Zimmer to Feds: Use Canadian Oil
Prince George, B.C. – Bob Zimmer says it’s time for Canada to reduce its dependency on foreign oil and start utilizing its own.
The Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies Conservative Member of Parliament says it’s taken on even more importance considering our country’s struggling oil industry.
“When you see the numbers of how much we actually import to Canada from other nations that don’t have very good human rights records, to me it’s troubling,” says Zimmer.
“Especially at a time where we have the oil, we have it in the west and I just think we should be supplying Canadians with Canadian oil.”
At the end of 2006, he says Canada’s remaining established reserves amounted to 179 million barrels and yet in the first eight months of 2014 total crude oil imports averaged 634 thousand barrels per day for a total of $20.2 billion spent on imported oil in 2014.
Zimmer adds should the Energy East pipeline receive approval, it would allow provinces like Quebec to step away from foreign oil and support Canada’s domestic industry.
He admits that’s hit a hurdle due to environmental concerns though.
“The environmental alarmists that are just against oil use in its entirety but the fact of the matter is we use oil products from cell phones to petroleum in our vehicles, we should be using Canadian oil first.”
Zimmer says another frustration is the federal government’s pending changes to the environmental process.
“The Liberal government must announce these changes to the process as soon as possible to help stabilize an industry that is already experiencing so much hardship,” he says.
“I know they are opposed to oil production but I would like to suggest to them to have a second look at this project (Energy East) and other projects like it that can supply Canadian oil to the east. We need the jobs in Western Canada and we also need the energy in Canada.”
Comments
This is a big change of policy for the Conservatives, who spent the last 10 years trying to export our oil either to China via Northern Gateway, or The U.S. via Keystone. Hopefully their next step is to embrace refining oil in Alberta, rather than shipping it to Texas for $0.085/litre.
Unfortunately Zimmers plan will not really help much, as the Saudis are flooding the eastern refineries with cheap oil. Even if there were a pipeline there, the price would not improve.
We need to set a floor price on imported oil of $50/ barrel to stop the Saudi imports from wrecking our oil industry.The Chinese have already done it to protect their domestic oil producers. Sad to say this was proposed over 30 years ago by another Trudeau, but the Conservatives shot it down then. Can Zimmer and the Conservatives finally swallow their pride, get on board and accept the need for a National Energy Policy?
I don’t know if you realize but The Irving oil refinery does not buy Canadian oil, it buys Saudi oil, the point to the energy east pipeline is to ship our oil to our refineries and then sell the leftovers.
I do believe we buy Norwegian and European oil back east, don’t think much Saudi oil reaches our shores. Yes we pay world price back east and until Alberta oil reaches a “coast” it remains a cheaper product due to our agreement with the US. Even with an energy east or west pipeline I do think our free trade agreement stipulates we cannot shut off the taps to our southern cousins, but in some complicated way allows Alberta to charge more if they have a coastal market for the same oil. Another reason the leader to the south nixed the idea of a large pipeline through the US to the coast, can’t have them helping us charge more for Albertan oil
It’s not a change of policy for the Conservatives at all. They pushed for exports, certainly, but also for domestic consumption. They were the ones pushing for the Line 9 reversal and for Energy East, and were fighting the obstructionists all the way. Keystone would not only have supplied the US, it also would have given tanker access to world markets.
The Saudis are flooding the east with cheap oil because the current world price is cheap. The world price is much higher than the price we get from the US for our oil. Zimmer’s plan would help a lot because then Alberta would sell a lot more oil to eastern Canada as well as have access to world markets at world prices. Irving Oil has already said it would be happy to use Canadian oil rather than Saudi.
$50 per barrel is way higher than the current world price, that’s not much of a floor. It’s the lack of international markets and eastern Canadian markets that are hurting our oil industry.
Last time the Liberals introduced a national energy policy it was disastrous for Alberta and the Canadian oil industry as Trudeau senior used it to suck (steal) $90 billion from them.
Dirtman:
Wishing for something does not make it so.
Energy East was made public in August 2013, scarcely 2 years before Harper was voted out . In 2014 Brad Wall called upon Harper to take leadership of the project. While Harper finally endorsed it,in comparison with Keystone his efforts were puny and late to the game. Similarly. the Line 9 reversal was pursued long after Keystone efforts were under way, and were only possible in the first place because Pierre Trudeau had made sure the pipeline was built over 30 years ago.
Keystone was built to bring heavy oil to Texas. There are not many world markets for bitumen.That is why Western Canadian Select is selling for $13 a barrel in Texas. If there were another market for it, they would be selling to it.
