The situation is much worse than Ralph Kline wants the public to believe. He thinks that the benefits of increased trade & commerce outweigh any other factors. He may be partially correct but he has tilted the balance in favor of business, and prevented the consumer from making an informed decision. For an elected official to act this way offends me. But no true Canadian cynic would ever expect a politician to do otherwise. Blasted !@#$!# !!! Anyways....

If you break down all the numbers Canada has about 2 years of "cheap" pumpable oil left. After that we will have to shift 100% of our production to tar sand and shale. If successful it will last for the next century at least. If you look at growth of world oil consumption over the last 10 years and do a simple linear extrapolation you will find that the world's reserves will last until 2025 roughly. But more dangerously by 2010 more than 50% of the world's oil production will come from OPEC countries as production elsewhere is reduced to a trickle. By 2015, more than 10 years before it all runs out, Saudi Arabia will be the largest source of oil in the world.

That region of the world is violent. Last month we were at war with Afghanistan. Next week it might be Pakistan and India. After that Israel, Somalia, and so on.... perhaps Saudi Arabia - seems stable for the moment, but you never know. They are a product of their environment as much as we are....

So you see, we have to do something. Instead of investing in more oil-based infrastructure we need to invest in renewable fuels. I think that solar methanol production is the way to go. Maybe augment it with wind power too. If necessary we could start with nuclear/hydroelectric before we build a completely renewable system, but the important thing is to settle on a fuel, and start converting all the new cars to use it, and all the gas stations to supply it.