Freeland pledges to remove Russian oil from global markets, boosting Canadian bitumen as a replacement
The Deputy PM's remarks at a Ukrainian Canadian Congress event raise questions about Canada’s recent climate commitments.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced a new policy with great ramifications for Canadian foreign and climate policy when she spoke at the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Alberta Provincial Council’s 50th anniversary celebration in Edmonton on Nov. 9.
The first part of Freeland’s keynote speech focused on the role the UCC, which Freeland referred to by its Ukrainian acronym of KUK, in maintaining a strong sense of Ukrainian-Canadian identity since its foundation in 1974.
But about halfway through she addressed Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, which she portrayed as “a fight between light and darkness.”
It was here that Freeland proudly announced that Canada is leading international efforts to remove Russian oil from the global market entirely.
She suggested that this will give Alberta the ability to replace Russian oil with tar sands bitumen, a statement which would appear to be fundamentally at odds with the policy her government unveiled less than a week ago to cap oil and gas emissions starting in 2030.
Two years ago, the G7 put a cap on the price of Russian oil to reduce Kremlin revenues without punishing developing countries who depend on Russian oil imports, but Freeland said Canada is ready to go further.
Here’s what she said:
We have to continue, continue every day to find new ways to support Ukraine and to stand with Ukraine.
And so I want to tell you, and this is the first room where I’ll be talking about this, the next initiative that Canada will be pushing ahead, and that is getting tougher with Russian oil.
The time has come for us to be decisive about pushing Russian oil out of the world market.
That Russian oil is quite literally funding their war machine. We’ve taken significant steps to push that Russian oil out of the world market. Now we need to move further and work harder.
And I believe—Canada believes—that now is the moment to undertake that work with our allies.
And I’m glad to be saying that at [not only] KUK but KUK Alberta. Because Canada as an energy power, Alberta as an energy power, have a real voice and a real role to play in making it possible for us and the G7 to really push Russian oil out of the global market.
Freeland, who also serves as Canada’s finance minister, didn’t offer any specifics as to how Canada and its G7 allies plan to eliminate Russian oil from international markets, nor did she take questions from reporters after her remarks.
But the implications of her remarks for Canadian oil production are clear—drill, baby, drill.
Wonder when the Liberals will catch on that no matter what they do for Alberta it will never be appreciated with votes. Rural Alberta has been treated atrociously by the UCP, but they are first to be cheering the UCP on. And in the meantime what are the Liberals doing to protect our children from the invasion of the Transgenders (that is sarcasm).
Climate Crisis aside, it would be a tough sell considering there are so few refineries to refine heavy oil/bitumen.
Plus with increased capacity of the Trans🤔 Mountain Pipeline comes the increased risk of a spill in BC waters with increased small Panamax tanker traffic from a terminal in a known earthquake zone....using bitumen as a weapon Mmm....what could possibly go wrong ?
Methinks Mme. Freeland was preaching to a bunch of Alberta Ukrainian Diaspora russophobes.....who evidently lapped it up.
I rank her up there with the Boris Johnsons and Victoria Nulands etc of the world as among the top warmongers of our time.
Their foreign interference has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
I don't think history will be kind to their ilk.