The Saudis are the ones setting the world price by flooding the world with oil. There are no better prices in the east. Zimmer is dreaming in technicolour if he thinks getting the oil to New Brunswick will get a better price. That is why Canada needs a made in Canada price, starting with a minimum price of $50 to keep the lights on in Alberta.That will only occur with some sort of National Energy Policy. Otherwise Alberta oil will continue to be sold to the Americans at 8.5 cents a litre. And we will continue buying gasoline from U.S. refineries at roughly 36 cents (rack pricing)
herbster,
Line 9 originally carried Alberta oil to central Canada. When Trudeau implemented his disastrous NEP, Peter Lougheed stopped all oil shipments to the east and it was then that line 9 was first reversed from it’s original purpose in order to bring foreign oil from the east coast.
Whether the Conservatives pushed for Energy East a long time or a short time, the fact is they were pushing for it while in government, and the Liberals opposed it, just like they do now.
Getting oil to New Brunswick will provide a new market for Alberta oil which means they can sell more of it than they are now, something they desperately need. On top of that it will give them access to international markets where they will get much better prices than they’re getting from the US. Zimmer is right on the money.
Geez…zim…are you Some smart!! NOT in this life time…10 yrs of the Cons BS and still trying it…must be ronas B boy…..
You could put your knowledge of the oil market on the head of a pin……pin joint that is tliog.
Tliotg are you educated? Your a good speller.
Your a good speller? “YOUR”?
Your is possessive, your house, your car, your computer.
The word you are looking for is “you’re”, a contraction of “you are”.
Sorry you’s a reely good speler. I was trying to see if tliotg would pick up on the grammar. After his joint of course haha
Yup why ya ask…need a Dickshunary….hehe!
Ty Dman…i will remember dis…420 sumwhere ain’t it!!!
So what about the environmental people who aren’t against ALL oil use or production, but only against the ones that clearly are an environmental accident waiting to happen? Do you lump them in with your “environmental alarmist” tag?
His ex boss put all of Canada’s eggs in one basket and due to world conditions it is coming back to bite us and he still is so blind he is trying to blame the existing political party for the economic situation. Typical lifetime trough pig.
You don’t think shipping oil over the ocean and in eastern ports an environmental accident waiting to happen?
Please explain this “all of Canada’s eggs in one basket” idea, I know you have picked it up from the media but what does that actually mean compared to previously not having “all our eggs in one basket”? Enlighten me on how things would be any different economy wise if Chretien had kept a grip on power over the last ten years and world oil prices tanked…
He did bend em over butt good at election time…So did I and his responce waz to block me…rite Zim….ya Know?backbencher boy…
Scream now for something your buddy’s didn’t do or even consider in there over a decade of power.. Would you expect anything else from the cons.
Reason they won’t refine in Canada.. Cost.. That’s it.. Oil companies are out for nothing but profit..
Not only did the Conservatives consider it, they tried to. It was them who pushed for the Line 9 reversal, it was them who pushed for the Energy East pipeline. It was Liberals, NDP, Greens and a whole host of enviro-nut organizations that fought it.
’10 yrs of the Cons BS and still trying it…must be ronas B boy…..’
Channeling Tom Petty – ‘Let’s get to the point and roll another joint’
You don’t know how it feels..to be meeeeeee..
Cereal killa….PPP…..
Sorry to break it to you boys in your mommas basements but the government doesn’t build pipelines, they allow or do not allow private companies to build them. Hate to disappoint your keyboard but no energy east pipeline has reached the point of environmental review, not now and not during the previous Conservative or Liberal governments. Your points on government reactions are moot whether you like it or not. Changes to environmental review process also change the willingness of private businesses to spend the kind of money needed to put a project to paper and finally the ground.
I remember reading on this blog that oil meant nothing to Canada and its exports and economy as it was only 3% of the overall GDP. Well buttercups tell me how something only 3% of our GDP is “putting your eggs in one basket” or how something so minuscule could possibly cripple our economy and the rest of the world’s? You would think they would lap up the low fuel prices and go gung ho on other exports and imports. I suspect that there is a bit more to it that our keyboard cowboys do not realize.
We are not Saudi Arabia, we do not have all our “eggs” in one proverbial basket.
slinky:
What you don’t know about the Canadian and Albertan oil economy is staggering.Although you can research it if you want to on your own, here are some facts:
1- 2015- Canadian oil refineries imported over 650,000 barrel/day of foreign oil, 84,000 from Saudi Arabia
2- Thanks to Pierre Trudeau, Enbridge has line 9 which was reversed and will pump 240,000 b/d of Western Canadian oil to Montreal this year.
