The Lead:

The ongoing oil price crash has brought bad news for thousands of BP Plc employees, who are set to lose their jobs as part of a $3.5-billion restructuring program. “We want to simplify (our) structure and reduce costs without compromising safety. Globally, we expect the headcount in upstream to be below 20,000 by the end of the year,” the company said. As Reuters reports, that involves laying off 4,000 workers.

In Canada:

Opponents of Alberta’s carbon tax heard good news yesterday from the province’s environment minister. “Our goal is not to collect the carbon price forever,” Shannon Phillips said during a speech at a Conference Board of Canada event. “A successful outcome of this particular policy would be that revenue would begin to decline as we find ways to reduce our emissions in our day to day lives and in each industrial sector.” The Canadian Press has the story.

Minister Phillips scrummed yesterday with reporters, addressing the oil price slump — which she says the government is “tremendously concerned” about — and the province’s upcoming budget. “This is not Alberta’s first rodeo with respect to forecasting the price of oil,” Phillips said. “This is a province that knows this topic very well and, you know, we rely on our best advice, and then we make our budget deliberations from there.”

(Interested in learning more about Phillips? Maclean’s published a new feature on the minister: Shannon Phillips: Alberta’s Minister of hard hits.)

More news out of Alberta, where opposition members are speaking out against the province’s lagging royalty review. As The Canadian Press reports, Premier Rachel Notley has again postponed the date for the panel’s report.

Meanwhile, in Ontario, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said yesterday that the province is set to save roughly $600 million. As The Canadian Press reports, that’s thanks to its decision to keep the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station running for another four years. This news became public on Monday, during a two-part announcement by Ontario Power Generation Inc.

Internationally:

Six hundred workers at Vancouver-based Eldorado’s gold mine in Skouries, Greece, have lost their jobs, and the firm says it’s likely that almost as many others, working elsewhere in the country, will face a similar fate in the coming months. As The Associated Press reports, this follows the latest feud between Eldorado Gold Corp. and the Greek government, as well as a citizen protest.

Noteworthy:

In Opinion:

From the Calgary Herald‘s Deborah Yedlin: B.C.’s opposition to Trans Mountain pipeline expansion misguided.

Also on the topic of the pipeline, Claudia Cattaneo, the Financial Post‘s western business columnist, wrote this: With B.C.’s rejection of Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, Canada’s diversification strategy is unraveling.