There is no question that the price gap between Albertan and American oil has become the most pressing economic issue facing our province.
Over the past month, the gap between West Texas Intermediate and Western Canadian Select prices has averaged almost $45 per barrel. Leading economists estimate that the price gap, primarily caused by a lack of pipeline capacity, is costing the Canadian economy $80 million per day.
Why should this matter to you? Because this oil is your oil.
The abundant natural resources locked away in Alberta’s oilsands do not belong to the oil companies, or to Prime Minister Trudeau, or to Premier Notley. That oil belongs to you, and the royalties from that oil go to fund your roads, your schools and your hospitals. Thanks to a lack of pipeline capacity, you’re getting ripped off to the tune of billions of dollars every year.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much light at the end of the tunnel. Having already lost the Northern Gateway and Energy East pipeline projects, with the Trans Mountain project trapped in regulatory limbo, the Notley administration can’t even convince the B.C.. or federal NDP to stop fighting against pipelines.
Feeling the heat for this, the premier recently launched a special panel to look for solutions to the price gap issue. The panel itself is a sad joke; everybody everywhere already knows the solution to the price gap issue. As thousands of protesters chanted in downtown Calgary, during the prime minister’s most recent photo op: “Build The Pipe.”
For its part, the NDP couldn’t be less serious about this panel. How else can you explain the premier’s decision to appoint her own former chief of staff, Brian Topp? A career government insider, Topp has absolutely no professional experience in the oil industry. It would be easy to write off the whole endeavour as yet another patronage pig-out, if not for Mr. Topp’s long history of attacking our oil industry.
One of the architects of Alberta’s carbon tax, at various points in his career Topp has called for banning gasoline powered vehicles in cities, pushing foreign investment out of the oilsands, creating a transition fund to help end western Canadian oil exports, and even once compared our industry to the manufacturing of landmines. It’s pretty clear that Topp has no interest in helping Alberta’s oil industry succeed; he’s spent the majority of his career trying to kill it.
Ultimately, the creation of this government sponsored dog and pony show will do nothing to fix the price gap issue. We all know it. Albertans deserve a government that will stand up to the anti-oil crusaders at home and abroad, and take real action on this file. Build the pipe.
– Jason Nixon is the UCP MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre
