Post Carbon Toronto

Issues

Energy security

Canadians may be forgiven for thinking that Canada's energy supplies are secure when they hear Prime Minster Haper calling Canada an "energy superpower". They are reminded regularly by the press that Canada is a (net) exporter of oil and gas and one of the US's largest suppliers.

The truth is Canada is almost as dependent on foreign oil imports as the US. In 2006, Canada imported 51% of its oil supply. Eastern Canada, particularly Quebec and the maritime provinces are primarily supplied by foreign oil imported from the middle east. 

Canadians ought to be aware that the price of NAFTA was a loss of Canadian sovereignty over our energy resources. Canada has been integrated into a 'continental', market based energy system that acts to serve US interests ahead of Canadians — more security for the US and more insecurity for Canadians.

Canadian energy policy is being set by US and Canadian energy industry groups through the shadowy "Security and Prospertity Partnership" process that few Canadians know anything about.

Canadians need an public energy policy made by Canadians that puts Canadians interests first.

Natural gas supply

Canadians are critically dependent on natural gas as energy source for heating as well as industrial production and electrical power generation. Yet few people are aware that North American natural gas production peaked in 2000 and has been in decline since. Alberta's conventional gas fields, which account for more than 75% of all our natural gas production, are very mature. The average pool size and rate of production of new fields has droppped markedly and the rate of overall production decline has been slowed only by nearly quadrupling the number of new wells drilled each year. New production is expected to come from the far north, but the Mackenzie Valley pipe line that would deliver that gas to southern markets has been stalled for decades.

The gas industry repeatedly reasures Canadians that we have more than "70 years" of reserves, but neglect to mention that 78% of those reserves are "undiscovered" and most of those reserves are expect to be found far north in the high artic islands. The situation is made more complicated by the fact that Canada exports more that half its production to the US, which is also running short of reserves. There are large reserves of natural gas in Asia, most notably in Russia, Iran and Qatar, but shipping natural gas by tanker is very expensive and the needed infrastructure will take many billions of dollars and decades to develop. In the meanwhile, Europe and China are moving to lock up Russian and Iranian gas supplies for their own needs.

Its time for Canadians to begin a discussion about the future of our natural gas supplies and to prepare for the time in which natural gas will no longer be available in the quantities we need today.

Carbon Taxes

The hardships involved in the transition from a high carbon economy to a low carbon economy can be eased by gradually and sensibly easing our reliance on fossil fuels, so that we don't continue to build up cabon-dependent infrastructure until we reach a point of crisis. The use of fossil fuels should be reduced through market interventions such as a carbon tax.

There are at least two approaches to achieve this. Supply can be limited directly through quotas. Market mechanisms would then drive the price up and usage down. Alternatively, prices can be raised directly through a carbon tax or other instrument, which would again have the effect of lowering usage.

Post Carbon Toronto does not take a position on which market intervention we should use. We do advocate an economy-wide approach.