(Canadian?) National Energy Program

headquarters in Irving, Texas.

High Road/Low Road

Are you imagining these 'suit and tie's have a choice?
The notion that the meeting in Kananaskis could produce anything meaningful other than "pedal to the metal" (while nodding and waving to concern groups)is amusing.
Seth's image of great prosperity (or even extended survival) through full tilt "Nukes" building seems to also accept as an axiom that we must grow our production and consumption at all cost.
Anyone out there found the Brake Handle for this LOCOmotive yet?

Public Funding to Energy Complex

My bet is that they will obtain taxpayer funding for a Mackenzie NG pipeline. To convert tar sands into a valued commodity requires large inputs of NG. This is why tar sands oil is so destructive - you burn large quatities of NG to get the tar out of the ground and then you have a further carbon release when the consumer puts it in his vehicle.

on civil disobedience

Oil will not be the only lquid spilled if Enbridge gets the green light from Ottawa to march roughshod over the rights and wishes of the people who care more about protecting the earth than destroying it.

I for one, pitchfork in hand, will be on the front line in support of my native brothers.

This is one fight we cannot, as a civilized nation, afford to lose.

Crazy Stuff

Just read this link from TOD as posted above:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2572

They want nuke plants to 1) separate the tar from the substrate; 2) covert water to hydrogen for upgrading (it states "The second strategy is generating hydrogen electricity for the upgrading of the bitumen" what I believe is intended is electrical generation of hydrogen); 3) Provide steam for SAGD.

If you willing to build nukes it makes more sense to cut out the tar sands completely and move to increased electrical capacity and a transition to electric or hybrid vehicles. My hunch is that the oil industry is worried about exactly this possibility and therefore they have to hold a confab to find a way to justify keeping themselves in business.

Deniers

@mmphosis

You are the typical junk science lovin' global warming denier.

You cherry pick some linked articles you obviously don't understand that say nothing about the issue and seem to have to no thoughts you are willing to share on the subject.

fjf

Why not use them for both. That makes even more sense. Using a non renewable resource to refine any other non renewable resource is rather wasteful at best.

Hydro and nuclear are best suited for that purpose.

Energy policy bound to be bad for Canadians.

10 years ago the public asked for an energy policy to Govern our electrical growth. It was rejected solidly instead, Canada opted to join the US self regulated power consortium which still rules.

With Conservatives in across the map an Energy policy will envelop pipeline permits of every kind.

Loose lips Liepert told the world that Alaska was charging too much for royalty. This, while Stelmach was on the horn telling every one who would listen the Alberta Conservatives were not in business for the oil companies.

Unless the provinces and territories are prepared to toss out the existing governments, the citizens are in for a major case of highway robbery from which they will never recover.

Accepters

@seth

Global warming is real.

Yes, I am science lover, junk or not. Typical?

Nuclear powered tarsands are a joke. But, sadly some politicians are considering it.

I am opposed to Big Nuclear because the big nuclear projects of the past are failing. They need to be mothballed, but that I am afraid is a big big problem in and of itself. Building these behemoths today would be extremely costly in money, and in future storage and clean up. My links were to the most public nuclear accidents, and lesser published nuclear accidents/problems in Canada. What do you do with the spent radioactive fuel bundles? Anyways, I am open to the idea that there could be smaller scale nuclear plants that might use different technologies, materials, cost less, and be mothballed without disastrous future effects.

I think that our future lies in many areas of power generation. I don't think that it is wise to put all of our eggs in one basket, petrochemical, nuclear, or otherwise. Conservation, household generation and storage of power is coming out of necessity, not from the Canadian government or any particular industry.

Meetings are not always what they are advertiesed at!

As an after thought; Harper and the Conservatives have left every thing in place to export bulk water (including our Ground water).

It is my practiced guess this subject will be high on their agenda; pipelines generally fall under the Energy portfolio.

Geothermal

How people don't see the potential for geothermal energy in this country is beyond me.

Energy or just oil

What is meant by a national energy policy? Nearly 1/2 of Canada's electricity is produced by hydro yet Ontario erects environmentally damaging wind mills rather than buying hydro produced electricity from Quebec. Where does coal and geothermal fit into the strategy?

