The Consequences of a Decade of Anti-Private Sector Policy

Canadians everywhere might say "Meh - what does that have to do with me?" Well, almost everything, since Canada's economy is still anchored on oil and gas, which remains the largest private sector investor - by far - and among top exports. If they will stay.

The last anti-development decade has caused particular harm to Canadian homegrown small and medium operators from exploration and production to service and supply, and conventional oil producers - businesses of an average of 90 employees or less which dominated the sector in Canada. The same period launched a historic and sustained flight of capital from Canada to the US (an anomaly before 2015), and a consolidation of oil and gas development plus political and policy influence among the biggest companies in Canada, who also sit on paid out, mature oil sands and heavy oil projects, but have stopped most expansions and new projects due to the indirect but deliberate Liberal cabinet kill-off of the Frontier oil sands mine, uncertain, uncompetitive and punitive policies, targets, and taxes that deliberately made the majority of Canadian crude oil deposits uneconomic to develop, especially in the context of price volatility and Canada's own lack of energy self sufficiency despite all the resources to be completely secure and resilient.

All of that is a brutal but predictable result for Canada's energy sector and economy. It's the duty of companies to maximize shareholder profit while following domestic law and regulations, not to advance or protect the public interest. That's the job of elected people and regulators.

While the U.S started to pursue energy independence since President Obama removed their export ban on crude beyond North America while he vetoed Keystone XL to limit crude from Canada, Canada's own government failed on two subsequent opportunities to secure it with willing Republican administrations and significant bi partisan support inherited from Conservatives, while they also:

1. Immediately vetoed an inherited and already approved from near the end of the previous government, west coast pipeline for export to Asia (which wants a variety of feedstock), a pipeline supported by a majority of Indigenous communities in both provinces along the route. The Supreme Court ruled the Indigenous consultation was insufficient and could be re-done. Instead, the Liberals vetoed the whole thing (without consulting the First Nations and Métis who had worked on it for years to secure a variety of environmental, employment and fiscal benefits. Then imposed a tanker ban, for which First Nations sued them, to put a nail in the coffin on future proposals. Topped of with a unilateral and expensive offshore drilling ban in the North.

2. Simultaneously, a west to east pipeline proposed near the end of the previous Conservative government (when the private sector was confident to invest in Canada and the middle class here grew to the largest and wealthiest on Earth), would have secured energy independence and self sufficiency for Canada with market diversification to European markets with processed products. But these federal Liberals stopped, changed the rules, delayed the process multiple times, and told the proponent to meet conditions no inter-provincial or export pipeline ever has before or since, deliberately for geographical political considerations and fantastical anti fossil fuel ideology. After spending a billion $ to try to jump all the hoops, the proponent warned then abandoned the project, just as the Liberals intended.

3. Meanwhile, the U.S. government started o&g development in Venezuela, with a very similar crude that dominates Canada deposits and in, whether you like it or not, the resource that puts our country at top 3 of the global oil proven reserve map, the oil sands. Yet these Liberals still delayed, approved it, then the Supreme Court said they failed their own Indigenous consultation the first time around. More Liberal delays and red tape let opposition grow.

The Liberals then stood by and let other levels of government and activists weaponize policies, regulations, bylaws, and repeatedly break court injunctions - while funding protesters with tax dollars - to stop the very Expansion the Liberals approved! But the truth is: three times the Liberals denied my unanimous consent request AND a bill I introduced in the House of Commons, initiated by Senator Doug Black, to declare TMX in the general advantage of Canada to give teeth to the "national interest" designation that federal governments have used hundreds of times before on major infrastructure, so the proponent could have certainty it would be able to complete construction on their time and dime, because neither is infinite and both are significant.

Now the Liberals want a hero cookie for buying and building it way over budget and behind schedule, while most of it still goes through the U.S., and yes, thank goodness, some out from the Gulf?! Come on. No gold stars for bullsh*t and blunders.

