Editor:
Re: “Greener deal needed,” and “Reducing oil, gas is key,” Letters, Nov. 13.
By all means, let’s reduce our carbon footprint. It would be wise to look at what those at the forefront are doing in that regard. That would be us and we should be proud. It’s one thing to lament the addition of 34 million cars’ worth of emissions from future oil sands, which is in itself an exaggeration, but consider that if other countries followed Canada’s current environmental leadership, the equivalent of 100 million cars’ CO2 would be removed and global emissions from oil production would fall 23 per cent (per Tim McKay, president, CNRL, Dec. 14/18). That’s right. We would make triple the emissions reduction just getting others to buy into our environmental standards vs. stopping the growth of our own oil production.
We don’t operate in a vacuum. Canada is a world leader in reducing emissions from oil and gas production, but we are only a bit player in global emissions. Furthermore, it’s not like the oil won’t be burned if we hamstring our energy industry’s transportation capacity. Heavy oil demand is growing in Asia as its refinery complexity increases. Do we really want to export our prosperity to other heavy oil producing nations like Venezuela and Mexico? Along with it we give up the good jobs, billions of investment, and social benefits provided by Canada’s oil and gas industry. According to the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI), the oil sands are projected to contribute $1 trillion to Canada’s economy over the next 11 years. Canada is an energy superpower. These are real dollars from long life assets, not-pie-in-the-sky predictions of green jobs and money. The world will not end in our lifetimes from fire and flood. What is certain though is that developing technologies will outstrip oil as a source of energy. Canada should prosper and sell its oil in the meantime.
Darryl Brin, Sechelt
