This is a news compilation setting the record straight on the day’s top anti-oil and gas stories and providing research and facts to counter misinformation about the oil and gas industry.
News Headline:
Report commissioned by foreign-funded Environmental Defence pushing the killing of jobs and the transition off oil and gas based on a faulty premise of falling oil and gas demand.
Employment Transitions and the Phase-Out of Fossil Fuels
The Facts:
Why would Canada phase out oil and gas jobs when we can provide best in the world Canadian energy to meet the growing demand.
- This report was commissioned by the Tides funded organization Environmental Defence, which receives money to specifically target the oil and gas industry.
https://www.tides.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2017_Tides_Foundation_Form_990.pdf - The report argues that Canada needs to begin transitioning employment out of oil and gas because global trends show that demand is decreasing. However, most reports, including the International Energy Agency and OPEC show that demand is in fact increasing globally, especially in non-OECD countries.
https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/press_room/6147.htm - Studies show Canada can provide best in the world oil and gas to non-OECD developing countries, and fight the global problem of emissions by producing resources domestically.
http://www.naviusresearch.com/publications/reversing-carbon-leakage/ - The report tries to argue that the 171,000 direct employees in the oil and gas industry can transition from their current jobs or retire. However, the Canadian oil and gas industry supports 599,000 families across the country just like yours. Eliminating those jobs could be devastating.
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/nrcan/files/energy/energy_fact/energy-factbook-2020-2021-English.pdf - 10,000 Indigenous people are also employed in the Canadian oil and gas industry which has lead to high-paying jobs. The industry also supports over 399 Indigenous companies. This has helped fight on-reserve poverty.
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/nrcan/files/energy/energy_fact/energy-factbook-2020-2021-English.pdf / https://www.capp.ca/explore/indigenous-relations/
Here is a story that gets it right.
Corbella: Indigenous leaders ‘devastated’ by Biden’s predicted scrapping of KXL pipeline
With Joe Biden’s official inauguration as the 46th President of the United States, many in the Canadian oil and gas industry have been concerned that the new President will follow through on his promises to scrap Keystone XL. Among those concerned are the Indigenous groups that have signed agreements with TC Energy to support jobs and economic development for their communities. Chief Alvin Francis of Natural Law Energy put it bluntly, “Growth for my First Nation would mean such a lot because we have unemployment of about 50 percent, so with this project on the horizon my people were basically already planning their future.” Canceling projects with Indigenous buy-in means cutting off important economic life-lines for communities dealing with on-reserve poverty as well as a myriad of other social issues. This is another unfortunate example of putting ideology, before people.
