Western Standard - May 09, 2022


CANADA - Pressures Caused By High Energy Prices


Episode Stats

Length

4 minutes

Words per Minute

198.32677

Word Count

806

Sentence Count

50


Summary

After years of effort by environmental activists demanding we leave oil and gas in the ground, they ve worked. As Canada sits on some of the largest oil & gas deposits on earth, we re still importing oil from nations such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is still blinded by a green ideology and won t even consider talking about expanding Canada s oil & Gas production and export capabilities.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 be careful what you wish for. So after years of effort by environmental activists demanding we
00:00:04.960 leave oil and gas in the ground, they've worked. As Canada sits on some of the largest oil and gas
00:00:09.860 deposits on earth, we're still importing oil from nations such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
00:00:14.840 Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is still blinded by, you know, green ideology, and he won't even
00:00:19.680 consider talking about expanding Canada's oil and gas production and export capabilities.
00:00:24.960 Furnaces across the West are fired up today as a typical mid-May snowstorm has slammed us out
00:00:29.820 here in Alberta. The price for gasoline across the country is now averaging $1.97 a liter,
00:00:35.740 and it's expected to rise. Now it's absolutely absurd that we're letting world energy prices
00:00:40.920 impact the standard of living for us all when we shut in our own resources for alternative sources
00:00:46.160 of energy that don't viably exist. Energy impacts the cost of everything. Every consumer good we use
00:00:52.340 is transported at some point using petrochemicals. The products likely used hydrocarbons as part of
00:00:57.360 their composition, and fossil fuels are used in every aspect of food production.
00:01:02.140 If we really do want to battle the pressures rampant inflation is putting upon Canadians,
00:01:06.140 the first thing we should be doing is expanding our hydrocarbon production as much and as quickly
00:01:10.800 as possible. Instead, Canada's Environment Minister is demanding energy companies invest their current
00:01:16.580 profits into green energy projects. It's outright idiotic. Minister Gilboa was silent, of course,
00:01:22.360 when oil and gas prices plummeted and companies were losing billions of dollars. Some people like
00:01:27.360 to point out that we're bound by world prices and it won't matter how much we develop domestically.
00:01:31.600 Now that's sort of a half-truth. I mean, for one, if Canada ramps up production and exports of oil and gas,
00:01:37.200 it will put a degree of downward pressure on world prices, albeit in a limited and small way.
00:01:41.540 With the mess going on in Ukraine, the upward pressure is going to continue and we're going
00:01:45.460 to see prices continue to rise. But still, if Canada's bringing in large amounts of royalties
00:01:50.700 from energy production and taxes from people working in the energy sector in the field,
00:01:55.140 we'll have room to drop the taxes and fees upon domestic consumption of energy that contribute to
00:01:59.800 the high costs. Carbon taxes, GSD, other taxes on energy are draining Canadians dry. The government
00:02:06.560 has to stop punishing Canadians for consuming products that we can't avoid. We're
00:02:11.380 a winter nation and the majority of us get our heat from petrochemical products. We're also a large
00:02:16.740 nation. We have to use vehicles to get around. $70,000 Kesslas with a limited range aren't realistic
00:02:22.880 for most of us. We're also an agricultural nation. The carbon taxes, fuel taxes, and now taxes are looming
00:02:28.640 on fertilizer even, are preventing us from enjoying more affordable food products, even though we, again,
00:02:33.860 have some of the largest agricultural lands on the planet. Most of all, we're just a ridiculous nation.
00:02:38.780 We're allowing an ideologically blinded federal government to put us into this position for so
00:02:42.760 long. Windmills and solar panels are decades away from replacing petrochemical energy sources,
00:02:48.120 if they ever will at all. As the world recovers from the pandemic, Canada should be one of the
00:02:52.260 best placed nations to be able to bounce back and even prosper. Instead, we continue to handicap
00:02:57.100 ourselves with bad policies. We don't need another national energy program. We don't want to go down
00:03:01.580 the road of nationalized energy production. We've already seen how well that served Venezuela,
00:03:05.520 and the government owned Petro Canada. It was a disaster. All we need is for the government to
00:03:10.980 get out of the damn way. The world wants our products, and investors will happily spend money
00:03:16.180 getting those products to market. Until the government ends its crusade against fossil fuels,
00:03:20.500 however, we're going to remain an investment pariah. Canadian citizens are going to watch their
00:03:25.420 standard of living decline while they literally sit upon a veritable treasure trove of energy resources.
00:03:30.240 So how long is it going to take for Canadians to wake up? How expensive will everything have to
00:03:34.240 get? And I fear the answer to that. As long as central Canada continues its love affair with
00:03:38.940 Trudeau Jr., things are only going to get worse. Quebec truckers have started protests over high
00:03:43.980 costs of operations due to government policies. And while other truckers have been labeled as evil
00:03:48.300 incarnate by the government, Quebec does hold a special status. So maybe there is a glimmer of hope
00:03:52.980 out there. As soon as Quebec votes drop, liberals tend to pay attention. Sad though that it has to
00:03:59.840 come to that. Hopefully, I guess Quebec can stand up for the rest of us and we'll see what happens.