Monthly Archives: April 2012

Stephen Harper, Barack Obama

Even though President Obama has indicated that he may (or may not) rethink his rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline, his initial rejection of it has caused Canada to rethink their energy partnership with the United States. After all, Canada has to look after their own interests.

“Look, the very fact that a ‘no’ could even be said underscores to our country that we must diversify our energy export markets,” Harper said. “We cannot be, as a country, in a situation where our one and, in many cases, only energy partner could say no to our energy products. We just cannot be in that position.”

The Prime Minister also mentioned that Canada has been selling oil to the United States at a discounted price. But now that the Great White North is expanding its oil export market, that discount will probably disappear.

Get that? The U.S. will not only have less access to Canadian oil but it will also have to pay more for it because the market for oilsands crude is expanding (and therefore more competitive).

“We have taken a significant price hit by virtue of the fact that we are a captive supplier and that just does not make sense in terms of the broader interests of the Canadian economy,” Harper said. “We’re still going to be a major supplier of the United States. It will be a long time, if ever, before the United States isn’t our number one export market, but for us the United States cannot be our only export market.”

This is what happens when you try to make everybody happy on both sides of an issue. Everyone ends up unhappy. Either way, we end up paying more for less oil.