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December 24, 2019

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OPINION: How natural resources form the core of Thunder Bay’s Indigenous-settler power imbalance – by Ernie Epp (Globe and Mail – December 23, 2019)

December 23, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ernie Epp is a professor emeritus of history at Lakehead University, and a member of Parliament for Thunder Bay-Nipigon from 1984 to 1988.

Millenniums ago, as an Ice Age ended and glaciers melted, Mother Earth came to life again in the lands we now call Northern Ontario. The gifts of the creator – fish in the waters, geese in their annual migrations, animals that offered themselves for nourishment and clothing, trees that provided shelter – drew Indigenous people into these territories. In time, Europeans came, too, seeking the animal pelts they could sell in Europe.

This push-and-pull over resources – occasionally fruitful, but often fraught – is the story of Thunder Bay’s economy. It is a narrative of partnerships and rivalries that have shaped the tense relationships between Indigenous people and settlers that exist here to this day.

At its best, the fur trade was a partnership in which cast-off furs – “greasy beaver” – were exchanged for manufactured items such as clothing, knives and guns. European gentlemen bought felt hats made from the inner hair of the beaver pelts, and Indigenous people obtained warmer clothing, superior tools and more effective means of hunting.

In the ‘Star Wars’ Economy, One Thing Doesn’t Pay – by Adam Minter (Bloomberg News – December 23, 2019)

December 23, 2019

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Junk is surprisingly pervasive in “Star Wars,” playing an understated role in nearly every film in the series. In “The Phantom Menace,” we meet young Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader, working at a small electronics scrap yard and repair shop.

In “A New Hope,” Luke Skywalker’s uncle buys R2-D2 and C-3PO from a group of Jawas, a species that drive massive, sand-crawling junk trucks. The recently released “Rise of Skywalker” is largely a coming-of-age story for Rey, the last of the Jedi, who spent her youth scavenging electronic scrap on Jakku, a remote outer planet.

As a third-generation descendent of earthbound scrap-metal recyclers, I’ve subjected myself to repeated “Star Wars” viewings (even of the bad films), partly just to spot all the junkyard tidbits. Over the years, I’ve developed a theory or two about the waste and recycling economy in the series, and enjoyed sharing it with (primarily) other junkyard descendants.

INSIGHT: Watching China’s Continuing Investment Push in Latin America – by Michael J. McGuinness (Bloomberg Law – December 23, 2019)

December 23, 2019

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/

China has dramatically ramped up its investment in Latin America in recent years, raising speculation about its long-term interests and intentions. This conversation has taken on renewed importance in light of the trade war between China and the United States, which could irrevocably shift the complex commercial and political dynamics among the three regions.

Despite the mounting speculation and China’s economic slowdown, China remains in for the long haul in Latin America. In addition to straightforward trade pursuits, it is also advancing what it calls its “Going Global” development policy, an initiative stretching back to 1999 that promotes overseas investment by streamlining procedures, simplifying currency rules, and increasing credit support for Chinese companies investing overseas.

As investors seek to more fully understand China’s role in Latin America, they would be well advised to pay close attention to Brazil, which will play an outsized role in the relationship between China and Latin America more broadly.

OEMs ‘fail to understand need to source EV battery raw materials’ – by Steve Garnsey (Automotive Logistics – December 23, 2019)

December 23, 2019

https://www.automotivelogistics.media/

OEMs and companies in the automotive supply chain show a lack of comprehension of how serious the situation is in accessing key metals required for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, according to Scott Williamson, managing director of Australian mineral explorer and mine developer Blackstone Minerals.

“I don’t think they [the automotive industry] understand how critical and difficult it is to get hold of these metals,” he told Automotive Logistics.

“There’s a disconnect between the amounts of money at the automotive level and what comes down to us,” he added. “If the money doesn’t come down to the mining level, there will be no EV revolution.”

OPINION: Thunder Bay’s economic hardships are a sign of things to come for the rest of Canada – by Livio Di Matteo (Globe and Mail – December 23, 2019)

December 23, 2019December 23, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Livio Di Matteo is a professor of economics at Lakehead University.