THAT'S all a decade of Liberal government and almost a year of rhetoric has actually delivered for Canadians, with power, heating, cooling, home and fuel costs all becoming too expensive and unreliable for the majority of Canadians. But the rich elites and their connections get richer! As always.

While Canada's federal government has played useful idiots to both hostile regimes and to the U.S., right in our own backyard at almost every level, during the last decade, and broke relationships with long term allies, on the weekend, U.S. actions also means Canada lost its last real point of leverage with the U.S. "It's the {oil}, stupid!" - and Canada is divided, dependent, and increasingly desperate.

And Mark Carney actually thinks pipelines are "boring" - and that "half of oil reserves should stay in the ground." He said so. And it shows.

Appalling.

What an embarrassing and generationally costly step by step self inflicted, political self destruction of Canada: a country that does have it all, and its citizens should deserve to live that way. Instead, jobs decline (more in natural resources are expected to come this year - the most of all sectors, but everywhere is under attack) daily and unavoidable, essential costs are too expensive for the middle class and working poor. People are losing hope, Canada is isolated, and national economy, security, and sovereignty are all threatened by hostile regimes... AND by Canada's most important economic, military, and free democratic ally, our next door neighbour, too. I also did watch with my own eyes this federal Liberal government give a standing ovation to President Biden's speech that positioned Canada as a hewer of wood, drawer of water, and supplier of minerals for the American economy and national security. Now the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Defense owns and is on track to develop Canadian minerals much faster than Canadian operators can get approvals to production.

The hard truth is, even though this former advisor/pretend new Prime Minister talks a different game, this same government is a government that has tried to kill the golden geese, let all the foxes into all the hen houses, and bit all the hands that feed them.

Meanwhile, other countries - friends and foe alike - took very obvious steps in other economic, security, and resource directions. But the Liberals celebrated "global leadership". Conservatives constantly warned that the rest were racing ahead while Liberals hold Canada and Canadians back.

This is just not a track record that deserves re-election.

To match all the fancy words and expensive new offices, the new urgent obsession of the federal government that must recognize reality should be to: 1) begin work towards domestic strategic reserves of oil, gas, strategic commodities and minerals 2) accelerate a nation-building Canadian West to East pipeline to on and off take from every part of Canada, to Eastern refineries for European export of SCO and refined fuels; this time guarantee the private sector can build it efficiently since the federal government torpedoed the first attempt, which should be feasible since years of work has already been done 3) extend the policy exemptions that the government of Alberta just successfully secured in the federal MoU to the entire rest of the country so those Canadians can count on affordable fuel, power and resouce production too, and 4) to cut all taxes and red tape that is uncompetitive with the U.S. and immediately eliminate all the domestic intergovernmental barriers that remain. Because whether we like it or not, the U.S. is both the only economy that really matters to Canada right now, and is also the biggest competitor. This was all predictable, but the Liberals actually helped it all happen.

Now more than ever before, Canada must protect its own interests, and become affordable, safe, secure, independent and self sufficient, which frankly requires a radical departure from the government and policies that got the country here. The Liberals must immediately axe or fix all the laws and regs in Parliament that they identified block building, as outlined in Bill C-5 that Conservatives helped them improve and pass with a series of rejected amendements/outgoing cautions. Laws and regs that Conservatives have always warned about and always called for to be fixed or scrapped.

NO to the economic "political favourite pet project" command and control authoritarianism, division and foreign intervention by friends and foes, nanny state and big government censorship; YES to free markets, private sector investment and innovation, resource development for our own best interests shared with all, and rock solid national security, military capacity, and defense alliances.

And get a damn deal on the tarrifs done like Pierre Poilievre said - catch up to the chess, already, because Canada is vulnerable every day due to Mark Carney's broken promise that he was the guy to get a good deal for Canada, but he both fawned to a powerful, unpredictable negotiator, and is still empty handed. Good grief.

...and please just don't ask me why Albertans seem, erm, frustrated anymore, either!