During his recent trip to Washington, Thomas Mulcair, the leader of the NDP and thus the Official Opposition, stated that he was opposed to the construction of the Keystone XL. Keystone XL is a pipeline extension aimed to facilitate the exportation of oil from Alberta to the coast of Texas. Mulcair stated that he was against its construction because, in his opinion, Canada’s oil should be kept in Canada lest we sell too much of it and run out (note, we have around a 150-year supply at current production levels).
Exporting natural resources, including non-renewable ones, is a major source of wealth for Canada. We have a thriving mining industry alongside our oil and natural gas industries, which we sell to countries around the world. My question for Mr. Mulcair is this: Why stop at oil? If it is bad to sell natural resources, I can think of a much longer list. Let’s give it a try.
Potash: the most important fertilizer in the world, the potash mines in Saskatchewan are a major source of export revenue and employment for the province. Were we not to export potash, the cost of food would increase and a lot of people would likely die of starvation. Still, according to Mulcair’s logic, we should stop exporting it. Don’t we need to keep our potash for ourselves?
Coal: we sell a lot of coal to China and India; however, we still burn some to generate electricity in many provinces in Canada. Maybe we should stop exporting it, because we wouldn’t want to run out.
Copper, nickel, iron, and steel: these metals are the building blocks of the industrial age and the price for these commodities has been extremely high. Selling them has made Canada a much richer country, but can we really afford to sell it? We might run out.
Uranium: this resource is sold around the world and helps keep the lights on. It produces reliable, carbon-free electricity for millions of people. Will Canada lose its healthy glow if we sell too much of it, though?
What Mulcair doesn’t seem to realize is that if we sit and hoard our resources, we’ll end up with more of them, but there are two things we will run out of: jobs and money. Our primary sector provides employment for millions of Canadians; the idea that we should stop exporting natural resources betrays an ignorance of economics that is totally inexcusable for someone who claims to want to lead our country.
