Economy
Canada’s Lost Energy Decade!
From Energy Now
By Jim Warren
Canada’s Energy Industry 10 Year Political Battle Fatigue With the Trudeau Liberals Wasn’t Fatal…and It Never Will Be!
A decade of doing battle with the Justin Trudeau Liberals was exhausting, but if history is a reliable guide, the supporters of the conventional energy sectors in the West have what it takes to recover.
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Enduring a decade of political ineptitude under the leadership of one of the worst prime ministers in Canadian history was difficult. We were stuck with Justin Trudeau from November 4, 2015 until March 14, 2025.
Justin is essentially gone from public view for now. But during his time in office he dominated our political life, and not in a good way.
Ten years is a nice round number. It provides the sort of time frame journalists and historians like to summarize and name. We’ve had the Roaring Twenties, the Dirty Thirties and, more recently the Me Decade of the 1970s.
For those who hope to learn from history there is value in ensuring the experience of the oil producing provinces in the West is incorporated into the written record of the Justin years.
It seems reasonable to expect that 10 plus years of fighting against Ottawa’s anti-oil, gas and coal crusade has had an effect on the collective psyche of the citizens of Alberta and Saskatchewan. While the overall effect may be far less severe than the PTSD soldiers and first responders experience – it’s still reasonable to assume nearly a decade of high unemployment and lost incomes leaves some kind of mark.
The ten lost years of the 1930s are nearly beyond the living memory of people on the prairies. However, the combined effects of severe protracted drought and the global collapse in agricultural commodity prices were permanently seared into the social fabric of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
There was plenty of despair and economic hardship to be found back then. But despite being knocked down, prairie people fought back by radically reforming our political institutions. Sure, in hindsight Social Credit and the earlier versions of the CCF had some nutty ideas (the CCF moreso). Nevertheless the governments they ran helped people crawl out from under the wreckage of the Great Depression.
Similarly, in the wake of the Pierre Trudeau government’s National Energy Program, Alberta and Saskatchewan fought successfully for the strengthening of the rights of provinces over their natural resources in the 1982 rewrite of Canada’s Constitution. Who knew back then that Justin Trudeau’s government would run roughshod over constitutionally guaranteed provincial rights?
Still, it is a comfort to know that resisting adversity in novel ways to defend and advance our economic interests is a big part of our cultural heritage. The fact that an increasing number of people in this part of country are exercising our historical penchant for self-defence is encouraging. But, as was the case back in the dust-bowl days of the 1930s and under the NEP in the 1980s, a lot of families on the prairies got clobbered during the Justin Trudeau years.
People working in the petroleum and gas sectors and their political supporters were demonized by the environmental movement and Ottawa. Worse yet, as Alberta’s Allan report indicates, the Justin Trudeau government awarded over $300 million in grants to the environmental groups attacking Western oil during just its first four years in office. At the same time, the federal government hit the producing provinces with anti-fossil fuel and anti-pipeline legislation. Yet, despite the best efforts of their provincial governments, the conventional energy industries couldn’t catch a break.
Despite it all, people on the prairies enjoyed a burst of optimism in 2024. Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives had Trudeau on the run. The Conservatives promised to reverse the environmental laws and regulations which were so damaging to the fortunes of gas and oil. But, as it turned out, 2025 will go down as a year of spectacular political disappointment on the prairies. Ten years of confrontation and conflict with Ottawa was followed by our forlorn hope that the Liberals would be driven from office – it was psychologically exhausting and more than enough to make a lot of people once again search for radical solutions.
The Justin Trudeau Liberals were dedicated to cancelling the future of Canada’s petroleum and natural gas industries. Accordingly, they foreclosed on industry efforts to build the new export pipelines.
The prospect of new pipelines gave some hope to people employed in the petroleum sector. This was because the pipelines promised to increase the value and volume of our oil exports. It was the industry’s way of taking positive action to increase revenues and create jobs during the period of depressed oil prices.
The Liberals’ assault on the fortunes of the gas and petroleum sectors was particularly disturbing to the tens of thousands of people from Alberta and Saskatchewan who lost their jobs due to the combination of low oil prices and Liberal anti-oil policies. Job losses in the petroleum sector and the closely related manufacturing* and construction sectors hit 88,900 in the two provinces in 2017. During 2020, the first COVID year, there were 130,600 fewer people employed in those three industries than there were in late 2014, when oil prices collapsed.
