Letter Fifty-One: Alberta’s oil sector

Dear Mr. Prime Minister and all those it may concern,

I think that you and your government have failed Alberta. 

And no, I’m not a pro-pipeline person. Or an oil and gas worker. In fact, I’m a 15 year old climate activist. Many Albertans see climate activists as the enemy, the people trying to rip away their jobs. But that is not the case.

First of all, there is less demand for oil these days. That’s a fact. In 2013, oil tax revenues brought in 9.58 billion dollars for Alberta but in 2018 (before the pandemic or the Saudi-Russian trade war that the Albertan government likes to blame for its woes) that number was down to 5.43 billion because of falling oil prices. Many Albertan politicians continue to fuel the lie that those prices are likely to go back up. Every day we see cheaper alternatives to oil emerging that also happen to not be killing our planet. That is a good thing. Not killing the planet is a good thing. No amount of collapsing oil and gas companies will make not killing the planet a bad thing. But of course, there are people behind those companies, individuals who just want to feed their families. As a climate activist, I do not want to see those people suffer. But I’d also like to have a future. The tension between people’s livelihoods today and the planet’s health in the future is what you hear when you delve into the Alberta issue. But I don’t think it’s the right narrative. We can protect people now and in the future. We just have to work together, and right now all I see is partisanship. 

When it became clear that oil and gas was not the future, it would have been a smart economic move to start building a new industry in Alberta. An economy not built on oil, but on something sustainable, that would grow as the oil industry faded and leave Alberta in a stronger place when it comes to jobs and sustainable practices. That hasn’t been done (it still can be though and I’d advise both the provincial and federal government to get on it). Even with the oil industry’s likely collapse hanging over people’s heads, as well as the future of the planet, politicians and big companies plowed ahead because oil is working now at this moment.

The root of the problem, and the reason many Albertans hate climate-activists, is that capitalism only works when people believe that by not working they are worthless. That unless they are out there making money, providing for their families and contributing to the economy, their lives are less worthy. This is the mindset that keep oil workers pushing against environmental regulation, when they really should be pushing for support from the government. It is not their fault that the oil industry is collapsing, and they deserve to be supported through the difficult transition. But because of the logic of capitalism, they continue to try to support a system that only benefits the people at the top of big corporations.

In order to focus on saving the oil industry Jason Kenny’s government has had to cut public spending, funding for schools and funding for senior’s services, resulting in worse quality of life for Albertans. I’m scared for the good people of Alberta who are being thrown into an economic disaster and told to blame people like me, the climate activist, when in reality it is their own government stubbornly refusing to let go of a dying industry. They are cracking down on Indigenous land defenders, and defending big corrupt oil companies. This is wrong, and it’s not helping the people of Alberta. 

I don’t know how much you can do about this situation. But I know that you need to stop doing nothing, saying nothing and hoping to appease both sides. Because right now you’re appeasing neither, letting people lose their jobs and failing to protect the future of the planet for the children. Oil is not making a comeback. It’s just not. Now is the time to protect Albertan workers with stronger unemployment funds, maybe universal basic income, and some real time and energy put into finding new jobs in a new sector, one that isn’t, you know, killing the planet. The Kenny government seems to have no interest in helping people, but maybe, hopefully, the federal government can step in. After all, people need to feed their families, and I need a future and we should be able to do both. 

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Amelia Penney-Crocker