When Finance Minister Bill Morneau said help for the oil industry was “hours away” most experts thoughts 24 to 48..It’s now been 384 hours since Morneau made that statement and climbing hourly..On March 25, Morneau told a senate committee, the energy industry had been decimated by a combination of the record low price for a barrel of oil caused by a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the coronavirus crisis..Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau told the Senate committee help for the beleaguered oilpatch could be hours or days away..“The energy sector is in a particularly challenging situation,” Morneau told the committee..“We’re also in hourly contact with the energy sector to think about how we can bridge the time by providing some sort of appropriate credit opportunities for them — and that is work that is going on right now,” he said..“I don’t have the final answer on the exact hour that that will be delivered, but I’m not talking about weeks. I’m talking about hours, potentially days, that we can ensure that there’s credit facilities for especially the small- and medium-size firms in that sector.”.In the first jobs figures since the coronavirus hit, more than one million people in Canada lost their jobs in March and the unemployment rate climbed to 7.8 per cent, the largest one-month increase in history of the country’s jobless rate, which had been 5.6 per cent in February..In a statement Wednesday, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) said it has been working closely with the federal government to identify important areas for urgent action to help Canada’s energy sector survive..CAPP said liquidity for companies and regulatory certainty were among the keys to keep the oilpatch alive..“Urgent action is needed to provide a measure of certainty for Canadian energy producers during exceptionally uncertain times. Since we began our discussions with the Government of Canada three weeks ago, we have lost between $6 billion to $8 billion of investment in the Canadian energy sector. This has resulted in job losses across the country and further damage to every sector of our economy,” said Tim McMillan, president and CEO of CAPP..“A strong industry creates jobs for Canadians and generates much-needed revenues for government. The oil and natural gas industry is crucial to our country’s economic well-being and can help lead our recovery, as well as be the foundation for long-term resilience.”.Morneau hasn’t given any details of the possible help but the Globe reported last month a $15-billion bailout would give companies more access to credit, especially for struggling small and medium-sized operations, and significant funding to create jobs for laid-off workers to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells..Bloomberg News estimated Canadian energy companies have slashed in capital spending for the year between $5.3 billion to $6.5 billion..Former Green Party leader Elizabeth May has called for the government not to bailout the industry and to let it die..Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said many oil producing companies have lost 90 per cent of their value in the last month, alone..Kenney announced last week his government was providing $1.5 billion in equity investment and a $6-billion loan guarantee to TC Energy to get the Keystone XL project completed .Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westewrnstandardonline.com.TWITTER:Twitter.com/nobby7694
