OTTAWA – The Green Party of Canada challenges claims made by Canada’s Natural Resources Minister at the FirstEnergy East Coast Energy Conference yesterday in New York.
Before an audience of US and Canadian energy industry executives, Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver described Canada as “emerging as a 21st century energy superpower.”
Citing statistics from 2011, Minister Oliver alleged that there is a downward long-term trend for greenhouse gas emissions per barrel in the Canadian oil sands, and that Canada is taking significant steps to reduce its overall emissions.
Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party of Canada and Member of Parliament for Saanich–Gulf Islands, calls both claims false and misleading.
“The reality is that with the rise of in-situ extraction in the oil sands, particularly over the past two years, the reduction in GHG per barrel has stalled and moved to increasing emissions per barrel,” said May. “Only by cutting off statistics more than two years ago can Minister Oliver make that claim. Meanwhile, there is no evidence that Canada is reducing our emissions. Environment Canada is now projecting that by 2020 we will be essentially at the same level of emissions that we had pledged to cut by 17%. In other words, Canada’s Copenhagen promise to reduce GHG by 17% against 2005 levels by 2020 has been completely ignored."
In 2005, Canada's emissions were 737 megatons (MT). According to Environment Canada, in 2020, our emissions will be 734 MT. We had promised 130 MT in reductions. Despite efforts by several provinces, notably a successful carbon tax in British Columbia and shutting down coal plants in Ontario, all provincial progress has been wiped out by growth in the oil sands.
Minister Oliver also alleged that with increased pipeline capacity, bitumen from the Canadian oil sands could be shipped and sold internationally at global crude oil prices, a claim May disputes. "We will not automatically get Brent prices at tidewater. Bitumen is unrefined pre-crude,” she explained. “It requires processing to become a product comparable to the crude we import from Norway, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria."
May also pointed out that Minister Oliver's claims that Canada has "Responsible Resource Management" with strong environmental regulation is belied by the record of the Harper administration. "Far from having strong standards, the weak environmental laws applying to the oil sands constitute another form of subsidy. This administration has gutted the Fisheries Act, repealed the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, eviscerated the Navigable Waters Protection Act and declared war on science."
May concluded: "Canada is not emerging as a 21st century energy super-power, but as a compliant resource colony for other countries, prepared to sell out our country's economic health and our children's future for a sector that currently contributes less than 5% to our national GDP. It's time to blow the whistle on this nonsense."
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Contact:
Nicholas Gall
Communications Officer,
Green Party of Canada
(613) 562 4916
Nicholas.Gall@greenparty.ca