Dr. Roger Gibbins, President and CEO, Canada West Foundation
Albertans are understandably nervous about the potential impact of the new American administration on our market for energy south of the border. The rhetorical emphasis on climate change, clean energy and energy security could all be problematic for an Alberta energy industry already hammered by depressed prices, high costs and tight credit.
Our nervous energy, however, should be directed to seizing the Canada-U. S. Clean Energy Dialogue that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last month.
To understand the importance of this initiative, consider the public debate about oil sands development. At present, that debate focuses almost entirely on environmental concerns. This is losing terrain for proponents of the oil sands, as it is almost impossible to attract an audience to discuss its economic importance or contribution to energy security.
Environmental opponents of the oil sands, who are well financed by American foundations, are simply not interested in a balanced debate. If the oil sands can be isolated as an environmental target, if arguments about the economy or energy security can be rejected out of hand, then oil sands producers are going to face very heavy sledding indeed. It is imperative, therefore, to change the terms of the debate.
It is here that the Clean Energy Dialogue comes into play, for it provides the opportunity to discuss the oil sands in the context of continental supply and demand. It provides an opportunity to discuss how the oil sands might contribute to energy security, and to place the environmental impact of the oil sands among other energy sources, including coal-generated electricity.
President Obama's greatest gift to Canada to date was his response when asked during his visit to Ottawa to comment on the oil sands. He noted the environmental concerns about the oil sands, as he should, but then went on to point out that the United States faces similar environmental concerns with coal-fired electricity, calling his country "the Saudi Arabia of coal."
This response supports exactly what Albertan's need -- a comprehensive discussion about energy that does not look at the oil sands in isolation. The Canada-U. S. Clean Energy Dialogue is this forum.
But, if this opening is to be seized, there are steps that have to be taken. First, we have to have a Canadian dialogue before we are swept up by the Canada-U. S. dialogue. We have to sort out our energy interests, needs, objectives and priorities. This is a discussion that we have been unwilling to have, and the government of Canada has been the most reluctant participant.
We are so paralyzed by the legacy of the National Energy Program, an initiative brought in when Jimmy Carter was president, that we refuse to have an open debate. We declare, as Prime Minister Harper stated, that Canada is a clean energy superpower, and then refuse to put into place the strategy necessary to achieve this admirable vision.
Now, however, the Americans have goaded us into action. If we do not have a Canadian dialogue, and if we do not have that dialogue soon, we will be eaten alive once the Canada-U. S. dialogue gets underway.
The second step is Alberta's, for the price of admission to the Clean Energy Dialogue will be the recognition that a continental cap-and-trade system will be one of the outcomes. If we want to get the oil sands into the continental tent, then it will be necessary to drop our insistence that we can go it alone with respect to carbon markets.
The third step goes without saying: oil sands producers have to continue to walk the talk with respect to their environmental impact. Their important work in this area can be told, but it needs an audience prepared to listen. The Clean Energy Dialogue should provide that audience, or at the very least the stage upon which the story can be told.
We have, then, the opportunity for a more balanced, continental discussion for the oil sands, one that retains the importance of environmental concerns, while at the same time bringing energy security and economic arguments into play. It is now up to us to exploit that opportunity.
