NS Politics

Everything is politics, at least to someone.

Tag: news

  • Imperial Oil (ExxonMobil) Cuts Jobs

    ExxonMobil Leaves Loves Canada!

    You can’t make us pay to clean this up once we’re done either.

    We at ExxonMobil would like to remind Canadians that as the owner of 70% of Imperial Oil we call all the shots. Including inserting all the highest executives. And at Imperial Oil (and/or ExxonMobil depending on any legal issues that may or may not arise, we are legally two different companies, don’t get it twisted) we believe our people are our greatest strength.

    As long as they don’t cost too much.

    And while we might be legally and realistically obligated to keep a certain number of operators and technicians to keep a plant running we realized that design, optimization, and compliance are huge areas to potentially streamline our operations. And we are passing the savings on to you, the shareholder! So it is with great pride we announce that we have the privilege of laying off 900 Canadians.

    You are a shareholder right? We wouldn’t want to miss out on this golden opportunity!

    We have spent the last 5+ years innovating the art of offshoring jobs. Conventional wisdom said that natural resource jobs seem land locked to the country they are found within. But we wanted to think bigger and leverage our position as a global mega corporation to take those good paying jobs and put them in India instead! Because those good paying jobs don’t pay as well there! Did you think your family member who went for an engineering degree had safe job prospects? Not if we can help it. Tell them to buy stocks.

    We all have to face the hard facts that despite Canada’s oil and gas sector making money, it simply doesn’t make as much as it could. Like it does in other countries that are easier to plunder. Canada needs to look inwards and ask how it can make itself competitive in the global market. The cost of Canadian workers is just not something our shareholders can bear.

    We look forward to not having to pay the retirements we promised those employees when they joined. It’s a harsh world for anyone without capital. Our company knows this because we worked hard for our capital by destroying the global climate. The people we grace with continued employment will just have to work harder to pick up the slack of two other workers. The sense of pride and accomplishment they get for their works will no doubt improve their lives.

    We will usher in a new era of Christian work ethic!

    For the poor.

    They should have been born rich, or have retired at age 55 in 2007.

    Disclaimer:

    The author of this post does not speak on behalf of ExxonMobil or Imperial Oil, which should be obvious from the content. The author merely wishes to express discontent that there never seems to be such a thing as enough profit, regardless of the lives upturned as a result. And a real government would not let those jobs be off shored to places that do not pay taxes or live in our communities.

    Some true facts:

    It is worth noting that less than two years ago Imperial Oil, in agreement with ExxonMobil as the primary shareholder, bought back approximately $1.5 billion in its own shares. A move one does when it has no interest in investing in anything but wants its share price to go up.

    Imperial Oil has also been operating at a profit in the billions of dollars each year since 2021, with 2022 being a record year. But global oil prices have been slipping so it’s time for the chainsaw.

  • Canada Day 2025 – Not Like Them

    US vacations make you traitor.

    Having an enemy worse than you typically makes you look significantly better by comparison. Existential threats also force a certain amount of action. Most of the 20th century was in the shadow of communism, and since it was not as easy to get information out of a secretive anything as it is today you could argue it took a long time to confirm that the USSR had not figured out a good way to run an economy. The mood at the time forces some extent of negotiations with the working class, lest your state become the next theatre of a communist civil war. Cold War technological races pump up spending and invigorate a sense of needing highly educated people, especially in the US space race. Conflict, after all, does tend to get things done.

    Feel the patriotism burn in your soul. And hope it doesn’t eventually become malignant.

    And now as Canadians we border a country half filled with lunatics. To be a bit more fair only about two thirds of the eligible voters cast a ballot in the 2024 US election. So about a third of the country is confirmed lunatics, one third doesn’t care, and one third loves the status quo. This is hyperbole but I don’t feel like giving the US much credit right now.

    So today we are Canadians dammit! Better than the US because we haven’t fallen nearly as far. But this is going to be tough to maintain. We don’t have much choice but to negotiate with a lunatic. A lunatic that under modern trade and labour has a huge impact on our economy whether we like it or not. We just scrapped a cool tax idea on big tech who deserve to pay after they have gotten soft on the whole democracy and truth idea, if we don’t get a deal we should bring it back.

    Those tech companies don’t actually believe AI will set us free. You will not be getting money for nothing in that future.

    Make Them Hurt As Much As Possible

    It’s okay to start wishing harm on your enemies… right?

    They only know money, this American administration has no concept of soft power. That’s not great because boycotts are typically really hard to maintain if there’s anything you really like about a product of service. Bud Light might be easily replaceable by Coors, but is that Disney World vacation you promised you would take your kids on before they got old and jaded easily replaceable? I guarantee you neither that company or state deserves your money.

    I offer my condolences to the good people of Maine, but sort your own country out first before you ask for more tourists. Maine isn’t particularly Republican either but 45% for Trump is a good indication of how low things will go.

    Keep the American liquor imports out, find as many items like that with domestic and international supplies that can easily replace them.

    Republicans want their people to be poor. Their donors love it, and some of them are true believers that working people to death is the moral thing to do. We can’t chase them to the bottom, they are trying to dig deeper than we can possibly imagine. And if you actually talk to people about how they feel about the super wealthy you might get an idea that a more progressive stance on wealth is warranted. They’ll fight like hell to stop it though.

    Be proud of what we can accomplish as a nation, we are to some extent built on ideals that are worth holding onto. The introspection can be a little less this year.