Non-market considerations will play a larger role in determining what the private energy sector can do.
energy transport
Since taking office in mid-September, Alberta’s new Premier Jim Prentice has talked an active game on the energy file. From the perspective of those who believe that Canada’s energy exports are vital to the country’s economic health, many of his comments seem positive. But there is one area where Mr. Prentice’s energy-policy comments are troubling.
In the wake of the Lac-Mégantic oil-by-rail disaster, when a train carrying crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken field exploded in Quebec, some people began to characterize Bakken crude oil as “uniquely flammable,” with an implication that new rail car standards might be required to move the material.
The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy has put out an important report that sheds light on an under-discussed dimension of Canada’s energy export challenge: the time factor.