Canadian oil producers are in an increasingly tough predicament. With high and increasing oil demand around the globe over the last year, Canadian oil production has increased accordingly. All of this is simple and predictable economics, but now Canadian oil has hit a massive roadblock. Producers have the supply, and they have more than enough demand, but they don’t have the means to make the connection. Canadian export pipelines simply don’t have the capacity to keep up with either the supply or the demand. Read more Canadian oil producers have now maxed out their storage capacity, and the Canadian glut continues to grow while they wait for a solution to the pipeline problem to materialize. As pipeline space is at a premium and storage has hit maximum capacity, oil prices have fallen dramatically, and the differentials that had previously been hitting heavy oil hard in Canada (now at below $18 a barrel for the first time since 2016) have now spread to light oil and … [Read more...] about Canada’s crude crisis is accelerating
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Canada registers sixfold increase in US citizens seeking asylum in 2017
Tiroude and Gislyne are Haitians by birth and migrants by necessity. The couple’s 18-month-old daughter, however, was born in Fort Lauderdale, and – as an American by birth – she is part of a growing number of US citizens seeking refuge in Canada. In 2017, some 2,550 US citizens applied for asylum in Canada – an increase of more than sixfold from 2016 and the largest such number since at least 1994, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Americans were the third largest contingent of asylum seekers in 2017, after Haitians and Nigerians. The vast majority are children born to Haitian parents, according to experts. “Most of the Americans applying for refugee status are the children of non-residents,” says Stéphane Handfield, a Montreal-based immigration lawyer. “They are US citizens because they were born there, but they come across the border with their parents because they don’t want to be … [Read more...] about Canada registers sixfold increase in US citizens seeking asylum in 2017
This is what it’s like to be a migrant in the age of Trump
TAPACHULA, Mexico — Rosa Gonzalez arrived in the shelter here after leaving her native El Salvador suddenly in late summer, fleeing her small town with her older brother and a few possessions, hoping to avoid becoming yet another murder statistic at the hands of her country’s violent gangs Rosa’s problem hadn’t started with the gangs, but with her husband. He drank, and when he was drunk enough he liked to beat up Rosa. One night, earlier in the summer, he came home and beat her up again. For Rosa, it was the last straw. She took her two kids and left. He begged her to come home, but she refused. Then, desperate, he swallowed poison, was taken to the hospital and died. She was racked with guilt, but there was another problem: His suicide triggered the fury of his brother, a high-up local gang leader. “They blamed me,” she said. Rosa — who asked me to not to use her real surname for this story, for her safety — went into hiding, living … [Read more...] about This is what it’s like to be a migrant in the age of Trump
Pressure turns to Mexico as migrant caravan heads for border
GUATEMALA CITY – As about 3,000 Hondurans made their way through Guatemala, attention turned to Mexico, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to close the U.S.-Mexico border if authorities there fail to stop them – a nearly unthinkable move that would disrupt hundreds of thousands of legal freight, vehicle and pedestrian crossings each day. With less than three weeks before the Nov. 6 midterm elections, Trump seized on the migrant caravan to make border security a political issue and energize his Republican base. “I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!” Trump tweeted, adding that he blamed Democrats for what he called “weak laws!” The threat followed another one earlier this week to cut off aid to Central American countries if the migrants weren’t stopped. Trump made a similar vow over another large … [Read more...] about Pressure turns to Mexico as migrant caravan heads for border
International development minister of Canada visits Ukraine’s war-torn east
OTTAWA – Since becoming Canada’s minister of international development in 2015, Marie-Claude Bibeau has led missions to 30 countries, but had never visited Ukraine until this month when she spent five days, from July 18 to 23, mainly in the country’s war-torn eastern region. Ms. Bibeau, who before entering politics three years ago worked for the Canadian International Development Agency that was folded into Canada’s Foreign Ministry in 2013, has also never spent as much time in a country as minister as she did in Ukraine. In fact, no previous Canadian minister has been on the ground in Ukraine for as long – and none have come anywhere close to Ukraine’s grey zone, according to Ukrainian Canadian Member of Parliament Borys Wrzesnewskyj, who accompanied Ms. Bibeau on her recent trip. On an official level, the major takeaway from the minister’s visit was her announcement on July 19 in Kyiv that as part of the Canadian government’s $50 … [Read more...] about International development minister of Canada visits Ukraine’s war-torn east