Only On The Walters Post

I’ve been thinking a lot lately, I do that occasionally, about our oil — the stuff under our feet that helped build this country, fuel our trucks, and keep the lights on. Truth is, I don’t think most folks realize just how backwards things have gotten.

Here’s the rundown: we drill it, we pump it, and we send nearly all of it straight to the States. They take that crude, refine it, turn it into gasoline and diesel, and then sell it right back to us — at a tidy profit, of course.

Now, yes, I know we do have some refineries here in Canada — fifteen of them across the country. Some are in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and a few in Quebec and New Brunswick. But even with those, we still send 95% of our crude south, and then turn around and buy it back — especially in the eastern provinces.

So we’re rich in oil, but still buying back the finished product. That’s like raising your own cattle and ordering your steak from down the street.

We’ve got the oil, the land, the workers, and the know-how; so if we started refining more of our oil right here at home, we’d be putting thousands of people to work — skilled trades, operators, truckers, and the whole works. And we’d stop giving away the value of our resources while paying more at the pump.

To me, that’s something worth fixing.

Until the next time: Keep Your Minds Open & Your Stories Alive. GW