CATTANEO: HOW THE WEST WAS DONE

Dwindling oil prices and government actions have stalled the country’ s growth engine

THE ENERGY SECTOR HAS COLLAPSED AND THE LOONIE HAS TANKED, YET THE REST OF CANADA’S ECONOMY HAS NOT PICKED UP THE SLACK

Aspa inf ula sit is, there is much to be learned from Canada’s economic decline, such as: We are getting lots of what we( and many of our politicians) wished for and finally getting a clear picture of what Canada looks like without a strong oil sector. Partly due to the oil price collapse, partly by the design of new governments in Alberta and Ottawa, oil no longer fuels the economic engine. Climate change policy has won the day and the oil sands’ industry has been knee capped. Proposed bitumen pipelines have been gutted by organized campaigns and red tape. The West’s economic leadership has been quashed, and with that—for now—its political cl out.

Remember when federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair was whining that Canada had a bad case of Dutch Disease and blamed Alberta’ s oil sands industry for driving up the value of the dollar and hollowing out the manufacturing sector? The energy sector has since collapsed and the loonie has tanked, yet there st of Canada’ s economy has not picked up the slack, given its close connection to the oil economy. Mulcair is nowhere to be seen now that the Canadian dollar has sunk solo wit’ s a basket case to avoid rather than a bargain to hold.

After years of resistance to climate change policy by previous governments, which worried that unilateral action would simply disadvantage the Canadian economy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and provincial premiers across the board have embraced the cause. Oil sands’ growth has been contained, carbon taxes have been imposed, and Canada is back in the UN’s good books for getting behind the Paris climate change accord. So where is the land of milk and honey promised by the environmental movement, the gus her of cash and green jobs? Where is the acknowledgment of Canada’ s efforts from the likes of Al Gore, Robert Red ford and Desmond Tutu, who so loud ly trashed Canada’ s reputation and fossil fuel industry? Far from celebrating, the environmental movement is flexing its newfound power and up ping its demands to keep this country’ s oil in the ground.

After lots of complaints that energy regulators were in the oil industry’s back pocket, Canada introduced a new layer of regulatory hurdles for proposed export pipeline projects, on top of the costly and exhaustive reviews already required, to ensure they have the social licence to proceed. So why is there no confidence that it will lead to greater trust in regulators, or to regulatory approvals? Instead, it seems the new rules will simply provide yet another platform for opponents to obstruct, grand stand and complain about risks until proponents run out of time and money. Meanwhile, Canada’s reputation asa destination for energy investment keeps sin king, while its energy competitors, from Saudi Arabia to the United States, are cranking up exports of their still dirty oil.

The West is on its knees, after a long history of contributing to national wealth. To the delight of many, Alberta and Saskatchewan are begging for federal government aid. Provinces such as British Columbia and Quebec are grabbing some of the leadership void by refusing passage to oil. Trudeau is grabbing the rest, muscling in on Alberta’s jurisdiction over its resources by imposing new climate change rules on pipeline approvals.

A few will cherish and gloat that they brought Canada’ s oil economy toast and still. Many more are paying the price, through job losses and diminished savings. Politicians, in their eagerness to appear to be saving the planet, have under estimated the significance of oil to the identity of producing provinces— and Canada. We are getting a glimpse of an oil-free future, and it’ s not pretty.