Partisan Issues – Fact Based Exploration of Political Issues

Angry About Policy?

Angry About Policy? We try to reduce the emotion and look at the facts.

Energy Industry Got You Worried?

Energy Industry Got You Worried? We cover energy industry from 'oil sands', to nuclear power, to pipelines.

Thinking About US Domination?

Thinking About US Domination? We focus on the Canadian perspective including Britain, Germany, China, Japan and even the US!

Future Tech?

Future Tech? If it involves regulations or government interventions, from solar panels, to autonomous cars, to cyber-crime, we cover it.

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Where Are Canada’s Oil Refineries & How Big Are They?

We wanted to know more about Canada’s oil refineries so we spent a few hours collecting information and mapping it. We show where the refineries are, the year they were constructed and how much they produce. The bubbles are scaled correctly to give you a sense of proportion at a glance. Click to Expand Map Location Year Constructed Operator Details Type Capacity (in 1000s) Lat Long Burnaby, BC 1936 Parkland Fuel (formerly Chevron) Refinery 55 49.1 123 Prince George,…

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Don’t Compare Oshawa GM to Alberta Pipelines

Three days ago Linda Mcquaig wrote an article in the Toronto Star saying: Yet, oddly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau showed no such careful consideration when he promptly jumped in with 4.5 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase the leaky, 65-year-old Trans Mountain pipeline last spring, declaring it “in the national interest” to ensure the pipeline’s expansion after the corporate owner threatened to back out of the project. And taxpayers could be on the hook for another $9.3 billion if Ottawa ends up financing…

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10 Quick Facts About The US Presidents Power To Declare a National Emergency

It turns out that US Presidents have not been shy about declaring so called “National Emergencies” through history and there are things you should know. Here are the quick facts about National Emergencies: Nothing can stop US President from declaring a National Emergency but acting on that declaration is another matter . As of January 2019 the US lives under 31 National Emergency declarations, the oldest is from Jimmy Carter in 1979 . The right to declare a National Emergency…

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VIDEO: Why More Coal Plants Have Shut In Trumps First 2 Years Than Obama’s First 4

Most casual observers hear sound bites and web clips talking about coal jobs coming back to the United States and think that it must be happening, but it just isn’t. The Trump EPA and other regulatory bodies have notably deregulated the coal business, but you can’t sell what people don’t want. In this case ‘people’ are the companies that produce electricity, and they don’t want coal. Power companies have turned toward a much more stable form of energy input that…

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Albertans: Your Local Government Owes You $10K – CFIB Ranks Every Alberta Municipality

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) just published a report that can be used as an efficiency rating for Alberta Towns and Cities. The idea of the report was to note that most Alberta Towns and Cities have been spending at an unsustainable rate. The CFIB found that between 2006 and 2016: If Municipal operating spending had been tied to inflation plus population growth, each household in Alberta would have saved $1,624 in 2016 alone. Over the ten year period…

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Why Trump Supporters Are So Insistent on a Border Wall With Mexico… And Its Not What You Think

Donald Trump and friends have been banging on this border wall idea for years and their supporters are energized by it. Our editorial staff have spent days thinking about how Trump supporters could be so insistent that a border wall is needed when it so obviously is not (let’s not argue the pro’s and con’s here, just follow the big picture logic below)… and we think we came up with the answer. In short, Trump / Wall supporters don’t know…

Should You Be Afraid of the Islamic Party of Ontario?

