Vladimir Putin is leading a dying country. Vladimir Putin's regime exports three things: petroleum products - coal, natural gas, and hydrocarbon energy in the form of petroleum. Number two, it exports arms, and, number three, it exports people.
It doesn't make sense to have a bitumen export economy.
In the world of globalization, the fossil fuel masters of the universe who are digging up our boreal forest and our muskeg and scraping out the bitumen would rather have Canadians take all the risks - and then the oceans take the risks to ship it to refineries that they've already built in other countries rather than create jobs for Canadians here.
It is incorrect and unwise to imagine that some day all producer countries will be able to export their surplus oil, and Iran will not be able to export its oil.
Australia is a resource-rich nation. We have been good at exploiting our minerals base and agricultural sector for exports.
One of the fundamental responsibilities of any Canadian prime minister is to get our resources to market.
Canada is rich in hydrocarbons and other natural resources... India's requirements and Canada's surplus are a perfect match.
To say to a country that it shouldn't export its gas is like saying, 'Look, the only way we can defeat hunger is to put a padlock on the refrigerator.'
We are a very big mining country and historically have been exporters of raw minerals. There is no particular reason why we should not be processing those further.
