The Facts

Want to know why Canadian oil and gas gets so little respect from anti-oil and gas activists? It’s not because Canada’s main energy sector is somehow a miscreant on measures of carbon emissions or anything else. Instead, it is often due to three approaches: focusing only on absolute emissions and ignoring the effect of economic growth and per capita measurements; skipping over the reality of a cold northern country; and making the perfect (utopian end) the enemy of the good.

 

When the issue of taxpayer subsidies for energy comes up — oil and gas and renewables alike — the public, policymakers and media could be forgiven if they feel like they’re drowning. Endless decimal points and numbers that run into the trillions can make it near impossible to grasp what it all means to one personally.

 

Canadian Energy Centre Executive Director of Research Mark Milke joined Business Insider host Mario Toneguzzi to discuss the findings of new research on new Canadians working in the oil and gas extraction sector.

A few years back, one of us (Mark) took an early morning taxi ride in Vancouver. The driver, originally from Latin America, began to complain—without any prompting—of how crazy it was that local anti-oil and gas protesters were trying to block the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.  

 

What a difference a month makes.

 

Worldwide oil consumption has been on an upward trajectory as of late, and with the Covid pandemic subsiding in much of the world, it appears that resumption in demand will soon be obvious this year and next.