No sincere discussion on value-added
Dear Editor,
With all the jingoism over Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion creating jobs—and almost all of it temporary work—it’s conspicuous how there’s no mention of creating actual long-term employment by processing enough of our own crude to, at the very least, supply the expensive gas-consumption requirements of Canadians, instead of exporting the bulk raw resource then importing the finished product. (And a similar question could be asked in regards to our raw-log softwood exports abroad.)
After thirty years of consuming mainstream news media, I’ve yet to come across a seriously thorough discussion on why our national and provincial governments consistently refuse to alter this practice, which undoubtedly is the most profitable for the Texas-based oil company. And I’m not talking about open and closed on the same sole day, with the topic discussion parameters constrained to the point the outcome seemed predetermined.
If the Americans can extract and process their own oil—as well as our crude and logs—then we should be equally as patriotic thus Canada First, even if it means paying slightly higher for Canadian wages than those in the U.S.
Frank Sterle Jr.
White Rock, B.C.