There’s a good argument to be made that Canada would not exist as we understand it today without Thunder Bay. The 19th-century federal policies around building the Canadian Pacific Railway made it necessary to build cities on Northern Ontario’s lakehead.

Port Arthur and Fort William, the cities that would amalgamate into Thunder Bay in 1970, became grain shipment points for the prairie frontier, bringing the area prosperity. That was only amplified by provincial government policies supporting the myriad industries that followed suit: forestry, mining, shipbuilding, rail-car manufacturing, pulp and paper.

And the economic infrastructure that was laid in the first third of the 20th century provided opportunities for immigrants in the area’s sawmills, pulp mills, grain elevators and manufacturing plants.

RPT-COLUMN-Doctor Copper ends 2019 with a new-found spring in his step – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – December 22, 2019)

December 23, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 20 (Reuters) – Doctor Copper is ending the year on a high note. London Metal Exchange (LME) copper has this morning hit a seven-month high of $6,235.50 per tonne, having broken out of its previous $5,500-6,000 range earlier this month.

Funds have been covering back short positions and building new long positions as bank analysts turn more positive on copper’s prospects for next year. The trigger for Doctor Copper’s resurgence was the announcement of a “Phase One” trade deal between the United States and China.

The deal is still somewhat nebulous and no-one seems sure whether there will be a “Phase Two”, but, to quote Goldman Sachs, there is a sense that “US-China tariffs have peaked”. (“Macro at a Glance”, Dec. 18, 2019). That in turn, it is hoped, will help reinvigorate stuttering demand from China’s manufacturing sector.

Accent: Sudbury’s impact on Lake Huron (hint — it’s major) – by Joe Shorthouse (Sudbury Star – December 21, 2019)

December 23, 2019

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury is part of the Great Lakes Ecosystem. Water in toilets flushed in Sudbury, along with waters from mine tailings, flows into Lake Huron and pass under the swing bridge on Manitoulin Island

The new partnership of residents who live year-round on the islands in the Great Lakes, called the Great Lakes Islands Alliance (GLIA), held its third annual Summit on Mackinac Island in Lake Michigan in October.

As with previous gatherings, participants reminded themselves that the Great Lakes hold about 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water and living on islands comes with the responsibility of protecting the integrity of this critical resource.

Participants have come to visualize the five Great Lakes as gently sloping eastward from the west coast of Lake Superior to the east coast of Lake Ontario, and as a result, Great Lakes waters eventually flow into the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean.

The unclear path forward for Canada’s auto sector as the electric age approaches – by Ian Bickis (Canadian Press/CTV News – December 22, 2019)

December 23, 2019December 23, 2019

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

TORONTO — The last vehicles of an era rolled out of GM Canada’s Oshawa assembly plant last week, but workers and the union behind them hope it’s not the end of the line.

“We shouldn’t let go of the manufacturing capacity we have there,” said Tony Leah, who worked at the plant for 39 years before having to retire in early December. He’s part of a campaign advocating for government to take over the plant and produce electric vehicles.

The end of production at the plant, which assembled vehicles such as the GMC Silverado and Chevy Impala in the final years of its 66-year run, comes at a time of change and uncertainty in the auto industry as it grapples with slowing sales, trade disputes and the steep costs of transitioning production to electric and autonomous vehicles.

Canada could be an LNG giant — but the Liberals screwed it up – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – December 21, 2019)

December 23, 2019December 23, 2019

https://business.financialpost.com/

By declaring war against our natural resources, Trudeau’s government has missed out on building Canada’s single best contribution to the fight against climate change

The failure this week at the United Nation’s Climate Change conference in Madrid was predictable, given the current agreement’s flaws.

And yet, Canada’s Liberals are ranking members of the Climate Change Industry. They comply even though their accession has harmed our country. They govern as though they ran Denmark or Luxembourg with no resource industry, tiny populations and relatively small landmasses.

