Resource Industries Will Always Be Canada's Primary Source of Income

We are all happy that Prime Minister Trudeau is proud of Canadians' resourcefulness, however that's not where the problem is today.

Right now, as I see it, Canada is very dependent on selling its natural resources both nationally and internationally. Canada's economy is on a downward plunge because at present we can neither sell nor deliver those resources to customers. I still very much believe that Mr. Trudeau needs to spend most of his time dealing with that crisis. Directing some of the attention to Canadians resourcefulness is not helping!  

It's been a while since Canada has been in this pickle. The federal and provincial governments need to be focusing on homegrown solutions to this problem right now! From where I stand there's a few things that governments could do to help out. Here are some of my ideas;

• Encourage all companies to refine and process Canadian oil in Canada. I understand that much of our petroleum products are imported from the United States.
• Give tax breaks to small oil companies based in Canada and owned by Canadians.
• Encourage the creation of small oil companies to operate again in Canada. Sixty years ago there were dozens of small oil companies refining oil and selling those products to Canadians.
• Encourage petroleum support companies to find other uses for their products and help them sell those products abroad. (This is where the resourcefulness could come in)
• Develop a national Pipeline Advisory Board with some real teeth to develop very stringent guidelines as to how pipelines are to be built and maintained across the nation.
• Facilitate the building of the Eastern pipeline to the Maritimes and the Western pipeline to the BC coast as soon as possible.   Also look into building a pipeline to Churchill,  Manitoba.
• Develop even more stringent guidelines as to the operation of tankers within Canadian waters on all three coastlines. There is a tremendous amount of information available on the subject of tanker safety after the Exxon Valdez disaster years ago.  I truly believe that tanker traffic can be made very safe with cooperation from all those involved or potentially impacted!

The governments of Canada need to take the bull by the horns instead of blaming the Arab nations, the Chinese, or OPEC for this petroleum calamity which we are now experiencing. Misdirecting attention away from the problem will not help.

If your car has a flat tire you don't throw it away and buy a new one. You change the tire and carry on. Our economy has a flat! Mr. Trudeau and the provincial premiers, it's time for you to take out the Jack and the tire iron and help fix it!