Two dueling reports on the oil sands released today are coming to two very different conclusions about what the industry means for the country.
The Pembina Institute says the industry is creating what it calls ‘oil sands fever’ – hurting the manufacturing sector and posing a risk to Canada’s competitiveness in green energy.
Spokesman Nathan Lemphers says they’re not calling for an end to oil sands development.
“There needs to be improved long-term planning on how we can better address the volatility of oil and also the rising price,” he said.
But Brian Lee Crowley from the Macdonald-Laurier institute in Ottawa says the oil sands are benefitting the entire country.
“Because it drives economic activity,” he said. “And the oil and gas industry is using the revenue it’s getting from selling that resource to buy goods and services in other parts of the country.”
The institute says recent reports that show Alberta will receive 94 percent of the economic benefits of the industry don’t take into account how tax revenues from the oil sands will help fund national programs in the federal government.
It estimates the feds will get more than sixteen billion dollars a year from the oil sands.
Published May 30, 2012
