“...Canadian oilfields services companies are on the leading edge of technology
and development for the responsible recovery of our oil and gas resources.”
MARCH 2016
H
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Another area of concern is Canada’s undi-
versified business relations in the oil indus-
try. Although Canada is a major exporter of
crude oil, the primary buyer is the United
States, which is something Salkeld found
to be deeply problematic.
Salkeld said that the U.S. is “just winning
big time and they’ve got all the abundance
of the Canadian resources getting provid-
ed to them at a discount.” Catering to a
single business partner is jeopardizing the
nation’s energy industry. “That’s not good
business and that’s not a good way to run
the country in my mind, so it needs to be
fixed.” Salkeld, however, is confident that
the issue is being addressed at both the
provincial and federal levels.
PIPELINES AND BAD
PUBLICITY
The energy industry has been bombarded
with negative publicity in response to envi-
ronmental concerns over the construction
of pipelines, but Salkeld’s recommenda-
tions are supported by member compa-
nies with strong environmental records
run by doctorate-holding executives. Sup-
port against bad publicity through aware-
ness campaigns is another way PSAC
helps its members. In regards to hydraulic
fracturing, PSAC launched a five-year cam-
paign that sought to educate the populace
about fracking with the help of experts in
the field.
“We submitted papers for the review pan-
els in Newfoundland and in Nova Scotia
and we presented to the Senate commit-
tee in Ottawa on understanding Canadian
resources development,” Salkeld said.
“We’re not pushing to burn oil and gas go-
ing forward — we have kids and we care
about the environment just as much as
anybody else — but we’re not going to get
there without transitioning to natural gas
and then onto renewables.”
To learn more about PSAC, visit
.
