Constantin Robin and Daniela Barros are MBA ’20 candidates and the President and Vice President of the MBA Energy Club. Recently, they had the pleasure to host Jeff Tonken to talk about "What Energy Means to Canada." Here are some of the takeaways from the event.
If there is one thing you can take away from Jeff Tonken’s presentation, it is that Canadians need to have better conversations about the energy industry.
Keeping in line with the Ivey MBA Energy Club’s goal this year, Jeff was invited to educate Ivey students on all things energy. He kept the conversation broad and talked about why we still need traditional energy sources, how Canada is and can be a better leader in clean oil and gas production, and the economic, environmental, and social impact of “shutting down” oil and gas for Canada and the rest of the world.
What is happening to Canadian energy today?
Jeff highlighted the great accomplishments of Canada’s natural resources. Today, Canada is the third most responsible country in terms of oil and gas production. Not only do energy companies care and invest in being environmentally friendly, following and sometimes exceeding stringent regulations, but they also invest in communities, such as First Nations, and technology to ensure that Canada continues to be economically strong while being environmentally and socially responsible. Unfortunately, Canada has been the target of critics that have prevented it from using its own resources to continue growing as a country.
A great question came up in the middle of the conversation about energy economics. To put it into context, Jeff explained that with today’s energy commodity prices, companies are still profitable. The energy industry, despite the worst of times in the recent energy crisis, was able to innovate and become profitable at depressed prices. This profit has been shared not only in Alberta but also with the rest of Canada. The energy industry is proud to provide for all provinces when they have needed it. If the industry continued growing, Canada would only benefit more from it. Tax benefits have been used to invest in government, education, infrastructure, and most importantly, clean energy. So why are people so against it? Lack of knowledge and misinformation.
The key takeaway from Jeff’s presentation was that we, as Canadians, are currently exporting our own oil to the United States. The U.S. is refining this oil into products we use daily, and then selling it back to Canada for a profit. That means we are giving the U.S. our own profits because we don’t believe that our country, one of the most responsible countries to produce energy around the world, can be the leader on teaching others how to extract resources in a way that is less damaging to the environment.
Jeff said, if Canadian energy had more support and there was better access to markets, we could reduce our dependency on the U.S., while displacing many of the less responsible and more polluting energy sources currently used across the world. We are Canadians; we are friendly and responsible, so we should start believing that we can be a leader in energy and start supporting the industry that provides to all of us. Let’s have conversations and educate every Canadian about what energy can mean to Canada and the world.