How much should the Saskatchewan Government subsidize the oil and gas industry?
That was the question posed a recent event in the Sustainability Speakers Series, organized by the Saskatchewan Environmental Society.
Dr. Emily Eaton at the University of Regina says during the pandemic, the province began heavily subsidizing oil and gas companies.
In 2021, “there was $378 million in oil and gas revenue in the province, and according to an IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development) report, (there was) a subsidy of $413.8 million going to the oil and gas industry.”
That dollar number is comparable to Alberta, whose oil and gas industry is more than three times the size of Saskatchewan’s.
In addition to amply subsidizing these companies, she says the province is also providing them with incentives, exceptions, and very little red tape. According to a report from the Fraser Institute, in 2023, Saskatchewan was the third-easiest North American region to produce oil and gas in. This is based on how much it costs producers, environmental regulations, regulatory enforcement, and prevalence of protected areas, to name a few.
“All of these things here in this long list are other ways that provincial and federal governments support the oil and gas industry, whether it’s from investing taxpayer dollars in quality infrastructure, including access roads, power availability. Or whether it’s having the Saskatchewan Immigration Nominee Program easily available to the oil and gas industry to bring in lower cost labour… All of these things are understood by the industry itself as large supports.”
She says oil and gas production accounts for the majority of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, and if we hope to keep global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, she suggests transitioning to more sustainable forms of energy will be crucial.
In her answer to the original question, Eaton says if the goal is to phase out an entire industry to save the environment, there is no level of subsidization that is appropriate.