By swearing allegiance to the United Nations’ Climate Change religion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and various other Canadian politicians have declared war against pipelines, resources, and the Canadian people. They have listened to politically correct zealots only and ascribed to fabricated regulations and rhetoric concocted by people with little to lose.

Marketing LNG as a climate saviour at Madrid summit isn’t going to work – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – December 11, 2019)

December 23, 2019December 23, 2019

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Good news for Canada! It is no longer in the running for the Fossil of the Day Award, which is bestowed by environmental activists on countries going out of their way to ensure the planet achieves burnt toast status. This week, at the Madrid climate summit, Australia and the United States have emerged as the big winners.

The bad news? The Canadian oil and gas industry will probably leave the United Nations climate conference with no prize of its own. It had hoped that exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) would play a role in reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions. Gas burns more cleanly than coal and the industry wanted Canada to earn emission credits by, say, exporting the fuel to China, where it might displace coal in power plants.

The idea seems to be going nowhere. Even Jonathan Wilkinson, the Environment Minister who made his international debut on Tuesday in Madrid, has played down the chances of LNG exports fitting into Canada’s emissions-reduction effort. “I think we have to be very careful about the LNG argument,” he told The Globe and Mail ahead of his arrival at the summit known as COP25.

Disruptive decade: Ten things the teen years brought world markets (Reuters U.S. – December 23, 2019)

December 23, 2019December 23, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – The 21st century’s teen years, bookended by a financial crisis at the start and the fintech revolution at the end, were a decade of disruption. From negative borrowing costs to bitcoin, here are ten trends that have upended traditional economic and investment models in the past decade:

1/FAANG-TASTIC FIVE

If they were a country, they would be the fifth largest in terms of economic output, outgunning Britain and snapping at Germany’s heels. With a $3.9 trillion market value (versus around $100 billion in January 2010), tech giants Facebook, Amazon.com, Apple, Netflix and Google-owner Alphabet — collectively known as the FAANGs — are not only at the vanguard of history’s longest share bullrun but have transformed how humans work, shop, consume news and relax.

FAANGs comprise 7% of the MSCI global equity index today, up from around 1.6% in early 2010. The savvy investor who sank $25,000 in Netflix in 2009 would now be sitting on $1 million.

Exclusive: Pentagon to stockpile rare earth magnets for missiles, fighter jets – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters U.S. – December 20, 2019)

December 20, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – The U.S. military plans to stockpile rare earth magnets used in Javelin missiles and F-35 fighter jets, according to a government document seen by Reuters, a step that critics say does little to help create a domestic industry to build specialized magnets now made almost exclusively in Asia.

The Pentagon is seeking proposals to cache a rotating six-month supply of neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets, a type of rare earth magnet essential to weapons manufacturing, according to the document, detailing the latest attempt to weaken China’s control over the rare earths sector.

Beijing has been using that prowess for leverage in its trade war with Washington. The request effectively seeks someone to warehouse a six-month supply of the specialized magnets and maintain it for at least 30 months. It does not offer financial support for NdFeB magnet manufacturing, which industry analysts and executives say is a short-sighted misstep by the Pentagon.

Ottawa will take your comments on the Ring of Fire road – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – December 19, 2019)

December 20, 2019

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Public comments are being taken as part of a federal environment assessment (EA) of the first leg of the proposed north-south Ring of Fire road. The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (formerly known as the Canadian Environment Assessment Agency) is inviting feedback for the upcoming EA of the Marten Falls Community Access Road Project.

The agency determined an EA was necessary on Nov.29. Ottawa wants the public to provide direction on what specific factors must be addressed for the environmental study and how the public should be engaged during this process.

A provincial environment assessment on the corridor began last March. Both levels of government are expected to coordinate their efforts in this process. Marten Falls First Nation, the road proponent, is a fly-in community of 325 at the junction of the Albany and Ogoki Rivers, about 170 kilometres northeast of Nakina in northwestern Ontario and about 100 kilometres southeast of the mineral deposits in the Ring of Fire.