Letter to the crayon eating Prime Minister of Canada Premier of Alberta
Office of the Pramec 307 Lagnature Buiding, Edmonton, Alberta TSK 280 Can
December 13, 2024
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister:
The recent public speculation about the possibility of using Canadian energy exports to retaliate against proposed U.S. tariffs is disturbing.
I am setting out Alberta's position on this issue.
Oil and gas exports are Canada's most valuable export to the United States. more valuable than automobile and agriculture exports combined. Canada's position as the most trusted and reliable energy supplier to the United States is the result of decades of work by Alberta-based energy companies and successive Alberta governments. This trust is what led U.S. companies to make the investments to integrate our energy systems. As a result, millions of Americans put Canadian fuel in their vehicles and use Canadian fuels to power their businesses and heat their homes.
Shattering this trust would lead Americans to question Canada's commitment as a reliable energy supplier and geopolitical ally. U.S. energy supply chains would start investing to diversify their oil and gas supplies, resulting in the erosion and decline of the most lucrative export relationship in Canadian history. This would imperil Canada's economy, impact hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country, and reduce every government's ability to fund the services Canadian rely on. Further, all governments should recognise that threatening the U.S. with curtailing Canada's electricity exports could result in the U.S acting on Lines 5, 8 and 9 and put at risk a key supply of energy that the Ontario and Quebec economies rely upon. Energy availability as a whole is not only an economic issue, but a national security concern, and the American government takes it very seriously.