Page 3 - CERI 2017-2018 Annual Report

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

Last year at this time there were several signs that Canada was

getting a grip on its energy challenges.

The majority of Canadians seemed to agree that our oil and gas
industry was too important – to all Canadians - to abandon on

a whim with no prospect of changing the world’s greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions trajectory. Under federal leadership, we
had the beginnings of a serious national energy conversation, 2017-2018

an equally serious effort to rethink energy project approval
processes and the prospect of a national energy information

system. Despite serious disagreement from several provinces,
the federal government’s plans for carbon pricing appeared to
be generating a thoughtful conversation, potentially placing

Canada genuinely in the forefront internationally with an
economically sound foundation for action on the reduction of

GHG emissions across the economy.

What a difference a year makes.
Pipelines have become ideological third rails, red lines or

whatever metaphor catches your fancy and Canada’s oil
exporters look increasingly as if they may be cut off from
international markets aside from the oversupplied market

south of the 49th parallel. It is anyone’s guess what may
emerge from the clamour and what we used to think of as clear

federal jurisdiction could end up deferring to the loud local
opposition.

The big energy conversation through Generation Energy

remains a source of optimism, but amid the noise surrounding
pipelines and carbon policy, it is at risk of getting shunted to
the sidelines. At times it seems as if the more likely prospect is

a continued shouting match between parties, each either
determinedly for or against the continued use of fossil fuels.