No surprise, provincial government revenues suffered Trudeau effects. Alberta’s oil, gas and coal royalty revenues combined with land sale revenues declined from $9.6 billion in 2013-2014 to just $2.8 billion by 2015-2016. Finally, during the mini-boom associated with the end of most of the COVID mandates in 2022 the Alberta government’s fossil fuel royalty and land sale revenues rebounded to $12.2 billion.
Saskatchewan’s oil and gas royalty and land sale revenues for 2013-2014 (the last full fiscal year before the price collapse) were $2.1 billion. Its revenues had fallen to $0.94 billion by 2016-2017. The province’s royalty and land sale revenues rose to $2.9 billion thanks to the 2022 post-COVID bounce.
As if all of the foregoing weren’t enough to ruin the decade, we had to cope with COVID and mandate madness. The Liberals’ imposition of the Emergencies Act to prevent horn honking in Ottawa by mandate protesters will be remembered as an egregious assault on the civil liberties of blue collar Canadians. The government seized the bank accounts of Freedom Convoy participants and their supporters and prosecutors have been persecuting Tamara Lich and Chris Barber for over three years.
Westerners who’ve compared the federal government’s kid gloves treatment of pipeline protesters, who blocked major transportation arteries, with the way the truckers’ convoy was dealt with have got the message. There are laws and penalties for protest organizers from the prairies and there are grants for protest groups favoured by woke Liberals in Ottawa.
I’ve always wondered if the Freedom Convoy participants’ biggest mistake was to engage in daytime horn honking. They should have known Ottawa bureaucrats use the nine to five hours to catch up on their sleep.
Studies done in the US Rust Belt states indicate industrial decline and long-term unemployment can have significant adverse impacts on people’s physical and mental health. Male suicide rates increase, crime rates go up, more people fall victim to substance abuse and family breakdown increases.
While the required research hasn’t been done it seems reasonable to suspect the past decade has contributed to similar effects on the Canadian prairies. While that is likely the case, people on the Canadian prairies have an advantage over auto workers and steel workers from the US Rust Belt. We have had considerable experience defending our economic interests and coming up with novel home grown solutions to big problems.
What should the current Carney liberal government learn from the last 10 years? Hopefully, in the wake of Trump’s tariffs, that the oil and gas industry is an integral part of the Canadian economy and it’s time to embrace this industry and develop it to its fullest potential, much like Norway is doing, not demonize it.
What the current government should also learn is that is that western Canadians and the Canadian energy sector are a resilient bunch and will not be pushed around by agenda seeking politicians in Ottawa.
Given the last ten years, the political consequences to not learn these lessons are now much shorter.
*Job losses in manufacturing were primarily limited to Alberta. Jobs in Saskatchewan’s manufacturing sector actually grew over the 2015-2022 period.
From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
By Conrad Eder
Ottawa’s EV subsidies have backfired. Western Canada’s canola farmers are the latest victims of misguided government industrial policy
Economic policy is more like gardening than engineering. You can shovel all the money you want into trying to grow coconuts in a Canadian winter, but you’ll achieve far better results—and feed many more people—by planting potatoes in the spring and letting nature run its course.
For Canada, that means embracing policies that create fertile ground for all businesses to compete, innovate, and serve consumers. Ottawa, unfortunately, prefers to play God with the weather. What began as economic tinkering has triggered a cascade of interventions now devastating Canada’s canola industry.
Rather than letting the market determine Canada’s strengths, federal and provincial politicians decided they knew better, wagering $52.5 billion to lure EV and battery manufacturers to Canada. Massive public subsidies were placed on a handful of firms and technologies.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer delivered a sobering assessment of this boondoggle: it could take decades for taxpayers to break even on these subsidies—and only if nothing goes sideways.
Well, you know what they say about best-laid plans.
After committing billions, Ottawa faced an awkward truth: Chinese manufacturers were eating our lunch, offering EVs at lower prices, thanks in part to their own subsidies. Instead of reversing course, Ottawa hit the panic button and slapped a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese EVs.
Let’s be clear: this wasn’t about national security or consumer protection. It was about salvaging one of the largest industrial bets in Canadian history.
Yes, some sectors require targeted oversight to protect privacy and safety. EVs aren’t one of them. Their risks can be managed with targeted regulations and technical safeguards. But the tariffs do real damage by blocking affordable EVs and denying Canadians the right to judge for themselves.
Predictably, China didn’t take the tariffs lying down. In March, Beijing slapped 100 per cent duties on Canadian canola oil. In August, it hit canola seed with 75.8 per cent tariffs, effectively shutting out Canadian farmers from a $4.9-billion market.
