Less oil and gas, more good for the economy

In an opinion piece for the National Observer, Gregory M. Mikkelson and Katherine Zien (respectively former and present McGill professors) argue that waving the economic argument when it comes to oil and gas does not hold water when faced with the figures.

Indeed, "oil and gas extraction provides only 0.4 per cent of Canadian jobs, and indeed only 16 per cent of jobs among extractive sectors." By comparison, on average, "other economic sectors sustain more than eight times more jobs per million dollars of GDP than oil and gas extraction does." In addition, "public and private investment in oil and gas crowds out investment in these other sectors, thus killing off jobs."

And it's not like all this oil and gas were needed here: "most Canadian fossil fuel energy gets exported rather than consumed domestically. Even if domestic production of oil fell by nearly two thirds, and gas by more than a third, it would still be enough for current levels of domestic consumption." These levels are themselves set to fall if electrification (of the car fleet and building heating, among other things) continues.

The authors conclude: "Humanity and nature urgently need our new government to finally set the Canadian economy on a more ethical and prosperous course away from oil and gas."