Loan Losses Archives - AB Pol Econ

2Aug

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Budget, Credit Ratings, Energy, Environment, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Loan Losses, Politics

The Big Two mandates….

Over the past three weeks, Premier Smith has been busy issuing “mandate letters” to her cabinet colleagues. These mandate letters are ministers’ marching orders and are an excellent guide of future legislative and regulatory initiatives by the newly minted Smith government. Given the importance of five ministries which represent the most important conduits of public spending (Health and Education) and strategic public policy and intergovernmental relations (Energy and Minerals, Environment and Protected Areas, and Treasury Board and Finance), this post, and a succeeding post, looks at the central elements of Smith’s agenda. This post looks examines what I call the Big Two Mandates- Energy and Treasury Board and Finance. Energy and Minerals Smith’s letter to Jean, begins, excluding the b...

Bill 44 brings Alberta governments new supervisory powers over ATB Financial

Flying under the radar, the Finance Minister on 3 November introduced Bill 44 the Financial Statutes Amendment Act, an innocuous sounding Bill with important implications for ATB Financial. Minister Toews described the Bill as reducing red tape for "Alberta job creators while improving the resilience of Alberta's financial institutions." The Bill will improve Alberta’s regulatory environment and the competitiveness of Alberta’s financial sector. It will help Alberta attract much-needed investment and job creation in support of our economic recovery plan, and it will balance the government’s commitment to responsible oversight of Alberta’s financial institutions with their need to compete and evolve. However underneath the standard rhetoric of red tape reduction, job creation, and investme...

Follow the Money- if you can

Updated 13 May 2020 and 4 August 2020 In this post, I return to the receivership of Trident Exploration and the various "legal fictions" used including: Trident Limited Partnership, Trident Exploration (Alberta) Corp., Trident Exploration (Aurora) Limited Partnership I, Trident Exploration (2006) Limited Partnership I, and Fenergy Corp. Trident was a debtor to two provincial agencies: ATB Financial (ATB) and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). The Creditors Trident was placed into receivership in May of 2019 and attracted considerable attention because of the large number of unproductive wells and its vast reclamation obligations. The 177 page affidavit of Yvette Kennedy, Chief Administrative Officer of the Town of Stettler initiated the receivership process. AIMCo and A...