Author says oilsands needs fair trade protection


CARRIE KELLY The Pipeline


Canadian oil should be promoted just like fair trade coffee, according to the author of the newly released book Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands.


Since we all need oil in our modern world, Ezra Levant suggests we get it from the producing country that is the most ethical.


“It is not enough to boycott the oilsands, you must answer the next question, which is, then what?” says Levant, who is also a lawyer, political activist and columnist.


While he labels himself conservative, the four yardsticks to measure whether oil can be called ethical all happen to be liberal, he says.


When oil-producing countries are all measured by the same criteria of environmentalism, peace, economic justice and respect for minorities, Canada comes out on top, according to Levant.


Companies like Bed Bath & Beyond, which is dropping suppliers that source fuel from Canada’s oilsands, need to consider where the oil comes from, if not from Alberta, he continues. Because the reality is, in this current era, people don’t yet have another realistic alternative to oil. So if the oilsands were eliminated, Americans are still going to be filling their cars up with gas and that fuel will come from OPEC, Levant says.


Before the oilsands started producing, Saudi Arabia was the United States' No. 1 source of crude. Now Canada has taken its place.


Saudi Arabia was home to 15 of the 9-11 terrorists and women there are not given equal rights, he continues.


If oil from Canada is replaced by oil from Iraq, consumers should consider that a woman accused of adultery there can be stoned to death.


If it comes from Nigeria, they must realize that although it should be the richest country in Africa because of its oil, the people are living in poverty. The majority subsists on less than one dollar per day, says Levant.


8 WESTERN CANADIAN PIPELINE | FALL 2010


debated with Greenpeace members. That organization has expressed its criticism of the Alberta oil industry a number of ways. This summer, Greenpeace members forced open a window on the Calgary Tower observation deck and unfurled a banner reading “Separate Oil and State.”


Levant says Greenpeace doesn’t break into buildings in Saudi Arabia or Iraq to protest there, but instead focuses on Alberta and “traffics in oilsands porn. They never show SAGD or insitu or happy citizens of Fort McMurray.”


They are good at getting their message out, he says, something he believes those


“Yes, we have our problems here. I’m not saying we can’t always improve,” Levant says of Canada’s oilsands.


But the 1,600 ducks that died when they landed on a tailings pond at Syncrude is not more of a tragedy than the thousands of people murdered in Darfur, he adds.


“When we invent some perfect fuel source let me know. But the debate of oilsands versus perfection is not serious.”


While promoting his book, Levant has


in the oil industry and government need to improve upon.


EZRA LEVANT


People in the industry and Canadian politicians need to feel as comfortable defending the oilsands as Greenpeace does slamming it, says Levant.


“The industry is defensive and shy and has low confidence, but the oilsands industry is the most ethical in the world. Politicians and those in the industry need to feel comfortable to defend the oilsands. It’s easy to do — add the word ‘ethical’ to oil.”


In his book, Levants writes, “the oilsands are more environmentally progressive and emit less waste than all sorts of other common industries in Canada and around the world.”


“They account for approximately five per cent of Canada's total human emissions — which works out to 0.1 per cent of the world's human-caused emissions. Not bad for the world's biggest source of oil. That, evidently, is enough to worry a lot of people. But that mathematical exercise is important to keep things in perspective: Shutting down the oilsands, as environmentalists would have us do, would have the same effect as a worried Boeing 747 pilot unloading a few pillows as a way to save on precious fuel. While the effect of closing down this massive energy reserve on North America's economy would be devastating, the effect on the atmosphere would scarcely be noticed.”


(Last two paragraphs excerpted from Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands, Copyright 2010. Published by McClelland & Stewart Limited.)


When Ethical Oil debuted in September, it ranked No. 5 on the Globe and Mail non- fiction bestseller list and No. 3 in Canadian non-fiction.


Levant will be appearing at the Plaza Theatre in Calgary Nov. 7 at 11 a.m., where he will have a debate with Andrew Nikiforuk, author of Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent.


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