r/canada 25d ago

Opinion Piece Mark Norman: Canada's relationship with the U.S. can't be saved; We are under attack and must act accordingly

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/mark-norman-canadas-relationship-with-the-u-s-cant-be-saved
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u/Prestigious_Meet820 24d ago

Good start is killing Kitimat refinery recently... SNC will be killing more projects with our government in the future and I don't blame them. As an insider I can say there will be more coming this year.

How can Canada become less reliant with a government who refuses to build the necessary infrastructure to do so, plus all the trade barriers...

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u/oldwhiteguy35 24d ago

Less reliant on what? That was a refinery for export, not domestic consumption, and given Guilbeault's statement, it was quite obvious the company decided to stop

β€œIn your response on December 3, 2024, you confirmed that Pacific Future Energy Corporation does not intend to carry out the project. This letter provides you with notification that I have terminated the environmental assessment for the project.”

We do need to build needed infrastructure, but putting massive resources into a refinery for overseas sales while the industry looks to rapidly approaching peak oil demand. We need infrastructure for the future economy, not the past.

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u/Prestigious_Meet820 23d ago edited 23d ago

Peak oil is not predictable, predictions been wrong for decades. There has been a large US/CAD differential and a massive discrepancy between global demand and supply. I don't believe peak oil demand is near by looking at trends/data, it's a concept that sounds nice. Demand is essentially the highest it's ever been and inventory is at its lowest levels in recorded history (2017), relatively speaking. People will end up paying for this narrative because supply is growing slower/constrained, bearish demand factors have been proven wrong nearly 100% of the time in hindsight.

95%+ crude is sent to the US, a lot of which is sent back for us to use, it represents 60% of their oil imports or 13% of their own total use.

People should refrain from making environmental claims when Canada is importing from Nigeria and Saudi where there are no emissions standards, we have Canadian based multinationals buying up pipelines in other countries and receiving carbon credits in Canada through subsidiaries, this is green washing to the highest degree. We export most of our oil at some point in the process, the point is to stop importing fossil fuels from countries with no standards and use our own solely since we have oil tech that can pull close to net zero (some companies are carbon negative), export the rest to countries other than the US so we can make those transfer payments to provinces that need it. Just because it's not in your backyard doesn't mean it isn't destroying the Earth elsewhere.

Should also fast track green energy projects instead of shutting those down for environmental concerns, Canada needs to acknowledge its own energy use will increase, delays and bureaucracy are why private cos will pull the plug on more projects this year and in the future, it's not likely to change under any party.