Justin Trudeau’s recent Western Canada pipeline decision needs to be followed up now with a long-term energy game plan for the entire country. That will test far more than political will out West. Trudeau national energy plans have not traditionally been unifying initiatives for the country. The prime minister’s father similarly faced a major Canadian energy challenge 36 years ago. Pierre Trudeau’s challenge, however, was almost the reverse of what his son faces today. Back then skyrocketing oil prices were squeezing consumers and – more politically important – manufacturers in Ontario.
Pierre Trudeau’s National Energy Program, which penalized oil-rich Alberta with sub-market prices for the province’s fossil fuel resources, provided short-term relief for aforementioned consumers and manufacturers. But Alberta and the country’s other oil-producing regions are now suffering mightily from depressed world oil prices and competition from the high tide of oil and natural gas unleashed by new extraction technology.
Canada’s economy also continues to absorb the negative impact of what amounts to a hometown discount in the marketplace because 99% of its crude oil exports are sent to the United States.
It’s no secret that Canadian heavy crude needs tidewater access via pipelines so that landlocked fossil fuel reserves in the heart of the country have access to markets outside of the United States. Considering that pipeline operations alone added $11.5 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2015, there is much at stake here.
But the federal government’s energy plan must also provide some cohesive and viable action on climate change while convincing investors that Canada, as Justin Trudeau has maintained, is still “open for business.”
Compared with the prickly pipelines decision just made, crafting an effective and far-sighted national energy plan that balances the country’s economic, environmental and aboriginal interests along with countless other Canadian business complications will test Trudeau’s diplomatic new-age resolve like no other issue.