3- At less than $45/barrel, oilsands producers are losing money.If the Saudis continue flooding the world market, say sayonara to a big chunk of Albertas’ economy
Line 9 reversal was fought tooth and nail by the usual anti-oil suspects. Thanks to the Harper government it was reversed.
Actually it was about 8.5% of GDP which was less than the 9.5% under Chretien! The eggs in the basket nonsense was even rebuked by the left leaning CBC in the lead up to the election.
Actually when oil was over a hundred dollars a barrel it caused Dutch disease in other sectors of the economy wiping out the manufacturing sector and raising the Canadian dollar impairing all other export sectors. That is where the all eggs in one basket comes from and not the notion that we only sold oil.
The high Canadian dollar could have been mitigated with monetary policy of lower interest rates than the Americans to spur more Canadian investments in infrastructure. The high energy costs could have been mitigated with an export tax on energy based on the Canadian rate, or at least have exports pay the same carbon tax Canadians pay, thereby lowering the domestic cost of energy in relation to global markets that were clearly being manipulated at the time and gutted the Canadian manufacturing industry.
Also the Alberta oil industry is effectively dead if Obama gets his $10 a barrel tax on Canadian oil. It will cost the Canadian industry about ten billion a year in disadvantage. So why didn’t we just export tax the oil above say $60 a barrel and have the tax revenue used for our own infrastructure rather than the American war machine.
No, the high price of oil did not cause “dutch disease”. It’s true the high Loonie had an effect but by far, the most harm came from over-regulation by governments and the ridiculous insistence on expensive “green” energy that made Canadian companies non-competitive, particularly in Ontario. Here in BC the forest industry was booming despite the high dollar while now facing uncertain times. I
‘Over regulation’ Dirtman… are you talking about the automotive sector moving production abroad because Harper abandoned the sector in favor of some notion of free trade over a sovereign economy.
Like the locomotive plant relocating to America, or the Caterpillar jobs, or John Deer, or Steelco… all left because the high Canadian dollar and the willingness of Harper to turn a blind eye forgoing ‘regulations’ that protected Canadian jobs.
Or ‘regulations’ on the banks that allowed them to use financial alchemy to manipulate markets like the oil market and the grain markets through hedge funds and derivatives often controlled by corrupt markets abroad.
The green cost in Ontario I agree with, but that had a heavy dose of local Ontario specific corruption involved as well. Hence the notion that if Canadians are paying carbon taxes, then why allow our trade competitors to not have to pay that same rate? Where are those ‘regulations’ that protect Canadian jobs from foreign unregulated cheep carbon subsidies.
Harper was all about selling Canada to the highest bidder and had no notion of a long term sustainable economy. Look at Sudbury and its main industry, or Alberta and its oil and gas industry, or all the manufacturing plants relocated, or even the Canadian wheat board that he sells to the Saudi’s (even while they are committing war crimes in Yemen).
Harper’s was a banksters best friend trade policy (under the guise of deregulation) at the expense of Canadian economic sustainability and we are only now feeling the consequences… a large part of it was the dutch disease brought on by the inflated and manipulated price of oil and the tying of the Canadian dollar to oil. It benefited the bankers, the hedge funds, and the financial wealthy; but it was a devastating blow to the lower and middle income class that relied on employment that was sacrificed on the alter of those 1%er’s profits.
TPP will be the final nail in the coffin of a free enterprise sovereign and sustainable Canadian market that lifts all boats across the land; and not just the ultra transnational financial wealthy. When the times are tough the foreign ownership has no qualms about abandoning whole Canadian sectors much less one industry towns and the people that rely on those industries (often protected by one regulation or another).
Canada is the fifth largest producer of energy in the world.
We also have the third largest amount of oil reserves.
But yet, we in Canada are not energy self sufficient.
It should be the goal of the Federal and Provincial governments.
To pursue this goal.
As it will benefit all Canadians.
Along with being in the national interest to do so.
People say diversify the economy.
For the Energy sector that means pipe lines to move product.
So they can access different markets.
Herbster
When the Saudi people have to start paying taxes and lose their social programs this will reverse. That will start happening in the 4th quarter of this year at the rate they are going.
Of course a little warfare will have the same effect
Interesting timing being that it’s just out that oily Jim prentice has just landed a new gig with an ultra right wing Washington, D.C. Think tank . That’s how he’s going to help Alberta and canada by feeding at the Koch brothers trough . And feeding us bs . Just keep singing the fossil song Zimmer . You’ll be well rewarded .
Actually the think tank may have made an error . Jim has never missed an operatunity to miss an operatunity .
