The oil and gas sector pumps billions and billions of dollars into the country’s economy – enriching Canadians’ standard of living. Pictured: Alberta Minister of Environmental and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz. Photo Credit: Rebecca Schulz/X.
One of the last acts of the Trudeau government before recessing for the summer parliamentary break was to ensure its omnibus Bill C-59, enacting provisions tied to the Fall Economic Statement, was passed. In their final push, the Liberal and NDP MPs rammed the legislation through the House of Commons, after inserting a trojan-horse amendment that was designed by NDP MP Charlie Angus to silence the Canadian oil and gas companies on making statements relating to environmental technologies and emissions reduction results.
The Senate then rubber stamped the legislation to put into law a new “truth in advertising provision” that empowers environmental activists – or anyone for that matter – to challenge companies for their public communications. The provision is affectionately called an “anti-greenwashing” measure by Angus and environmental groups. It states that companies publicizing their environmental actions will have to prove every word they say, in accordance with a yet-to-be-defined “internationally recognized methodology.” The burden of proof lies with the company. For a first offence, the federal government’s quasi-judicial Competition Bureau can levy a fine of up to $10 million dollars, and a second conviction could be $15 million.
Alberta’s minister of environment, Rebecca Schulz, views the legislation as yet another blunt instrument attack on the province and its oil and gas industry.
“It’s a gag order on businesses and industry, plain and simple,” said Schulz. “Oilsands emissions intensity are down, electricity emissions are down, methane emissions are down and overall emissions continue to decline. That is our record. Those are facts.”
The minister also took a shot at the federal government: “One could argue the person greenwashing is Steven Guilbeault. He hasn’t hit any of his targets when it comes to climate. He greenwashes his own failed environmental record.”
The exchange is indicative of the rising tension created by the wedge politics of the ideologically driven Trudeau government. In a National Post editorial, former federal parliamentarian Preston Manning was critical of the manner Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers were “disparaging” the aspirations of the West. Manning observed that western natural resources should be “recognized and treated as fundamental building blocks of the economy” not considered “contemptuously, as relics from the past and even environmental liabilities.”
In another recent editorial in the Globe and Mail, Manning stated Canada’s natural resources are “an enormous source of strength and responsibility if we would only recognize it, capitalize on it, and make its future development and stewardship a national priority.” He suggests, “Canada’s increasingly urban population does not fully recognize how many urban jobs and incomes are actually dependent on the health and performance of the rural-based natural resource sectors – agriculture, energy, mining, forestry, and fisheries. These are truly fundamental building blocks of the Canadian economy as a whole…”
So, how important is petroleum energy to the country’s economy? The Trudeau government wants to shut down the industry and, with its gag law, has moved to silence it from sharing its story. However, any objective analysis reveals it is of enormous importance for Canadians.
The statistics underline the significance of the oil and gas industry to Canada’s economy. Our country is the world’s fourth largest producer of oil in the world, and the fifth largest producer of natural gas. Since the 1990s, oil production has more than doubled in Canada due to oil sands discoveries in northwest Alberta as well as from innovative technologies. Today, oil sands extraction contributes $40 billion to the economy and the whole of the industry totals more than three per cent of total gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), a non-partisan, research-based industry organization, reports that in 2023 there was $110 billion spent in Canada on operating and capital expenditures of oil and gas companies. The industry is expected to pay more than $20 billion worth of royalties to provincial governments in 2023, following a record payout of $33 billion in oil and gas royalties in 2022.
CAPP also reports there are 900,000 Canadians directly or indirectly employed in the oil and gas sector. The oil and gas extraction industry is the largest goods-producing industry in Canada – a full 30 per cent larger than the country’s residential building construction industry. This sector has well-paying jobs; the average direct oil and gas worker’s total compensation is 2.2 times higher than the Canadian average.
Bottom line: the oil and gas sector pumps billions and billions of dollars into the country’s economy – enriching Canadians’ standard of living.
Broadcasting this reality is the core function of an association of industry and concerned citizens — the Modern Miracle Network (MMN) @ www.modernmiraclenetwork.org. This Calgary based, national group is stiving to foster more rational, fact-based discussions about Canada’s energy and resource development policies. The MMN is doing a yeoman’s job of compiling sector data and industry news and broadcasting it to a national audience.
It’s stated mission is to “Effectively shift the conversation surrounding energy to one that recognizes, celebrates, and embraces the miracle of modern hydrocarbons in Canada. We are citizens concerned about Canada’s future prosperity, who want to have reasoned conversations about energy choices.”
Their vision is clear: “A future where hydrocarbons are celebrated, and Canada is recognized as a senior economic partner and responsible resource supplier to the world.”
MMN is guided by Calgarian businessman Michael Binnion, an entrepreneurial individual who has had a successful career in multiple companies in the oil and gas industry. For more than a decade, until 2015, Binnion also served as Chairman of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He is a prolific writer and an excellent, knowledgeable spokesman on Canadian business and the country’s economy.
Binnion and the MMN emphasize the importance of the oil and gas sector for Canadians and for the world. On the website, the MMN state five core beliefs: (1) The world needs more Canada: Canadians are the best in the world at developing energy; (2) emerging carbon tech is advancing rapidly and is creating a pathway to low emissions through energy transformation; (3) oil and gas saves lives and makes your life better; (4) First Nations support resource development when they are respectfully involved; and (5) we are Canadians just like you.
The core premise of these beliefs is that we take the products and uses of oil and gas for granted in our lives. Where would we be without oil and gas? To the point of Canada’s wealth and prosperity, where would Canadians’ quality of life be without their oil and gas sector? This industry sector provides quality jobs and underwrites a great deal of the costs for health, education, and social services.
Given “Canadian hydrocarbon production is among the world’s safest and most tightly regulated environmentally,” it makes sense that the country’s oil and gas producers should be at the forefront of providing the world with its energy needs in place of far less environmentally-friendly – “dirtier” – energy sources such as Venezuela’s oil or China’s coal. Yet, the ideologues in the Trudeau government cannot reason that reducing global carbon emissions is a global calculation, not a national one. The focus of the international community must be to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the world’s largest pollutants, namely China, India, Russia, U.S. etc. And Canada’s energy resources can help with this global imperative.
From their actions with Bill C-59, clearly, neither the Liberals nor NDPs want the facts of this matter discussed. But what is good for Canadians is good for the world and this is effectively underscored by the MMN’s work. It contends: “Since predictions from many non-partisan organizations indicate that oil and gas will remain part of the world’s energy diet over the next several generations, we believe that Canada has a role to play in supplying this demand, thus creating opportunities for a better life for all Canadians.”
The Modern Miracle Network and westerners from industry: bridge engineers who are compiling the facts to share the valuable contribution that the oil and gas sector makes to Canadians’ prosperity.
Chris George is an advocate, government relations advisor, and writer/copy editor. As president of a public relations firm established in 1994, Chris provides discreet counsel, tactical advice and management skills to CEOs/Presidents, Boards of Directors and senior executive teams in executing public and government relations campaigns and managing issues. Prior to this PR/GR career, Chris spent seven years on Parliament Hill on staffs of Cabinet Ministers and MPs. He has served in senior campaign positions for electoral and advocacy campaigns at every level of government. Today, Chris resides in Almonte, Ontario where he and his wife manage www.cgacommunications.com. Contact Chris at chrisg.george@gmail.com.
