New democrat leader Thomas Mulcair took the pipeline route to Washington last week. He agreed with President Obama that global warming is a real issue. He also told the Americans that he does not want to export 830,000 barrels of Alberta bitumen slurry a day to the Texas Gulf coast. He said that represents 40,000 Canadian jobs.
And if we keep those 40,000 jobs in Canada, there is no way in hell we would ever be able to do anything to stop global warming or to reduce our carbon emissions. Mr. Mulcair wants it both ways. He will blame the Harper government for the carbon emissions while showing Canadians that he will secure a ten-year supply of oil products for Canada.
The conundrum for President Obama is that if someone points out to him that the bitumen slurry can be loaded on tankers in Texas, to be shipped elsewhere in the world, he will not have to worry about the carbon emissions refining it. Mind you if someone also points out that bitumen slurry has to be piped at higher temperatures and at higher pressures, he might realize there is far more likelihood of a serious spill that will destroy some of America’s farmland.
But Canadians should also worry. Mr. Mulcair is in favour of reversing Ontario and Quebec pipelines to send the bitumen slurry down to Maine and New Brunswick oil tanker terminals. Luckily NDP MP Nathan Cullen is from B.C. and must have talked to his leader about the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline plan. Mr. Mulcair came out flatly against that scheme. Obviously Ontario and Quebec need better advocates in the NDP.
Where Canadians are over the barrel on all of this is the need to meet our own energy needs. We are hardly going to shut down the oil sands. It is a viable source of hydrocarbons. At oil pricing of over C$90 per barrel, it is viable for mining and processing. If the scientists can just find a way to convert it into synthetic oil without destroying the environment, it would be safe to send by oil pipelines wherever it is needed for Canadian, North American and off-shore users.
What people need to realize is that this must be a federal government initiative. It is not just for the benefit of a single province. Canada’s strong economy was built on the mines and the manufacturing of Ontario and Quebec. Canada needs to retain that memory and belief in working together. We have become a much more complex and accomplished country over the years but we can only continue to grow by working together.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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