Brilliant insight ataloser, you nailed it man.
Ultra right wing Washington think tank? By that I assume you mean “not left wing”.
I remember the issue of Canada’s East importing oil from Venezuela and other countries being debated 10 years ago! At that time people were already questioning the method and saying that Canada should use only its own resources originating in Canada’s West! Hard to believe that after the Conservatives intentionally ignoring this Zimmer all of a sudden has a Eureka inspiration!
Way to go! Now if it does not happen RIGHTAWAY (like tomorrow morning) Rona can blame it all on the Liberals!
Pierre Eliot Trudeau tried the same thing . His answer from the righties was ” let those eastern bastards freeze in the dark ” . Every time I see Rona speak I can’t help seeing Fat Actress staring Kirstie ally . Makes me laugh and laugh .
Actually the original National Energy Program,
that Pierre Trudeau brought in was an encroachment on
the Province’s rights.
The Federal government wanted to tax each oil and gas well in
Alberta.
The oil and gas are a provincial resource under provincial
control .
Alberta went to the Supreme court of Canada to fight this
and won.
It would be like the Federal government taxing each tree that was
harvested in British Columbia.
It is a provincial resource.
Once you ship it out of the country then the feds can have a share.
Conservatives didn’t ignore this. They tried for years to get our oil moving east and were fought all the way. Now the Liberals (who were one of those fighting it) are the government and they’re blocking it just like Obama blocked Kinder Morgan.
Conservatives only looked at Energy East after the left asked them to as a way to ensure more Canadian sovereignty over our energy markets… only after it became apparent that the Trans Canada pipeline would likely be blocked by Obama, and the Northern Gateway was not in our national interest.
Opposition to Energy East has only recently become a bigger issue since the liberals got elected.
A lot of revisionist history by Dirtman… can’t even get the right pipeline operator figured out lol.
The NGO groups like Sierra Club, Greenpeace and the other anti human alphabet groups fight the oil sands and pipelines but give no notice to the unethical war torn, civil liberty busting, poor environmental practice’s oil imported from countries guilty of those atrocities.
Zimmer is in opposition and has little to no influence as such unless he can get the liberals to Co-opt his ideas. Being an attack dog on an issue he failed to champion while in power does little to get his ideas adopted. Zimmer was a wasted vote IMO.
He didn’t “fail to champion” the issue, quite the contrary. What the Conservatives failed to do was succeed against all the opposition.
Can you cite any time that Zimmer was out actively promoting the economic interest his riding (while in government) in a way that was pro-active, maybe in contrast to his own party, or in anyway constructive to moving the issue ahead… other than local platitudes aimed at buying votes?
“The environmental alarmists that are just against oil use in its entirety”
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Is that sort of like the corporations that are just against the environment in its entirety? If it works for Bob, it must work for the other side right?
Who is Bob Zimmer? For 4 years didn’t hear a peep from him..Now he is speaking??
he is now rona’s finger puppet…still can not believe he got voted like he did..gotta be sumthin in the air….and that other doorknob..toad…I’ll bet they put that crusty back too…just like the Drunkel….my Quarter cause a nickel ain’t worth S#*!
tli..are you and ataloser tag teaming to see who wins the stupid contest?
Well ya see oldman, he’s now are MP as of last fall. Clear things up for ya?
“At the end of 2006, he (Zimmer) says Canada’s remaining established reserves “amounted to 179 million barrels…”
He is off by a factor of times 1000! Making an error like that means not very informed!
Note: Oil reserves in Canada were estimated at 172 billion barrels as of the start of 2015. According to this figure, Canada’s reserves are third only to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Over 95% of these reserves are in the oil sands deposits in the province of Alberta.
Since when did bob care about those oil producing countries that have poor humane rights. Sure was not when he was in government. This MP was useless when he was government now he is just chasing ambulances to try and make him self relevant. Do us all a favour bob and just quit the end results of your effectiveness and relevance will be the exact same.
Its pretty obvious to anyone that the number should be 179 Billion as opposed to Million. Someone, somewhere, made an error,. No big deal.
The Canadian Government is not in the oil business, this is all handled by private enterprise. So lets quit blaming the Governments.
Canadians have sat on their collective asses for the past 25/30 years and let the Americans buy everything they produced, and when that started to falter, they started to sell to the Chinese. Actually the Americans, Japanese, and Chinese own most of the oil, mining, and lumber industry in Canada.
When it comes to being entrepreneurial Canadians are left in the dust. Way to many people on Government payrolls, and to few actual working people. I give credit to small business, and hard working individuals, as they are the backbone of this Country.
