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The long-term answer is building new pipelines, which we will keep fighting for. We are also increasing upgrading and refining capacity here in Alberta, and we have taken bold action to get thousands of rail cars to dramatically increase the amount of oil we ship by rail, but none of these solutions will bring about relief in the short term.

We need to do more and do it now.

There are two competing views for how we fix this problem. Neither choice is without downsides.

The first is to let the free market sort itself out. The thinking is that companies will have to make decisions about what they can produce based on what they can sell. Some of the bigger companies, companies that are both producers and refiners, are still able to operate at a profit, even at these low prices. Many companies, though, are not and would be forced to sell at a loss for as long as they can manage. Some have already had to lay people off and no doubt there would be more. Some would likely shut their doors.

The second view for how we fix this is for us to intervene and temporarily restrict oil production, with a cut in production, industry-wide. That restriction would remain in place until stockpiles draw down, the price gap closes and the bleeding stops.

My political counterparts in both the Alberta Party and the UCP have made their positions on this issue known, and I want to thank them for their contributions to this discussion. Both Mr. Mandel of the Alberta Party and Mr. Kenney of the UCP have called for a production cut.