ac2000 ac2000:
This past Wednesday, there was a story on the CBC where oil executives held a secret meeting in Houston, USA in 2005. USA now wants Canada to increase the Tar Sands by 500% in order to meet its oil addiction. The Tar Sands of course is Canada’s greatest source of emissions. If we are serious about Kyoto then we need to target the Tar Sands.
However, there is not much Canada can do. Thanks to the Free Trade Deal (FTA) with USA, there is nothing Canada can do. Under the agreement, Canada is forced to feed the oil addiction of USA. Furthermore, the Southwest border region in USA has become completely a polluted wasteland thanks to trade agreements with Latin American countries. FTA was never about the elimination of tariffs. We were doing that in the 1970’s and 1980’s. FTA is about access to resources. Even without FTA, we have basically already eliminated tariffs.
The Tar Sands are a serious problem. Calgarians are already experiencing water shortages. Expansion of the Tar Sands will make it worse. Furthermore, it will do serious damage to the wildlife especially grizzly bears and deer. It may even wipe out Banff. If Canada is truly committed to reducing emissions then it is time for us to cancel FTA. It is now time for Canada to make the choice between FTA and Kyoto.
Tar sands development is also a major economic driver for the Canadian economy. It's the massive economic benefits of the tar sands that have kept the Canadian economic situation purring along with low unemployment and healthy government revenues despite the loss of 10's of thousands of manufacturing jobs to China over the last decade.
It's all well and good to say we should shut everything down and live like it's the 19th century. But I doubt very much the average Canadian would be willing or able to make the sacrifices that would necessarily entail.
America needs oil. Someone has to provide it. Why not us?
CKA Uber 
