OTTAWA — Calling the development and export of Canada’s resources “nation building,” federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver says Canada must seize a once-in-a-lifetime energy opportunity or watch the associated economic benefits disappear.
As the minister trumpets the need to develop Canadian resources, he hopes the U.S. government will make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline as quickly as possible and downplayed a story in the New York Times that suggested — contrary to a U.S. State Department report — the pipeline could significantly increase oilsands production.
Extracting Canada’s natural resources demands that governments do more to earn the social licence to develop the oil, gas, diamond, uranium and other lucrative deposits found across the country, Oliver said Monday at the annual meeting of Canada’s energy and mines ministers in Yellowknife, N.W.T.
Yet, groups observing the talks, such as Environmental Defence, say the feeling around the conference is “very disconnected with the reality” of Canadians’ concerns about the impacts of natural resource development on land, water and air.
In a keynote speech to fellow ministers, Oliver compared the development and export of the country’s natural resources to the building of the railroad across Canada or construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Canada must capitalize on its resource bounty while it still can, he said.
Doing so requires the federal, provincial and territorial governments to develop Canada’s abundant natural resources, build the needed infrastructure — such as pipelines and export terminals — and diversify the country’s markets beyond the United States to emerging economies, he said.
Failing to act could see the country pass up billions of dollars in economic benefits and thousands of jobs, he said. The moribund Mackenzie Valley natural gas project, which faced a regulatory review of nearly a decade, was an “irretrievable loss” for a generation of aboriginals in the Northwest Territories, he said.
“So we have a choice — to proceed or procrastinate. We can roll up our sleeves or wring our hands. We can decide to get this done or we can dither — and watch the opportunities pass to others,” Oliver told his counterparts.
“Because make no mistake, this moment — this opportunity — is perishable. It will not last forever.”
Oliver downplayed the New York Times report that highlighted Natural Resources Canada documents from early this year suggesting that approving the Keystone XL pipeline would increase oilsands production.
A U.S. State Department report released in March found that approving or rejecting the project is unlikely to have any substantial impact on the rate of oilsands development.
“Whether it’s built or it isn’t built, there wouldn’t be a net impact on global emissions,” Oliver told reporters, believing Canadian crude would simply displace Venezuela oil in the U.S. if Keystone XL was built.
With news reports out of the U.S. suggesting the Obama administration’s final decision on Keystone XL could get pushed back to 2014, Oliver said the federal government respects the American process and that Canada hopes “the decision will be made as expeditiously as possible.”
Gillian McEachern with Environmental Defence said a larger discussion is required in Canada about what’s necessary in a national energy strategy that helps transition to a low-carbon energy system over the next couple of decades.
Part of the discussion needs to be about the pace and scale of development of the oilsands and shale gas, she said.
Ministers must also acknowledge, she said, that a discussion about Canada’s energy strategy for the future is also its climate strategy.
“The decisions that people in these rooms will make over the next five years are going to determine whether Canada is on a path to transition to low carbon and build the industries of the future and tackle climate change … or lock us into a really high carbon future, which is dangerous,” she said in an interview from Yellowknife.
Oliver said that while governments in Canada have an obligation to benefit from the natural resources, they also must honour their commitment to the environment — which he maintains is “our first thought in every major project we undertake.”
However, the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to secure prosperity and economic security can only be achieved if accomplished safely for Canadians and the environment, he added.
He highlighted Enbridge’s proposed Line 9 pipeline reversal and TransCanada’s Energy East project to ship crude oil from Western Canada to refineries in Quebec and Atlantic Canada as examples of important initiatives that will help expand the country’s energy export markets, along with Keystone XL and liquefied natural gas projects in British Columbia.
Oliver said he has no problem with Canadians who have legitimate concerns about environmental safety and are open to a discussion based on science. But the minister said he objects to people and groups who oppose “virtually every form of resource development.”
“Canada was not built by naysayers,” he said.
Kevin Lynch, vice-chair of BMO Financial Group and former clerk of the Privy Council, told ministers it’s imperative that Canada diversify its trade and investment.
The strongest economic growth in the world is coming from emerging markets that Canada must target for exporting its resources, he said. However, Canada continues to send most of its exports to traditional trading partners that are in the slow-growth part of the world.
“We’ve got a mismatch,” Lynch said. “We’re in the slow lane.”
He noted Canada sends virtually all of its oil and natural gas to the United States, at a time when the U.S. is becoming increasingly energy self-sufficient due to development of shale oil and gas.
At the same time, 97 per cent of new global energy demand is coming from emerging markets that Canada has largely failed to tap to date, he said.
“We have a single buyer and that single buyer is an increasingly unreliable buyer of our energy exports, and that’s a difficult place for us to be in,” Lynch added.
jfekete@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/jasonfekete
