What’s good for Alberta...
On Thursday night, Alberta premier Allison Redford dined with Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty in downtown Toronto. The event was a chance for the two to mend fences that were needlessly, and recklessly, damaged by Mr. McGuinty earlier this year, when he sought to pin the blame for Ontario’s fiscal woes on Alberta’s booming oil sector hiking up Canada’s dollar, to the detriment of Ontario manufacturers.
After Thursday’s meeting, both Ms. Redford and Mr. McGuinty seemed pleased with how it had gone. Particularly welcome were comments from Mr. McGuinty, who appeared to be retreating from his earlier criticisms of Alberta’s energy sector. Mr. McGuinty said that it was important that the provincial premiers start “seeing ourselves as strong players on the same team, Canada, so that we can face the world together and compete as one when it comes to
Redford is right to get the rest of the country on board with her province’s continued energy development
securing growth and prosperity for our economy.” He’s right, and it’s good that he’s now ready to admit what he should have realized all along.
Alberta’s oil sands are truly a blessing for all of Canada, including but hardly limited to, Ontario. While Mr. McGuinty had preferred to blame the rising value of Canada’s dollar for his province’s woes, far more compelling was the argument coming out of Alberta — that Ontario’s manufacturing sector in fact stood to benefit, to the tune of billions of dollars, by supplying the kind of high-tech, precision manufactured goods required to continue the expansion of Alberta’s energy sector. Mr. McGuinty saw a threat where he should have seen opportunity. It is good that he has now apparently seen the light.
It would be even better if all Canadian provinces adopted a similar stance. Yes, the oil sands are primarily located in Alberta. But every Canadian will benefit from the responsible development of those resources. And the skilled workers and knowledge base that the continued development of the oil sands will foster, will also help Canada develop the energy resources — of every imaginable variety — that are available in each province and territory in the country.
This message is echoed by a recent report by the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources. The report calls for much greater co-operation and co-ordination between Canadian governments at every level to develop and exploit Canada’s natural resources in a way that is economically prudent, environmentally sustainable and socially responsible.
The report further notes that Canada’s energy resources are a tremendous blessing to Canada, but one that cannot be taken for granted. Alberta’s oil sands, in particular, face unique challenges. The committee is concerned, not only that the oil sands are subject to unfair, if not outright misleading, criticism (it notes for example that the James Bay hydroelectric station in Quebec required the permanent flooding of a geographic footprint twice the size of what oil sands mining requires, and the land in Alberta can be reclaimed), but also that, as the United States develops its natural gas resources and becomes increasingly energy independent, it may have less and less need for Canadian oil. Given that the U.S. is effectively the sole export market for Canadian energy, the land-locked oil sands need access to other markets, as well.
And accessing those markets is where close co-operation between various Canadian governments is called for. Ms. Redford is to be commended for working hard to build support among her fellow premiers for a pan-canadian energy strategy, which while still assuming some demand for Alberta oil in the United States, also seeks to establish export markets in Asia — and possibly in eastern Canada, too, where roughly 50% of the oil comes from foreign, potentially politically unstable, countries.
The committee’s recommendation that Canada build west-to-east pipelines to ship Alberta oil to eastern refineries — something it defines as “nation building” — should of course only be considered, let alone pursued, if the economic case for such a project can be made (of which there is plenty of cause for doubt). But Canada doesn’t need to build pipelines in every direction to have a mature, co-operative discussion on the merits of developing all our energy resources, and working together to ensure that all logistical and political hurdles are overcome so those resources can find their way to energy-starved global markets.
Ms. Redford is doing exactly the right thing, for Alberta and Canada, in making sure that the other provincial leaders are on board with Alberta’s continued energy development, and in reminding us that what’s good for Alberta is good for us all. Besides, if she can convince Mr. Mcguinty, she can convince anyone.