Canada remains not ready for prime time when it comes to competing globally in major resource markets.
That view is underscored by how this country is regarded by its two main trading partners. China might have an appetite for B.C. seafood and Canadian resources, but Canada, now bracing for more retribution in the wake of Canadian telecoms rejecting Huawei involvement in developing Canada’s 5G technology, brings little leverage to any trade bargaining table with China’s totalitarian regime.
Meanwhile, the Donald Trump White House has done its best to discount the value of North America’s long-standing and mutually beneficial trading partnership.
And a recent Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) report confirms that, when it comes to competing in resource export markets, Canada remains second tier at best.
The CEC report notes that annual global natural gas consumption increased by 52% between 2000 and 2017. But while natural gas export volumes in such competitor countries as Australia and the United States increased 563% and 1,200%, respectively, during that time, Canada’s exports decreased 17%.
Canada is the only country among the world’s top 10 natural gas producers to have recorded a production drop during the 17-year period covered in the CEC report.
Canada’s ongoing inability to efficiently develop its energy resources is a huge contributor to its minor-league status. Consider for example, that Qatar, a major competitor in the natural gas export market, recently signed a US$19 billion contract with South Korean shipyards to build more than 100 liquefied natural gas carriers. But in Canada even the $40 billion LNG Canada project in B.C., which is an outlier in the country’s subpar performance in bringing energy exports to market, continues to encounter challenges and delays.
The cost of interminable uncertainty in developing Canada’s resources to meet market demand will be borne by Canadians across the country and across all economic strata for years to come.
