit out of this
world, as we munched and
watched, and laughed and cried- and picked up our trash.
I am heartened to know that
the Revue Cinema’s heart still
beats.
Mary ValentichCalgary
IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTHRe COVID-19 Wreaks Havoc On
Wedding Season (March 23): My
wife Josee and I just celebrated
our 23rd wedding anniversary.
Our honeymoon was a 61-day
trip around the world.
We decided that this would be
a great year to go on our second
honeymoon. Rather than travell-
ing, we are spending this one at
home.
For the next 61 days, we will
prepare a special romantic can-
dlelight dinner every night, read
our honeymoon diary in bed,
look at our wedding photos,
watch romantic movies, plan our
next post-COVID-19 vacation and
reminisce about all the good
times we’ve had in our marriage.
I bet the next 61 days will fly
by even faster than they did on
our first honeymoon!
Peter DielissenFrederictonLETTERSTOTHEEDITOR
Thesubjectwhoistrulyloyaltothechiefmagistratewillneitheradvisenorsubmittoarbitrarymeasures-Junius
LetterstotheEditorshouldbe
exclusivetoTheGlobeandMail.
Includename,addressanddaytime
phonenumber.Keeplettersunder
150words.Lettersmaybeeditedfor
lengthandclarity.E-mail:
[email protected]SINCLAIRSTEWART
DEPUTYEDITOR
CHRISTINEBROUSSEAU
ASSISTANTMANAGINGEDITOR,NEWS
ANGELAPACIENZA
EXECUTIVEEDITOR
SHAWNARICHER
ASSISTANTMANAGINGEDITOR,
FEATURESANDSPORTSGARYSALEWICZ
EDITOR,REPORTONBUSINESS
DENNISCHOQUETTE
MANAGINGEDITOR,ROBANDINVESTIGATIONSTONYKELLER
EDITORIALPAGEEDITOR
NATASHAHASSAN
OPINIONEDITORMATTFREHNER
HEADOFVISUALS
SYLVIASTEAD
PUBLICEDITOR