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Harper's Index

Issue 48 Section: Accounts Geography: West; Alberta Topics: • tar sands • imperialism

October 21, 2007

Harper's Index

Stephen Harper introduces the tar sands issue

by Stephen Harper

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

We are currently the fifth largest energy producer in the world. We rank 3rd and 7th in global gas and oil production respectively. We generate more hydro-electric power than any other country on earth. And we are the world’s largest supplier of uranium. But that’s just the beginning.

Our government is making new investments in renewable energy sources such as biofuels. And an ocean of oil-soaked sand lies under the muskeg of northern Alberta–my home province. The oil sands are the second largest oil deposit in the world, bigger than Iraq, Iran or Russia; exceeded only by Saudi Arabia.

Digging the bitumen out of the ground, squeezing out the oil and converting it in into synthetic crude is a monumental challenge. It requires vast amounts of capital, Brobdingnagian technology, and an army of skilled workers. In short, it is an enterprise of epic proportions, akin to the building of the pyramids or China’s Great Wall. Only bigger.

By 2015, Canadian oil production is forecast to reach almost 4 million barrels a day. Two thirds of it will come from the oil sands. Even now, Canada is the only non-OPEC country with growing oil deliverability. And let’s be clear.

We are a stable, reliable producer in a volatile, unpredictable world. We believe in the free exchange of energy products based on competitive market principles, not self-serving monopolistic political strategies. That’s why policymakers in Washington–not to mention investors in Houston and New York–now talk about Canada and continental energy security in the same breath.

That’s why Canada surpassed the Saudis four years ago as the largest supplier of petroleum products to the United States. And that’s why industry analysts are recommending Canada as “possessing the most attractive combination of circumstances for energy investment of any place in the world.”

—Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
addressing the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce
July 14, 2006

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The Dominion is a monthly paper published by an incipient network of independent journalists in Canada. It aims to provide accurate, critical coverage that is accountable to its readers and the subjects it tackles. Taking its name from Canada's official status as both a colony and a colonial force, the Dominion examines politics, culture and daily life with a view to understanding the exercise of power.

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