Selling Alberta oil is a moral question: Kenney

Developing Alberta oil, getting it to tidewater and selling it in international markets is a moral question for the world as well as other Canadians, according to United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney.

Kenney made that statement in a speech to the Rotary Club of Olds Thursday.

"This is not just an economic question for us; it is a moral question for the world," he said.

"In a world where according to the International Energy Agency, there will be a growing demand for hydrocarbon-based energy till at least 2045. In that world, the question is, who will supply that growing demand?

"Will Canada, with the highest environmental, human rights and labour standards be a growing part? Will we displace or compete with conflict oil coming from dictatorships, theocracies and kleptocracies? Or will we give a monopoly to some of the world's worst regimes to enrich them – in Saudi Arabia, in Venezuela, in Iran and Qatar?"

Kenney said because of a lack of pipelines, a couple of weeks ago, Canadian oil was selling in the U.S. for $33 a barrel whereas U.S. oil was selling for $61 a barrel.

"So David Suzuki and the NDP in British Columbia – all these people – are actually helping to subsidize Donald Trump's economy. Do they know they're doing that? While OPEC looks on happily at our inability to compete with them," Kenney said.

"Our eastern Canadian friends today are shipping in heavy oil from a dictatorship in Venezuela rather than buying our own Canadian crude that by the way generates the wealth that funds the equalization payments…it just makes no sense."

Kenney said oil and gas are still the main engines to spur the Alberta economy and if we want to live prosperous lives, those resources have to be developed.

"Now, there are social challenges in Olds – in communities all across the province. I've been visiting food banks and women's shelters and overnight shelters throughout rural Alberta the last week," he said.

"If we want to be the generous society we think of ourselves as, if we want to have that health care there for the boomers as they retire, and if we want education for our kids and the infrastructure and all of those things, we need the wealth.

"You cannot redistribute wealth unless somebody is creating it in the first place. And we have this great blessing of nature which we develop at the highest human rights, environmental and labour standards of any major energy producer in the world," Kenney said.

"Not only do I hope that we'll earn the opportunity to have a government that restores investor confidence and reignites Alberta's economy, but I also hope to have a provincial government that will stand up and seriously fight for these resources for our economic future, which is Canada's economic future, and indeed, for Canada to play a larger role throughout the world."