Those people who make their living, by pretending to have a job with the Government or with Government entities will when the s..t hits the fan be in for a huge cultural shock.
They will be in the back 40 grubbing for roots,. The free rides will not last forever.
While some of you are condemning Bob, maybe you can find some time to let us know exactly what Justin has been doing for Canada since he got elected?
Let’s see…
Trudeau’s first 100 days: 76 cheque handouts totalling $4.8B. Only $527m handed out for projects inside Canada.
During Harper’s first 100 days after the 2011 election, 443 cheque handouts worth combined $3.9B. Only $211M handed out for projects outside Canada.
Yup, Justin’s sure working for Canadians! And you people are criticizing Bob Zimmer.
Now it’s being reported that Justin’s 10 Billion per year deficit will like amount to $90 Billion over his term. We were worried about $40 Billion over 4 years! Now projected at $90 Billion!
Why pick on Zimmer when you have Canada’s biggest idiot to pick on?
As I’ve stated before, Hang on to your wallets! Can’t trust Justin!
And yet, some of you want to point fingers at Bob! You’re hilarious!
Well if it makes you feel any better, in the 4 years from 2009 to 2013, Harper racked up over 130 billion in deficits. If you don’t include the zeros, it’s actually not that bad to look at.
Harper was a idiot… his fine negotiating skills had him put aside a couple hundred million dollars in prep for the first wave of job loses the TPP will cause..
also isn’t it nice to only pick 100 of his thousands of days to make a point.. talk about hunt and peck for something good from him.
I was watching the news tonight and they said the 10 billion may get up to 12-13 million.. but he is doing something harper never did..deliver on election promises …. guess harper or ambrose for crocking those numbers..
remember hart guy… %80 of all statistics online are made up on the spot… you may have risen that to %81 :)
P Val, weren’t you one of the people saying “Harper lost the election”?
Ok, Harper lost! We have a new and much larger idiot at the helm now!
Let’s consider Justin’s negotiating skills! Oops, wait a minute, he’s not invited to the big boys table anymore!
Trudeau’s election promises? Seriously? What a joke!
Speaking of jokes, go ahead and keep defending Justin! Now there’s a joke!
You’re taking shots at Rona Ambrose now? Are you upset that she has a bigger paid of gonads than Justin? Oh, but he’s got nice hair, haha!
Here’s a read for you, published in your hallowed HuffPost, from the Canadian Press. $90 Billion, yup, $90 Billion:
ht tp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/02/10/federal-shortfalls-could-total-90b-over-liberals-first-mandate-bank-study_n_9202872.html
Did you miss the global collapse in those years NMG? Kinda coincides with those deficits?
Weird huh?
dow7501, would those be the deficits that the Minority Harper Government ran with the support of the Liberal and NDP MP’s?
Funny how some people forget that fact, eh??
Facts and Truths, people! Facts and Truths, as Peeps used to say!
Posted on Thursday, February 11, 2016 @ 7:05 PM by Eagleone
….only after it became apparent that the Trans Canada pipeline would likely be blocked by Obama, and the Northern Gateway was not in our national interest.
Opposition to Energy East has only recently become a bigger issue since the liberals got elected.
================================================
Trans Canada pipeline blocked by Obama??? How did he do that?
Obama has been blocking the Kinder Morgan pipeline for years.
It wasn’t the conservative’s place to move the oil east or tell the companies to do so. Conservatives looked at Energy East when the pipeline company started talking about it. Governments don’t build pipelines in Canada, they don’t order them, they don’t tell corporations to build them, all they can do is support what the companies do and approve or disapprove.
The only difference since the Liberals got elected is that they have the power to block it, and they are. I guess you could say that makes it a bigger issue.
Good grief dirt an do some research before posting as fact.
Keystone Excel pipeline to Texas was a Trans Canada proposed pipeline. Thus Obama blocked the trans Canada proposal. Kinder Morgan is the pipeline to Burnaby. Enbridge ran into trouble with their proposed Northern Gateway project and accepted the advice of the left that a national pipeline to the East coast was more politically acceptable than Northern Gateway and proposed that project in parallel to Northern Gateway hoping one of the two would get passed, but more likely Energy East (Enbridge) because it had the support of Trudeau and Mulcair of the NDP.
You have no idea what you are spouting off on just having a partisan wish fest with fiction.
How did Obama block Trans Canada? Easy he is the president of the United States and has the legal authority over the direction of the American national energy regulators, so he blocked Trans Canada’s Keystone pipeline. That’s how. Obama has squat to say about the approval of Kinder Morgan as that whole pipeline is in Canada.
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