So should you be concerned or even afraid of the Islamic Party of Ontario? That is a fair question as Canada is a very liberal democracy and the IPoO is… well… not. We spent several hours researching the party and wrote up the 10 Quick Facts You Should Know About the Islamic Party of Ontario which includes: 4 – The Islamic Party of Ontario wants to roll back or ban: Abortion: Abortion is a federal issue so Provincial parties are free to…

10 Quick Facts You Should Know About The Islamic Party Of Ontario

We recently saw the graphic shown on the right (click to enlarge it) that seems to be a slander campaign about the so called “Islamic Party of Ontario”. So we decided to look into the situation and pulled out the following facts. 1 – The Islamic Party of Ontario is Real: They have a poor quality but apparently legitimate website with a notable founder and leader Jawed Anwar. There has been some effort to tie the Islamic Party of Ontario…

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The US Has 5 Times The Percentage of High Income Earners Compared to Canada

US vs Canada Income Distribution Explained in a Simple Graph. In the graph below we compare American and Canadian Individual (as opposed to household) incomes. In particular we were interested in the difference in income distributions. To get to the point, you can see that: If you earn more than USD $50K you are in the top 25% of Canadians but 35% of Americans If you earn more than USD $100K you are in the top 2% of Canadians but…

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If You Earn More than $100K You Are In The Top 14% of Americans – Individual Income Distribution in the United States

Below is a graphs showing American income distribution for individual (not households) in 2017. To get to the point, if you earn: More than USD $50K you are in the top one third of Americans More than USD $100K you are in the top 14% of Americans More than USD $200K you are in the top 4% of Americans US Income # of People Percentage of Population $ 0 to $10K 25610 20% $10K to $25K 22779 18% $25K…

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Income Map Of Canadian Cities: What Province Has The Highest Income Earners? (Hint: It’s Not Ontario or Quebec)

The map of Canada below shows the individual income in percentiles, across the country: CLICK TO ENLARGE MAP The most interesting line is the think green line which shows that 60th percentile, meaning that if you make that amount of money per year, you are in the highest paid 40% of Canadians. It will come as a surprise to many that Ontario and Quebec do not have the highest income earners, Alberta rings that bell.. You can see that Alberta…

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If You Earn $100K You Are In The Top 10% of Canadians – Income Distributions From 1985 – 2016

Below are three graphs showing Canadian income distribution for an individual from 1985 through 2015. To get to the point, if you earn: $100K/year you are in the top 10% of Canadians $125K/year you are in the top 5% of Canadians $150K/year you are in the top 3% of Canadians $175K/year you are in the top 2% of Canadians $235K/year you are in the top 1% of Canadians CLICK TO ENLARGE THESE GRAPHS You may also find our very short article titled Income Map…

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VIDEO: 2019 is The Best Time In All of History, but Tomorrow May Still Be Bleak

It is empirically a fact that we are living in the best time in human history. Poverty, sickness, insecurity are following their long term trend lines downward. However this short snippet from a Fareed Zakaria GPS interview explains that does not mean these trends will continue. There was yesterday, is today and will be tomorrow, the possibility of global catastrophe. Our modern connected world has virtually guaranteed that some crisis will affect you or your family in the coming years.…

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What Countries Have Banned Huawei?

Huawei is the massive Chinese telecom company that has mysterious financing and ownership. Their murky connections to the Chinese Government and military are of such great concern that some Western nations and companies have severed ties with Huawei. This is our third report in our series on the largest telecom company in the world. Our other two are: 10 Short Answers To Why Huawei is so Scary To Western Countries Who Owns Huawei? A Fascinating Story Which Countries Have Banned…

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Who Owns Huawei? A Fascinating Story

Huawei was founded in 1987 and it is well established that the Chinese Government “helped” at several points in its early history. There are dozens of articles on Huawei that start like this: While no direct ties between Huawei and the Chinese military and Communist Party have ever been established beyond (founder and) CEO Ren Zhengfei’s past ties to both, the fast-growing telco supplier’s ownership structure is still fascinating, strange and tricky for Western observers to understand. SOURCE Huawei states that they…

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10 Short Answers To Why Huawei is so Scary To Western Countries

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation said: We’re deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company (like Huawei) that is beholden to foreign governments that don’t share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks. That provides the capacity to exert pressure or control over our telecommunications infrastructure. It provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage. but no-one has provided specifics. What has Huawei…