While the rest of Canada is in an uproar over tariffs being leveled against aluminum, steel, autoparts, and hundreds of other exports, the Alberta delegation is cozying up to Trump officials, offering our oil as a solution to their energy woes.
Never mind that American President Donald Trump has said the US doesn’t want our oil.
And, forget that the US is well on its way to being energy independent, with a stated goal of being so by 2030.
And try to ignore that while she cozies up to Donald Trump and co, Premier Smith is threatening a national unity crisis at home. Alberta is the only province with a “me first” approach to dealing with the United States, and it’s embarrassing for many Albertans.
Premier Smith seems to think that American energy independence would include Alberta heavy oil from being shipped to US midwest, gulf coast and pacific refineries. That only makes sense if Alberta sells its soul to the Americans for the price of a barrel of discounted crude.
All the clamour about new pipelines and revisiting old projects misses a critical element in the supply chain: there are no future customers for Alberta bitumen. The gelatinous black blob that some insist on calling oil is the most expensive crude on the global market, and contains the most carbon of any commonly refined petroleum product. These are two things the world is NOT looking for in an energy product.
While the world will most likely need some oil for some time, it has dozens of options to choose from that are less expensive, and less toxic than the tar sands gloop. New pipelines will take a decade to build, and the world will have very little use for the bituminous tar we are selling by then.
Within the next five to ten years the world will be using up to 1,000,000 barrels per day of oil less each year, according to the International Energy Association. When making consumer choices, which oil do you think will be the first to be dropped? (Hint: The expensive, dirty one).
The zeal with which Alberta continues to push its oil and gas agenda on the world is troubling. According to the Canadian Energy Regulator, “The United States (U.S.) remains the primary destination for Canadian crude oil, receiving approximately 97 per cent of Canada’s crude oil exports in 2023.”
All of our bituminous eggs are in one oil soaked basket.
Some readers might recall that Canada’s federal government bought and completed the Transmountain pipeline to BC’s west coast, at a cost of nearly $35 billion, so it could diversify its energy market. What happened? There are mixed signals coming from the fledgling expansion of the TMX, but most analysts agree that more than half the crude shipped to the west coast is still ending up in the United States. The fixation on expanding the market for Canadian heavy crude to China and South East Asia may be coming too late, as China’s demand is starting to decrease, if ever so slightly. Meanwhile, investment in and demand for renewable energy is rising dramatically.
If only Alberta had an energy product that the world actually wanted right now…But of course, we do. Demand for renewable energy is skyrocketing here in Canada, and around the world, and Alberta has plenty of both wind and solar. Demand for renewable energy hardware, such as solar panels, is exploding. Investment worldwide in renewable energy now more than doubles that which is invested in conventional energy.
Alberta was the fastest growing jurisdiction for investments in renewable energy technology until the Alberta government leveled nearly impossible restrictions on the industry. And still, Alberta’s political leaders continue to try and sell yesterday’s ideas as a solution to the problems that plague us today.
Ready to take action, then sign our letter to government today demanding a recall on our Alberta renewable energy plans:
