Canada has a huge energy sector opportunity

We also have an obligation to help our European allies, writes Gurpreet Lail.

“You don't pay in euros or rubles for Russian gas and oil, you pay in the lives of the same Europeans as you.”

It was a simple message played across Europe by a coalition of Ukrainian energy companies that joined together to create Stop Bloody Energy, a call for western companies to divest from Russian oil and gas.

While the process of weaning Europe off Russian energy is a slow one, action has begun with the United States and Europe signing a deal to provide billions of cubic metres in additional natural gas, beginning last month.

Unfortunately, Canada's federal government seems at best indifferent, and at worst unwilling, to even engage, claiming that you can't fix one crisis by exacerbating another.

The feds acknowledge that oil production could be ramped up to the equivalent 300,000 barrels per day, but only time will tell if they continue to march to this beat.

Canada provides the world with the most ethically produced oil and gas, yet targets introduced by our federal government continue to restrict our country's energy sector. Most of this government's policies toward the sector show little regard for technological leadership and innovation across the industry. The only saving grace is a tax incentive in budget 2022 directed toward carbon tech to reduce emissions.

As the federal government begins discussion on emission caps and demands that provincial governments make gas less affordable for Canadian families, our friends and allies in Europe clamour for our gas to help free them from dependency on dictators like Vladimir Putin for energy security.

Canadian oil and LNG can play a major role in reducing European emissions in the long term. Fifteen per cent of European electricity is still coal-generated and the faster that can be displaced, the better. Unfortunately, most export infrastructure projects have fallen victim to cancellations or red tape.

In a column published in the Edmonton Journal on March 31, Steven Guilbeault, Canada's minister of environment and climate change, said that “Albertans can lead us to the clean energy security this 21st century requires.” He claims that he will work with the sector to design caps on emissions and support the implementation of technology that will make our energy sector cleaner, all while promising that this will create sustainable jobs.

Actions, on the other hand, are more powerful than words, and the industry has had plenty of lip service in the past. Even though it should be a priority, it is unlikely that new ways to export our product to places that have a desperate need will be on the table any time soon.

Canada's broader oil and gas sector employs approximately 600,000 Canadians, according to Natural

Resources Canada. The energy sector is a major driver of the Canadian economy, accounting for 10.2 per cent of nominal gross domestic product ($219 billion). And Canadians do it better than any place else.

Any policy agenda that does not account for the significant economic contributions of the energy sector and the hardworking families that work in and are supported by the industry, is simply not a viable solution.

This is an enormous opportunity for the federal government to step up. The world needs more safe, reliable and responsibly produced energy, and Canada's oil and gas industry is set to provide it. As the sector strives to reach net-zero as soon as possible, the Liberal government needs to decide if Canada will be the solution to our allies' energy security concerns.

It's un-canadian to leave our friends and allies to suffer under the control of an oil dictatorship.