Energy Security in Canada

Energy Security in Canada

• IF OUR NAFTA PARTNERS CAN HAVE NATIONAL ENERGY PROGRAMS, WHY CAN'T WE?

Gordon LaxerProfessor of Political Economy

University of Alberta

Article available online at:

• http://www.canadians.org/publications/CP/2005/spring/CP_summer_05_energy.pdf (PDF format), or

• http://www.canadians.org/publications/CP/2005/spring/NAFTA.html

Energy Security in Canada

• The USA and Mexico, Canada's North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, each have a policy of oil energy independence and public ownership.

• While our NAFTA partners are looking after their own energy security, Canada is the only NAFTA country prevented from doing so.

Energy Security in Canada

WHY?

• Canada is required to continue oil and gas exports to the USA even in times of shortage.

• Under the Proportionality Clause negotiated in the 1993 FTA, Canada can cut exports to the U.S. to deal with shortages only if it cuts the same proportion of supplies to Canadians.

Energy Security in Canada• Canada currently produces about 40 per cent more oil

than it consumes and so should not have to worry about shortages.

• Yet, because of NAFTA, Canada has put itself in a position that is as precarious as that of the United States, relying on imports of oil from offshore.

• Canada now exports 70 per cent of its supply to the U.S., and imports almost 60 per cent of the oil it consumes.

Energy Security in Canada• The Mexicans were smart and got an

exemption from energy sharing in times of shortage.

• A national energy policy for the U.S. and a continental energy market for Canada is a “raw deal for Canada”.

• Instead of negotiating further integration with the U.S., why not push for a Mexican-style exemption for Canada?

THE END OF SUBURBIAOil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream

Video Presentation, 2004

THE END OF SUBURBIAOil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream

Notes from website www.endofsuburbia.com

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the American consciousness.

• But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life.

The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply.

• World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

Questions to consider:

• What does Oil Peak mean for North America?

• As energy prices skyrocket, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream?

• Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow?

• What can (and / or should?) be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia ?

End of Suburbia

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3uvzcY2Xug

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZRmwhrkVSA&feature=player_embedded

Escape From Suburbia