Connect with us
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=12]

Economy

A Fair Deal Includes Energy Security

Published

5 minute read

This article contributed by Josh Andrus, Executive Director of Project Confederation

Energy security.

It’s a concept that has been ignored by many – including our federal government in Ottawa – for far too long.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has suddenly helped the world realize what’s been obvious to many Albertans for a long time – we still need oil and gas!

The same parade of politicians who crusaded to save the world from the threat of “catastrophic” climate change are now coming to the realization that there is a fundamental flaw in the Green New Deal / Leave It In The Ground / Build Back Better strategy.

Energy is the industry that powers every other industry – and as such, a safe supply of affordable, reliable energy is not only good for the domestic economy but also a crucial tool in an increasingly volatile international geopolitical landscape.

Earlier this week, after a big push by our friends at the Alberta Institute, and many other political and non-profit groups, the federal government finally announced that they would ban the importation of Russian oil.

Russia’s aggressive actions, and the related uncertainty, have now driven the price of crude oil over the $115/bbl benchmark.

[Editor’s note: we had to increase that price four times while writing this piece!]

Thankfully, Alberta has a large supply of energy resources, resources that could displace the loss of Russian imports and help keep energy affordable for Canadians.

Of course, it would have been better if our calls had been listened to years ago, and we had the infrastructure in place already!

But, as the saying goes:

The best time to build a pipeline was 20 years ago.

The second-best time is now!

If our politicians had any sense, Keystone XL and Energy East would have been given emergency approval the moment war broke out.

Yet, here we are, a week into a European war, and there’s been nary a whisper from the White House or Rideau Cottage.

If Alberta can’t convince Canada to build a pipeline in the middle of a war in Europe, we’ll surely never get one.

To make matters worse, the pipeline issues aren’t even the only possible problem on the horizon.

In past years, $100+ oil was good for Alberta.

Economic growth explodes, jobs are plentiful, and the pay is phenomenal.

Some of that will surely happen in the coming months, but with this current boom coinciding with major inflationary pressures, there are risks for Alberta too.

High energy prices and the ensuing increase in the cost of living will hurt the rest of the country.

The Rest of Canada will complain that Alberta has it so good, while they struggle to pay their hydro bills.

Will the Rest of Canada decide to start extracting their own plentiful natural resources, currently kept in the ground for nonsensical environmental concerns?

Of course not.

Ottawa will, undoubtedly, devise yet another means of wealth redistribution instead.

Once again, they’ll figure out a way to make Alberta pay for their poor policy choices.

They probably won’t have the gall to call it a “National Energy Program”.

But they might.

Remember, the major issues driving Western alienation are structural deficiencies in Confederation, deficiencies that have only gotten worse in recent decades, not better.

The West is underrepresented in Parliament, the Senate is unelected and ineffective at protecting Provincial rights, the very concept of fairness is undermined in our Constitution via equalization, and the Supreme Court screws the West and protects the rest.

At Project Confederation, our mission is clear:

To build a movement that will reform Confederation and achieve a fairer deal, in whatever legal configuration that may require.

I suspect we’re going to have a lot of work to do in the coming months!

If you’d like to help us with that work, please reach out to us to get involved, or consider making a donation to help fund our efforts.

Regards,

Josh Andrus
Executive Director
Project Confederation

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

Follow Author

More from this author

Economy

Trudeau commits $8.4 million to study impact of ‘climate and environmental issues’ on democracy

Published on

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

The money is part of a $30 million-plus project to ‘strengthen democracies in Canada and around the world.’

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is committing millions of taxpayer dollars to research how climate change “interacts” with democracy.

On March 20, Trudeau told the Summit for Democracy that Canada will send $8.4 million to the Global South to further “climate and environmental issues” despite Canadians struggling with the rising cost of living.

“Today I’m announcing that Canada is investing $8.4 million on research across the global south to better understand how climate change interacts with democratic decline,” Trudeau announced at the gathering orchestrated by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and hosted by South Korea.

“These initiatives will also help protect the human rights of environmental defenders,” he added.

According to a press release from the prime minister’s office, the money will be used to reclaim “civic space to confront the climate emergency.”

“Canada is investing $8.4 million to support human rights defenders working on climate and environmental issues across the Global South,” it reads.

The $8.4 million is part of the more than $30 million that Trudeau is spending “for new projects to strengthen democracies in Canada and around the world.”

It includes $22.3 million to “defend human rights and promote inclusion” and $1.44 million “to strengthen the resilience of francophone LGBTQI+ rights movements in North Africa.”

Another $4.6 million will be spent “in research to create an equitable, feminist, and inclusive digital sphere.”

Food costs are going up so fast that even Canada’s own Department of Social Development in a recent briefing note stated that the nation’s poverty rate could increase by 14% this year because of high food prices.

Additionally, a recent poll found that 70% of Canadians believe the country is “broken” as Trudeau focuses on less important issues.

While Canadians placed the cost of living above climate change and the war in Ukraine as their most important issue, Trudeau recently promised another $3 billion to Ukraine and plans to increase the carbon tax on April 1 to limit the effects of “climate change.”

Continue Reading

Energy

Carbon tax costs average Alberta family $911 this year

Published on

From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Author: Kris Sims 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to scrap the carbon tax, which is set to increase April 1.

“Alberta families are fighting to afford food and home heating and the last thing they need is Trudeau’s carbon tax hike,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director. “It’s wrong for the Trudeau government to punish Albertans for driving their cars, heating their homes and buying food.”

The federal carbon tax is set to increase to 17 cents per litre of gasoline, 21 cents per litre of diesel and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas on April 1.

The carbon tax will cost about $12 extra to fill up a minivan and about $18 extra to fill up a pickup truck. Truckers filling up their big rigs with diesel will pay about $200 extra due to the carbon tax.

For natural gas home heating, the average Alberta household will pay about $439 extra in the carbon tax.

According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the carbon tax will cost the average family in Alberta $911 this year, even after the rebates are factored in.

A Leger poll showed 72 per cent of Albertans oppose the April 1 carbon tax increase.

“If Trudeau really cares about making life more affordable for Canadians, then at the very least he wouldn’t hike his carbon tax again,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “The PBO is clear: the carbon tax costs average families hundreds of dollars more every year than they get back in rebates.”

Carbon tax costs, per PBO

Province Net cost for the average household in 2024-25
Alberta $911
Saskatchewan $525
Manitoba $502
Ontario $627
Nova Scotia $537
Prince Edward Island $550
Newfoundland and Labrador $377

Join now to get the Taxpayer newsletter

You can get the inside scoop right from my notebook each week so you can hold politicians accountable for hilarious and infuriating stories the media usually misses. You can sign up for the Taxpayer Update Newsletter now.
— Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director
Continue Reading

Trending

X