A recent report commissioned by the Canadian International Council analyses how Canada should start shaping its resource policies for the future. Fur, fish, wood, and minerals may have shaped this country’s early history, but more recently, natural resources were largely regarded as part of the old economy, best left behind as Canada raced toward a glittery high-tech future. But the global commodity boom that began in 2003, fuelled by industrialisation and urbanisation in emerging economies, made the resource sectors important again.
The report, written by Madelaine Drohan, a respected Canadian journalist, argues that it is now, in the boom before the next bust, that Canada should develop a proactive resource policy. In order to prepare for future resource booms of agriculture, water and Artic resources, she draws out nine recommendations reflecting the issues raised most often in more than 160 conversations held with representatives of government, industry, and academia in Canada, as well as in Australia, Chile, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Britain. Norway is often held up as an exemplar, but no one country offers a model Canada could adopt in its entirety.
Canada is losing the opportunity to become a true resource superpower, held back by squabbling between levels of government, failure to determine the real impact of high resource prices on the Canadian economy, and a series of ill-considered policies for research, saving, exploitation and trade. Drohan’s report is a thoughtful piece of research, delivered with the readable pace of a breaking news story.
The report is available at www.opencanada.org/9-habits. It is well worth the read.
Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 