The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that adjusting for inflation, the current price of West Texas Intermediate crude is hovering around $45 (U.S.). The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that the last time it fell to this level, a decade ago, it spelled disaster for Canadian producers. But this is not 2014. After years of painful restructuring, the Canadian oil industry is much stronger today. The new era is defined by cost constraint, an aversion to debt and a promise to return excess cash to shareholders instead of spending it on endless expansion. Producers see opportunity, which explains why Strathcona Resources launched a hostile takeover bid for MEG Energy, one of the few pure-play companies focused on the oil sands. MEG runs a low-cost oil sands operation at Christina Lake, earned $507-million in profit last year and recently paid down a good chunk of its debt early, yet its shares have been trading roughly 45 per cent below their September, 2014, level. Adding to the bull case: Canada has long-life oil reserves, while U.S. shale oil wells are starting to run dry and the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is now operating. Thanks to the federal government, more oil is moving to the West Coast for export.