The problem is that a national energy strategy to Toronto means control of western Canadian oil and gas for the "good of the country", which means them. To western Canada, it means a potential to access other markets. Meanwhile, oil tankers from Nigeria are plying their way along Canada's Atlantic coast and up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal or along the Pacific coast into Vancouver harbour, both dodging all those other ships. But, for some reason, these ships shouldn't be allowed to sail into Kitmat. I really don't understand.

seth Canada needs small nukes

What Canada really needs as a country is a small nuke design, in the 20 MW to 100MW range. With all of Canada's remote communities and mines that burn diesel for electricity and heat, a standard, perhaps South Korean, design for small nuclear power plants would reduce use plus reduce costs for northerners.

The various FTAs signed by

The various FTAs signed by braindead and crooked politicians have destroyed Canada's self sufficiency and industrial base and the country now has to rely on the export of the land and resources from under people's feet, as governed and demanded by the multinational
corporate mafia.

The call this insanity the "GDP" and "growth".

Very efficient industrial production , to supply local needs, can be set up with a fraction of the energy now wasted on mega projects, for exports.

The export and sale of resources is not an income.

There's no such thing as "monetary efficiency", which is a fraud, used to overrule the unbreakable laws of physical efficiency.

The world will never accept nuclear power. It is being phased out all over, because there's no way to make it safe.

Ed Deak.

Our world is being run by

Our world is being run by psychopaths.

Ed

The question asked is: "Will ministers let oil industry dictate the recipe? And thumb their nose at the world?"

From Canadian Geographic article:

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/ja11/railways2.asp

I would say this CG article serves to confirm Ed's contention. We've suffered a relapse, once stating that progress was shown through industrialization, and the development of vlaue-added industries. But that proved to be too difficult for our plethora of "leaders" (who just about uniformly wanted maximum profits with minimum effort/time/investment). So now, as the CG article affirms, we've ramped up the realatively simple undertaking of digging up, pumping out, and chopping down the country, to ship it out in wholesale lots.

So to answer the original question, I'd say not only will the various ministers let the oil industry dictate, they will actively cheering them on.

Energy plan

BC and Canada should be self sufficient and sustainable in energy. We have to look at how we are going to get our energy. We must do a complete and thorough study of all ways we can generate energy, whether it be hydro, coal, solar, geothermal, wind, nuclear, wood, biofuels, gas or any other source of energy. All methods must be examined in public and these results must be made public. These studies are not to be done in private behind closed doors. The BCUC was too public for Campbell, so he ended its service. It told him that some power plans he had were not in the public interest. Only after such a study can we use an energy source. We must do this so our energy sources are sustainable and not harmful to the environment.
For example, with the Site C Dam project, we would look at the need, if any, the costs to the environment, people displaced, farmland lost, loss of a carbon sink, water use downstream and the generation of energy without producing GHG’s.
No undertaking such as mining, housing developments, highways, etc. can be done without an open environmental and sustainability analysis. We must be careful not to remove too many plants or trees, as we need them to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Other wastes must be recycled rather than thrown into landfills or oceans. Recycling must become a major activity in our sustainable culture.

We must develop a national and provincial energy plan so we can look forward and know we can have a healthy life for future generations.

This is more of a big oil

This is more of a big oil board meeting and the Big Oil CEO's giving politicians their marching orders. This 'deal' will benefit big oil but Canadians will get screwed, maybe not right away but we will, we almost always do...With Harper, Stelmach, Christy Clark and Brad Wall big oil will get what they want. The public be dammed. Plus this is Canada and this will be forgotten about in days anyway...

Why don't we use more geo thermal? Tidal? Bio Fuels? Why is not every new house or building mandated to have solar panels?

I guess it s easier to do nothing..

*Five years from now, here's how Canada's new progressive government can recover from the Fascist mess.*
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Nyet. With all the new seats BC and Alberta are getting it will guarantee another con majority in Oct 2015.

People are sheep in this country. s long as the cable tv works and one can drive their suv to the drive thru all is well, issues of the day mean nothing unless a hockey game is on.

*Unless the provinces and territories are prepared to toss out the existing governments, the citizens are in for a major case of highway robbery from which they will never recover.*
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I doubt it will happen. Not in Alberta or Sask and I doubt BC. Most people still sadly rely on the so called mainstream media for their info and the mainstream media is so pro right wing the former Iraqi information minister would be proud. Not to mention Dix's relationship with Glen Clark, fast ferries etc...yet the so called media will say nyet about BC libs..