The Facts

 

 

In 2009, the central European country of Ukraine endured a twin lesson in geopolitics and energy security: Russia cut off its natural gas supply in mid-winter.

 

One of the more bizarre developments in Europe in recent years has been the twin policy path whereby fossil fuels are discouraged in favour of wind and solar, but deals are yet struck with autocracies such as Russia to import more fossil fuel via pipelines.

Canadian Energy Centre Executive Director of Research Mark Milke joined Business Insider host Mario Toneguzzi to discuss the reliance of European Union nations on imported oil from countries with poor civil rights records like Russia and Saudi Arabia.

 

In one of the great ironies of modern Canadian life, a country with plentiful oil reserves has imported $488 billion in foreign oil since 1988. This is so despite the presence of the one of the world’s largest oil reserves from Newfoundland to British Columbia (their offshore reserves) to onshore deposits on the prairies.

 

One critical problem for political and business leaders alike is to try and get people to think outside their own local “box.”  While most people might well prefer a local restaurant or coffee shop to a national chain, international trade is the very reason why a Canadian restaurant can offer vegetables in winter, from Mexico, for example: because they’re fresh and cheaper, as greenhouse vegetables for all Canadians for six months a year would be exorbitant in price.