The Irrelevance of Natural Resources
A country's wealth is counted by its natural resources, be it the geographical topography it boasts, its forests, lakes and rivers, mineral resources, agricultural lands, and energy-extraction resources. And then, of course, there is that great other resource, its population of energetic, enthusiastic, trusting voters who bring in government after government swearing to uphold the laws that protect us all, along with the autonomy to protect our resources for future generations.
And then there are international cross-border trade agreements. Necessary for the economic health of a country, the expansion of trade and opening of new markets as industry expands and people labour to produce goods and services, as the extraction of resources lead to increased trade, and so on. Geographically-contiguous countries sharing huge land masses also share greater trade opportunities, and so it is with North America and our NAFTA agreement.
But there are certain elements of a country's natural resources which should, logically, be reserved in large part for the needs of the originating country. To offer to a trading partner critical resources which, in so doing, lead to a potential shortage internally, makes no sense whatever. Water is one of those obvious resources. Logging and farming others, both of which have resulted in disagreements with our southern neighbour.
Another is our energy supply. And at the present time, Canadians should be concerned about the Security and Prosperity Partnership accord, initiated in 2005 in a fairly stealthy manner, and still being discussed by Mexico, Canada and the United States, as a method of streamlining and integrating economic and security rules across the continent. Guess who this benefits the most, the shy kid on the block or the confident adolescent?
If, as seems likely, the deal results in what is being termed a North American "energy security" provision, Canada could very well be faced with agreement to ensure that the United States has a reliable energy supply through Canadian-sourced energy extraction, while Canada itself has not organized a national internal plan, nor do we have reserves to protect our own supplies.
There is the current situation where Quebec and Atlantic Canada import 90 percent of their energy supply, from politically unstable sources such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Algeria, while Canada exports 63% of our oil and 56% of our gas production, mostly to the United States. Nice of us to offer a stable, reliable supply to a neighbour while sacrificing our own security of supply.
In contrast to Canada's lax attitude toward the security of energy supplies internally, most industrialized nations have implemented a national plan. Past time Canada did the same, to secure and protect our own energy supplies.
Nice to be a good neighbour; better to respect our own needs first.
And then there are international cross-border trade agreements. Necessary for the economic health of a country, the expansion of trade and opening of new markets as industry expands and people labour to produce goods and services, as the extraction of resources lead to increased trade, and so on. Geographically-contiguous countries sharing huge land masses also share greater trade opportunities, and so it is with North America and our NAFTA agreement.
But there are certain elements of a country's natural resources which should, logically, be reserved in large part for the needs of the originating country. To offer to a trading partner critical resources which, in so doing, lead to a potential shortage internally, makes no sense whatever. Water is one of those obvious resources. Logging and farming others, both of which have resulted in disagreements with our southern neighbour.
Another is our energy supply. And at the present time, Canadians should be concerned about the Security and Prosperity Partnership accord, initiated in 2005 in a fairly stealthy manner, and still being discussed by Mexico, Canada and the United States, as a method of streamlining and integrating economic and security rules across the continent. Guess who this benefits the most, the shy kid on the block or the confident adolescent?
If, as seems likely, the deal results in what is being termed a North American "energy security" provision, Canada could very well be faced with agreement to ensure that the United States has a reliable energy supply through Canadian-sourced energy extraction, while Canada itself has not organized a national internal plan, nor do we have reserves to protect our own supplies.
There is the current situation where Quebec and Atlantic Canada import 90 percent of their energy supply, from politically unstable sources such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Algeria, while Canada exports 63% of our oil and 56% of our gas production, mostly to the United States. Nice of us to offer a stable, reliable supply to a neighbour while sacrificing our own security of supply.
In contrast to Canada's lax attitude toward the security of energy supplies internally, most industrialized nations have implemented a national plan. Past time Canada did the same, to secure and protect our own energy supplies.
Nice to be a good neighbour; better to respect our own needs first.
Labels: Canada/US Relations, Crisis Politics
posted by Pieface | 6:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home