Quote:
Originally Posted by Corndogger
The U.S. imports Canadian oil because they can get it at a nice discount thanks to our federal government doing everything possible to prevent us from having more than one market. The U.S. then turns around and ships that same oil to other markets and makes a huge profit on it. If Canada could do the same I'd be in favor but we can't. The oil we import from the U.S. is not discounted and neither is any of the other oil. That's why I said using our own oil is not subsidized. That's a fact and should be obvious.
I'm not against importing oil from friendly sources but that's not always possible nor in the amounts that might be needed. If there's another OPEC oil embargo Canada would not be the only nation targeted. That would be your 0.001% situation. You also have to factor in how much more energy places like China are using compared to 1973/1974. Even if we could import oil from other places during an embargo it would cost a fortune and have a huge impact on the economy. It would be a lot worse than what happened back then.
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Let's think your scenario through shall we? So OPEC has decided to stop exporting oil to the entire west? We'll ignore the fact this would damage them more than us, and pretend that no member states break the embargo. What would happen? Oil prices would spike, but there would still be oil outside North America that could be imported. And better still, there's still more than enough oil being produced in the USA and Canada to supply all our needs. Canada will supply all that it is efficient to do so within Canada, while exporting the balance to the USA, while the USA does the same, exporting to Canada.
The price paid by Canadians, Americans, and everyone else would be more in this scenario, but that's it. And guess what, in this supposed nightmare scenario, Alberta would profit handsomely.
Please, critique this. I'd love to hear your analysis. This scenario certainly does not justify banning oil imports, having the government build pipelines or whatever other protectionist policies you have in mind.