Ninety-nine per cent of canola fields are in Western Canada. Canola is Canada’s top crop export, supporting tens of thousands of Prairie jobs and generating over $43 billion annually.
Another trade war, another lose-lose. Canadians pay more for EVs. Chinese consumers pay more for food.
And now, predictably, agricultural lobbyists are seeking Ottawa’s help. The government—having started the fire—has responded with $370 million in biofuel incentives and expanded financial support for canola producers. More subsidies. More distortion. Another Band-Aid for another self-inflicted wound.
Ironically, Canada’s farm sector already receives substantial government support. Now it’s receiving even more just to survive Ottawa’s protection of a separate subsidized industry. That’s the trouble with industrial policy: helping one sector often means hurting another. And taxpayers get the privilege of funding both.
There’s a better way forward: it doesn’t involve doubling down on mistakes. The solution is to stop the engineering and let the economy breathe. Lower taxes. Fewer regulations. Neutral infrastructure investment. These create the conditions for businesses to rise or fall on merit. That’s how innovation flourishes: through competition, not cabinet-level favouritism.
It’s not hard to follow the dominoes. EV subsidies triggered Chinese tariffs. Tariffs triggered canola retaliation. Canola retaliation now triggers demands for bailouts.
One attempt to pick winners has manufactured a long list of losers.
Had Ottawa stuck with free-trade principles, Canadians could’ve had more affordable EVs, taxpayers would’ve saved billions, and canola farmers would still have access to a vital export market.
Instead, we get a chain reaction of policy “fixes,” each one compensating for the damage done by the last—each one digging the hole deeper.
When governments try to engineer economic outcomes, citizens foot the bill. The real lesson? Governments are great at creating problems. Markets are better at solving them.
If Canada wants a prosperous economic future, it must stop betting the farm on political hunches and let competitive markets do the cultivating.
Conrad Eder is a policy analyst at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Business
Energy leaders send this letter urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to unlock Canada’s resources
An Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Canada
The CEOs of Canada’s largest energy companies, including Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, Suncor, Imperial Oil and many more, have issued a new “Build Canada Now” letter to Prime Minister Carney. They are calling for Ottawa to repeal the production cap, scrap the tanker ban, simplify regulations and shorten project approvals so Alberta’s energy sector can create jobs, attract investment and help Canada become a true global energy superpower.
September 15, 2025
The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Canada
Dear Prime Minister Carney,
Six months have passed since the first “Build Canada Now” letter was sent to you and the leaders of Canada’s other political parties outlining an action plan to unlock Canada’s world class oil and natural gas resources to strengthen Canada’s economic sovereignty, resilience and prosperity. After the election, we followed up with a second letter expressing our support for our shared vision of Canada becoming an energy superpower, one that harnesses both conventional and clean energy resources. Since then, we have seen progress but it is insufficient to stimulate the investment and growth required to make this vision a reality.
Thank you for leading the positive change in tone from the Federal Government in terms of the importance of economic development, including expanded investments in conventional energy. The launch of the new Major Projects Office, Indigenous Advisory Council, the initial list of projects of national significance, and the announcement that it will begin work in support of Pathways Plus are critical steps in the right direction. We appreciate the progress the Federal Government has made in these areas.
However, Canada still lacks the clear, competitive and durable fiscal and regulatory policies required to achieve the so-called “Grand Bargain”. That bargain being significant emissions reductions, expanded market access and material upstream production growth. Achieving these three inter-related outcomes goes beyond progressing select major projects but rather includes a multitude of other projects and related investments. Consequently, we reiterate our call to work together to make the policy changes required for this to happen.
Our call to action is urgent, with persistent indicators that the Canadian economy is moving in the wrong direction. The need to improve productivity and create jobs requires swift and decisive action. Canada is blessed with an enviable abundance of oil and natural gas resources and has the expertise to develop them in a manner consistent with environmental responsibility, social values, and working with Indigenous groups for the benefit of Canada and Canadians. As leaders of this sector, we have consistently advocated for the changes required to unwind the past decade of increasing policy complexity and uncertainty that led to delayed investments, lost opportunities and a competitive disadvantage on the global energy stage.
Given your background, you understand that the private sector and public markets require clarity and certainty to make the long-term investments necessary to realizing this sector’s potential, in turn creating thousands of high-paying jobs and significantly strengthening Canada’s economy.
