Our natural gas production peaked in 2001 and we export 50% to the U.S. market.
Julian Darley, author of High Noon for Natural Gas: The New Energy Crisis, comments that North America is on the verge of "a full-blown natural-gas crisis", and that the looming energy shortfall could be even worse in Canada than in the U.S. because 80 percent of homes here are heated with natural gas.
Further, Darley predicts that Vancouver's relatively mild climate will attract a huge wave of migrants from other parts of Canada. He said that every politician should regard energy--by that he also means food--as the most important issue. "We'll be in an energy crisis beyond belief by 2010."
When Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, we gave up our right to cut back the amount of oil we export to the U.S. (unless we cut our own consumption the same amount). Interestingly, Mexico, also a party to NAFTA, refused to agree to this section, and was granted an exemption.
A U.S. report points out that, under NAFTA, Canada is not allowed to reduce its exports of oil (or other energy) to the U.S. in order to redirect them to Canadian consumers. Redirecting Canadian oil to Canadians isn't permitted — regardless of how great the Canadian need may be. Some outside observers, like Colin Campbell (of Peak Oil fame), finds the situation striking. "You poor Canadians are going to be left freezing in the dark while they're running hair dryers in the U.S.," says Campbell.
Water
Water is perhaps the final frontier. In 1996, Vice President of the World Bank Ismail Seregaldin predicted the wars of this century would be over water. It is the oil of the 21st Century. Canada & Alaska have the world's largest fresh water reserves.
In 1998 Sun Belt Water Inc. sued the Canadian government under Chapter 11 of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), because the corporation lost a contract to export water from British Columbia when the province banned the export of bulk water in 1991. Chapter 11 allows a corporation to sue the government of a nation when it feels the laws of that nation present a barrier to trade. Chapter 11 only applies to foreign-based companies. Domestic companies have to follow the law of the land.
Sun Belt CEO Jack Lindsay was quoted as saying, "Because of NAFTA, we are now stakeholders in the national water policy of Canada."
How quaint.
In 1998, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment approved a plan by Nova Group to export millions of gallons of water, in giant tankers, to Asia. This issue is vital to Canadian Environmentalists. Under NAFTA, once bulk water exports start to flow, they can never be shut off. The Province later rescinded the grant, temporarily avoiding mass export of Canada's water resources.
However, if we do exit from this disgraceful agreement, would Canada become an occupied territory?
Julian Darley, author of High Noon for Natural Gas: The New Energy Crisis, comments that North America is on the verge of "a full-blown natural-gas crisis", and that the looming energy shortfall could be even worse in Canada than in the U.S. because 80 percent of homes here are heated with natural gas.
Further, Darley predicts that Vancouver's relatively mild climate will attract a huge wave of migrants from other parts of Canada. He said that every politician should regard energy--by that he also means food--as the most important issue. "We'll be in an energy crisis beyond belief by 2010."
When Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, we gave up our right to cut back the amount of oil we export to the U.S. (unless we cut our own consumption the same amount). Interestingly, Mexico, also a party to NAFTA, refused to agree to this section, and was granted an exemption.
A U.S. report points out that, under NAFTA, Canada is not allowed to reduce its exports of oil (or other energy) to the U.S. in order to redirect them to Canadian consumers. Redirecting Canadian oil to Canadians isn't permitted — regardless of how great the Canadian need may be. Some outside observers, like Colin Campbell (of Peak Oil fame), finds the situation striking. "You poor Canadians are going to be left freezing in the dark while they're running hair dryers in the U.S.," says Campbell.
Water
Water is perhaps the final frontier. In 1996, Vice President of the World Bank Ismail Seregaldin predicted the wars of this century would be over water. It is the oil of the 21st Century. Canada & Alaska have the world's largest fresh water reserves.
In 1998 Sun Belt Water Inc. sued the Canadian government under Chapter 11 of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), because the corporation lost a contract to export water from British Columbia when the province banned the export of bulk water in 1991. Chapter 11 allows a corporation to sue the government of a nation when it feels the laws of that nation present a barrier to trade. Chapter 11 only applies to foreign-based companies. Domestic companies have to follow the law of the land.
Sun Belt CEO Jack Lindsay was quoted as saying, "Because of NAFTA, we are now stakeholders in the national water policy of Canada."
How quaint.
In 1998, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment approved a plan by Nova Group to export millions of gallons of water, in giant tankers, to Asia. This issue is vital to Canadian Environmentalists. Under NAFTA, once bulk water exports start to flow, they can never be shut off. The Province later rescinded the grant, temporarily avoiding mass export of Canada's water resources.
However, if we do exit from this disgraceful agreement, would Canada become an occupied territory?