Oil sands issue goes much deeper than Jane Fonda

The community of Plamondon indirectly made international news two weeks ago when one of its residents, Suzanne Plamondon, confronted actress Jane Fonda in Fort McMurray.

It came just after Fonda had done an aerial tour of the oil sands, and she wanted to confront Fonda in order to educate her about a side of the issue Plamondon didn’ t think she wanted to hear about.

I bring this incident up merely to highlight the subject. Seeing members of the public yell at celebrities and politicians is entertaining and is great for people like us, especially if it’ s caught on video.

But it obscures the complex nature of the topic. It’ s also much deeper than a standard environment vs. money dichotomy; it goes to the very heart of the difficulties of governing Canada.

A particularly revealing example of this may have been Thomas Mulcair’ s comments in 2012, when he referred to the oil sands as Canada’ s “Dutch disease.” But it’ s often forgotten - or possibly even ignored - that the comment was implicitly meant as a criticism of how the oil sands are perceived in Eastern Canada.

Though these comments were simplistic and politically tone deaf, there is still a ghost of a point. The “Dutch disease” refers to a phenomenon in the Netherlands in the 1960s, where natural resources artificially increased the value of their currency and thereby increased the price of buying manufacturing goods from the Netherlands, making them uncompetitive.

The comparison makes particular sense when it comes to a discussion about the value of the Canadian dollar, which is highly dependent on commodities and natural resources.

People in Ontario in particular are well aware of the reality of this trend. A drive through parts of London, Sarnia, Hamilton or Windsor show all too well what has been lost by the moving out or shutting down of manufacturing. Ontario has been a have-not province for most years since 2009 after having decades of relative prosperity. (For 2016-17 it only became a have province because of the relative struggles of Alberta.)

I have met some Albertans here who have pointed to the National Energy Program, other federal government programs and some general condescension about the oil sands as a sign of Eastern contempt for Western Canada.

If someone were to go looking, they could find such attitudes. But where the criticism exists it sometimes goes well beyond the standard environmental criticisms. The oil sands do have a direct effect not just on Alberta but also on the country as a whole, in some ways challenging (to put it lightly) and in some ways beneficial.

But despite some truth that may have existed in his comments, what has been shown to discredit the heart of Mulcair’ s comment have been the five years since he made those comments.

The decline in the Canadian dollar since the decline of oil prices in 2014 has had obvious negative effects for Alberta, and for people here in the Athabasca oil sands region, but has it therefore had positive impacts for people in Ontario?

For some exporters it may have provided more affordable rates. But the province as a whole is still in a large deficit. The mismanagement by the Wynne government over energy in particular - some of which has now been admitted by the premier herself - has approval ratings of 14 per cent. (Approval ratings in this case really do tell the story.)

What this shows is that the heart of Ontario and Maritime provinces, many of which are in similar financial situations, have structural problems that have nothing to do with the oil sands.

Eastern Canadians who lay too much criticism against the oil sands should also keep in mind that many thousands of Maritimers and Ontarians have moved to Alberta over the last few decades to gain work in them. I have met many such people already in Lac La Biche.

There are plenty of reasonable criticisms to be made against the effect of the oil sands on the environment and indigenous people among others; it’ s also true that the oil sands are important economic commodity not just for Alberta but also throughout Canada and even throughout the world. A reasonable attitude towards these matters must take both views into account.

But the oil sands have shifted and will continue to shift the way this county will be run. Manufacturing and natural resources do not have to be in competition with each other, and neither do Central and Eastern Canada along with the West.

Having both a highly productive natural resource and manufacturing sector has made this country prosperous, and it’ s in the best interest of both to find a way to make it work.