The tide is turning on Tides

Canadian anti-pipeline organizations who, in return, have done a fine job of constraining the Canadian economy and saving money for American buyers of Canadian oil.

The activists have two main goals. They’d like to keep Canadian oil in the ground and, alternatively, they want to keep Canadian oil landlocked. Because we can’t reach overseas markets, our landlocked oil is sold at a huge discount to customers in the U.S. Scotiabank economists estimate that the current cost to the Canadian economy is $15.6 billion a year. We may as well write a cheque today “to our friends in the U.S.” for $43 million. And do it again tomorrow. And the next day. And every day after that. What an incredible campaign. No less oil consumed, but the Canadian economy suffers massive losses.

The cancellation of the Energy East pipeline last year, forced by public opposition, was particularly counterproductive. Instead of using Alberta oil, produced under the world’s most stringent environmental protections and supporting Canadian jobs, eastern Canadian refineries will continue having to buy oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Azerbaijan and, yes, the U.S.

The media and the public are becoming increasingly aware of the foreign-funding issue. More people in B.C. support the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion than oppose it. I believe the tide is turning. I hope so. Because up until now, the campaign against Canadian energy has been a tremendous success. As producers around the world are upping their production, we in Canada have been watching revenue from Canadian oil flow out of the country, with a massive cost to our economy. It’s a terrible loss.