There’s an adage that says whoever has the ball gets to make the rules. But people often forget that the people who own the field also have a say.
In Alberta’s case, the ball is oil and the rest of Canada is the field. Complicating the matter even further is the rest of Canada is comprised of a number of different fields – provinces – each trying to promote their resources, or balls.
Which is why it’s so surprising that all the premiers were able to come together last week and agree on a Canadian Energy Strategy.
Former Alberta premier Alison Redford initiated the strategy as a way for the rest of the country to help build pipelines that would ship oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries and ports for overseas export.
The premiers are hailing it as a “monumental” document that recognizes the importance of the country’s energy industry to the economy.
The question is, now that the premiers have agreed to a national energy strategy, will it really have a real life impact, especially for Alberta.
For a number of years now, the Alberta government, as well as individual oil companies, have been trying to forward their agenda of building pipelines, the most notable being Enbridge’s Northern Gateway project which would see bitumen oil transported from the Alberta oilsands to Kitimat, B.C. From there the oil would be transported by sea tankers to destinations such as China.
In the case of the Northern Gateway project, the B.C. government, First Nations, and a number of environmental groups have voiced their concerns over potential environmental impact.
And for good reason. One just has to look at the recent spill at Nexen’s Long Lake facility. On or about Wednesday, July 15, a pipeline coming from its northeastern Alberta project experienced a leak, which caused an estimated 5 million litres of bitumen water and sand contaminating an area of more than 16,000 square metres.
The pipeline in question is relatively new, less than a year old, as is the monitoring equipment which failed to recognize that a leak had happened. The point being, pipeline ruptures and spills happen and when they do they have the potential to cause real ecological damage. Yes, oil is a necessary product, but there are real life consequences, and not all of them positive. There are risks in its retrieval, refining and shipping and, unlike Alberta, most of the jurisdictions where oil has to pass through, receive very few of the direct benefits and have an unproportionate share of the risks.
True oil plays a major role in the health of the nation’s economy, the same can be said about many of Canada’s other natural resources.
The question to be seen is whether this new Canadian Energy Strategy will make it easier or more difficult for Alberta and the other provinces to export their energy related natural resources. A difficult task to be sure, especially considering each province has its own playing field, and in some cases, their own balls.
