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Yesterday's Speech from the Throne reads more like a list of what this government sees as its main achievements than a true framework for going forward. New initiatives are few and far between, sandwiched between pages of self-congratulatory recap of the natural gas strategy, the jobs plan and highlights from the last budget.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation's (CNOOC) bid to acquire Nexen is a large and complex proposal. Canadians should call for a more thorough and transparent review than other foreign takeovers have received under the Investment Canada Act. A preliminary outline of possible costs and benefits follows.

The downside: Chinese consumer interests

A company like Nexen aims to sell oil and gas for the highest possible prices to maximize profits. The risk is that CNOOC, which is owned by the government of a large energy consumer, also has an interest in supplying these resources to the Chinese economy at lower prices.

On March 20, Québec's Finance Minister, Raymond Bachand, tabled his third budget. This budget year follows in the wake of those of the last few years. The government is still insisting on transforming public service funding in accordance with the user-fee revolution logic (so dear to Mr. Bachand's heart), developing the Plan Nord, and reforming the pension plan.

Limited royalties

EDMONTON - A new report from the University of Alberta's Parkland Institute says that despite a provincial deficit, the Alberta government will forego some $55 billion in potential revenue over the next three years as a result of overly generous royalty cuts and the government's failure to meet even the modest targets set by previous administrations.

The report, an update to Misplaced Generosity: Extraordinary profits in Alberta's oil and gas industry, published in 2010, looks at the most recent data on profits in the oil and gas industry versus government share, and determines that despite tremendous growth in the industry the share of profits going to Albertans continues to shrink.