ATB Financial

• CALGARY, AB, May 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Nanalysis Scientific Corp. ("the Company", TSXV: NSCI , OTCQX: NSCIF , FRA: 1N1 ), a leader in portable NMR machines and MRI technology for industrial and research applications, releases its first quarter results ending March 31, 2023.
• Chief Executive Officer, Sean Krakiwsky and Chief Financial Officer, Randall McRae will host a conference call at 5 P.M. Eastern Time today to discuss the results.
• "Nanalysis reported consolidated revenue of $4,674K for the first quarter of 2023," said Sean Krakiwsky Founder and CEO of Nanalysis.
• Medical: RS2D began work on a large pre-clinical MRI project during the first quarter but has not yet reached the project milestones required under IFRS to allow for revenue recognition in Q1 2023.

• Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, will join Genesys CEO and Chairman Tony Bates to discuss how his vision for a people-centric approach redefined modern travel by using the power of empathy to ignite customer and employee loyalty.
• Genesys Xperience 2023 will inspire attendees with A Bold New Way to strengthen customer and employee relationships by scaling empathy and personalization through Experience Orchestration.
• Xperience 2023 attendees will leave equipped with the knowledge and tools to meet the rising expectations of consumers while managing business performance in a complex market.
• To register, and for more information about the agenda and event, visit Xperience .

• As a political scientist with a public finance background, I have been studying the impact that environmental contamination can have on government finances.
• Environmental liabilities are the future costs assumed by licensed oil and gas companies to remediate the extraction site to its previous state.

Reclamation

• What’s known as the “polluter pay” principle in Alberta law requires all licensed and operational oil and gas companies to adhere to the remediation and reclamation practices of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER).
• Since 2015, financial hardship has resulted in a number of court decisions with significant ramifications for those who could ultimately be stuck with the reclamation bill — taxpayers rather than company shareholders.
• Financial security is defined as cash or letters of credit that ensure funds are available to the regulator for reclamation costs if companies go bankrupt and fail to meet their obligations.

Two key court cases

• The first court case on this issue began in May 2015 after ATB Financial, an arm of the Alberta government, pushed Redwater Resources into bankruptcy.
• Taking such action is always a last resort for a creditor, especially for a public institution like ATB.
• When the case made it to the Supreme Court of Canada, the polluter pay principal was upheld.

Unpaid municipal taxes

• Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) says that as of December 2021, $253 million in unpaid taxes had accrued.
• The RMA is particularly galled that the provincial government allowed companies to avoid municipal taxes on new wells drilled until 2025.
• Furthermore, it would only apply to 41 per cent of unpaid taxes owed by companies that are currently operating.

Smith’s royalty lobbying

• Smith’s support of the oil industry’s efforts to receive royalty payment breaks, meanwhile, is an embarrassment to the sector.
• The premier’s proposed royalty deferral program, RStar, was previously rejected by then Energy Minister Sonya Savage, who was soon moved to the Environment and Parks department.

Kearl Lake spill

Recently a toxic spill at Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake oilsands mine has led to a House of Commons environment committee inquiry. The AER and Imperial Oil failed to notify affected First Nations or the federal government. Heartbreaking testimony from First Nations and evasive testimony from chief executives of both Imperial Oil and the AER reveal continuing indifference to the environment.

A tool of the industry

• All of these developments suggest the Alberta Energy Regulator is controlled by the industry and has lost the public’s trust, particularly First Nations.
• A powerful book, Hidden Scourge by ecologist Kevin Timoney calls for a dismantling of the regulator, given it apparently acts on behalf of the industry and not the public.

• The boost Alberta is getting from its energy and agriculture sectors will help propel it to the top of the provincial growth leaderboard.
• With that said, many households and businesses will be stretched thin by higher prices and borrowing costs.
• ATB Financial's updated forecast is for Alberta's real GDP to grow by 2.6 per cent in 2023 followed by 2.3 per cent in 2024.
• Nevertheless, we may not see the spike in unemployment that typically accompanies periods of elevated interest rates due to ongoing labour shortages.