With Saskatchewan gaining more influence on the national scene thanks to a stable government and a healthy resource base, we believe it's time to begin a serious push on Ottawa for a national energy policy.
Make no mistake, we want nothing of the mess the late Pierre Trudeau attempted to foist on Western Canada. That was clear and simple political robbery that was soon exposed for what it was. It also sank Liberal hopes on this side of the country for decades and still resonates within our borders.
The timing may be about right at the federal level as well with the current government led by a micro-manager prime minister who certainly understands the issue, needs and nuances of the deal, having a power base until 2015.
There could be other items on the agenda that might supersede a national energy policy, but right now we can't think of any, especially if the MPs, ministers, deputy ministers, and government energy wonks embrace an all encompassing package.
We have already seen that PM Stephen Harper favours big packages when it comes to legislation, so a big energy program probably wouldn't frighten him.
That's why we believe this federal government might find a lot of surprising support from provincial counterparts if they decided to bring Canada together with a strategy that would embrace energy businesses, environmentalists and First Nations.
A Senate committee already started the process with their Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources report, which could lend direction for a second step.
We here in Saskatchewan are becoming all too aware of the fact that the time is fast approaching wherein we will no longer be able to tamper and rejig energy policies to accommodate immediate conditions. We require something stable.
Is there support across the nation for nuclear energy? Where exactly does clean coal stand in the big picture? What are we going to do about fostering renewable energy projects? What will the cost be of doing that? Are we even willing to subsidize wind, geothermal, solar, biomass energy projects to the extent we are now? Oil and natural gas and their energy efficiencies ... where are they on the tote board?
A national energy strategy would lend some clarity.
Getting a clear regulation regarding movement of resources would provide assistance. We've seen where non-clarity leads with the current disagreement between Alberta and B.C. regarding an opportunity to move oilsands products to the B.C. coast for shipment overseas. So what is fair in that game? Security and potential environmental losses and gains must be weighed in with income and transportation concerns on these types of files.
Would it not be nice to have clear legislation regarding interprovincial movements so we could ship oil, gas, coal, or any energy product to Eastern Canada as easily as we can to the United States? Right now we can't.
What about our refineries? Where should they be and how profitable and safe can we make them? How can we share water and hydro products?
A national policy could eliminate the battle between West and East regarding the value of the Canadian dollar. Getting raw products to the factories where they can be transformed into value-added goods should be of primary importance and a base for provincial agreements.
In other words, nobody really has to lose with the creation of a national energy policy, but somebody will have to make a sincere move toward the middle if it's ever going to happen.
We feel the time and circumstances are right, we're just not so sure about the potential players.