Making the changes expressed in the earlier Build Canada Now letters are necessary to send clear signals that Canada is open for business. To reiterate, we believe that your government must focus on the following:
- Significantly simplify regulations. The Federal Impact Assessment Act and West Coast tanker ban are impeding development and need to be overhauled and repealed, respectively. Existing processes are complex, unpredictable, subjective, and excessively long. Processes need to be clarified and simplified, and decisions must withstand judicial review.
- Shorten timelines for project approvals. The Federal Government needs to dramatically reduce regulatory timelines to approve all projects within months, not years, of application. This is required to restore investor confidence and once again attract capital to Canada. Clarity on provincial versus federal jurisdiction related to project approvals is also required and needs to be respected.
- Commit to grow production, not limit it. The Federal Government’s unlegislated cap on emissions must be eliminated to allow the sector to grow and achieve its potential for the benefit of Canada and Canadians. The “production cap” creates uncertainty, is redundant, will result in production cuts, and stifles investment.
- Fiscal framework that attracts investment. The Federal carbon levy on large emitters is not globally cost competitive and should be repealed allowing provinces to set regulations. The Federal Government can lead cooperation across jurisdictions, protecting domestic and international competitiveness. Industry needs clear, competitive, and durable fiscal frameworks, including associated with carbon and overall taxation, to secure capital and incentivize investment.
- Incent Indigenous investment opportunities. The Federal Government needs to provide Indigenous loan guarantees at scale so industry can create ownership opportunities to increase prosperity and ensure Indigenous communities benefit from resource development.
As you have clearly stated, our country needs to move from “uncertainty to prosperity”. There needs to be tangible change to make this happen, and without clear and urgent action we risk missing a generational opportunity to capture the potential before Canada now.
As Parliament resumes for the Fall sitting, the energy industry remains committed to working with you, your cabinet, and the provinces on an urgent basis to achieve the energy sector’s potential for the good of Canada. Together, Canada can become the global energy superpower we all envision. We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Original signatories
Brandon Anderson
President & CEO
NorthRiver Midstream Inc
Doug Bartole
President & CEO
InPlay Oil Corp.
Robert Broen
President & CEO
Athabasca Oil Corporation
Scott Burrows
President and Chief Executive Officer
Pembina Pipeline Corp.
Chris Carlsen
President & COO
Birchcliff Energy Ltd.
Brad W. Corson
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Imperial Oil Ltd.
N. Murray Edwards
Executive Chairman
Canadian Natural Resources Limited
Darlene Gates
President and Chief Executive Officer
MEG Energy Corp.
Paul Hawksworth
President and Chief Executive Officer
Inter Pipeline Ltd.
Tyson Huska
President & CEO
Longshore Resources Ltd.
Mike Lawford
President & CEO
NuVista Energy Ltd.
Chris Mazerolle
President
Chevron Canada Resources
Nicholas McKenna
President
ConocoPhillips Canada
Paul Myers
President
Pacific Canbriam Energy Limited
François Poirier
President and Chief Executive Officer
TC Energy Corp.
Susan Riddell Rose
President & CEO
Rubellite Energy Corp.
Don Simmons
President & CEO
Hemisphere Energy Corporation
Adam Waterous
Executive Chairman, Board of Directors
Strathcona Resources Ltd.
Richard Wyman
President
Chance Oil and Gas Limited
Terry Anderson
President and Chief Executive Officer
ARC Resources Ltd.
Michael Binnion
President & CEO
Questerre Energy Corporation
Craig Bryksa
President and Chief Executive Officer
Veren Inc.
David J. Burton
President & CEO
Lycos Energy Inc.
Paul Colborne
President & CEO
Surge Energy Inc.
Greg Ebel
President and Chief Executive Officer
Enbridge Inc.
Grant Fagerheim
President and Chief Executive Officer
Whitecap Resources Inc.
Bryan Gould
Founder & CEO
Aspenleaf Energy Limited
Philip B. Hodge
President & CEO
Pine Cliff Energy Ltd.
Rich Kruger
President and Chief Executive Officer
Suncor Energy Inc.
Byron Lutes
President
Mancal Energy Inc.
Brendan McCracken
President & CEO
Ovintiv Canada ULC
Jon McKenzie
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cenovus Energy Inc.
Curtis Philippon
President & CEO
Gibson Energy
Mike Rose
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tourmaline Oil Corp.
Brian Schmidt
President & CEO
Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd.
David Spyker
President & CEO
Freehold Royalties Ltd.
Bevin Wirzba
President and Chief Executive Officer
South Bow Corp.
Vern Yu
President & Chief Executive Officer
AltaGas
Additional signatories
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