In the wake of this week’s MOU between Canada and Alberta, it’s high time to step back and evaluate where we stand as a country relative to our energy priorities.
For a country blessed with an extraordinary abundance of resources, Canada seems strangely committed to fighting about them. Few topics inflame our politics like energy—oil versus renewables, left versus right, Alberta versus Ottawa. It’s a tug-of-war that’s been dragging on for decades, and every time it looks like we might finally pull in the same direction, we find a fresh reason to let the rope burn our hands again.
The Memorandum of Understanding signed this week between Alberta and Canada should be a moment of celebration—a signal that cooperation is still possible, that energy can be approached as a national project rather than a political weapon. And full credit to Prime Minister Carney for attempting to mend fences after a decade of conflict between energy producers and the previous Liberal government. But within hours, the familiar chorus swelled: accusations, oversimplifications, ideological purism, and the predictable re-emergence of the anti-fossil-fuel crusade. It’s exhausting. It’s counterproductive. And it’s beneath us.
Canada deserves better than this endless cycle of partisan trench warfare.
We need to get on the same team again.
Energy Is Not Left or Right. It’s Civilization.
Energy is the oxygen of modern life. Everything—everything—depends on it.
Hospitals. Food supply chains. Manufacturing. Digital infrastructure. Heating. Transportation. Even renewable energy systems themselves rely on hydrocarbons for mining, processing, manufacturing, and transportation.
Worldwide demand for all forms of energy is rising rapidly. Billions still lack reliable power. Countries we admire—like Norway, Sweden, Japan, and South Korea—approach energy not as an ideological purity test, but as a strategic national priority. They use what works. They invest where it matters. They innovate. They balance. They don’t spend precious time demonizing one energy source to elevate another.
Why can’t we do the same?
Canada Could Be an Energy Superpower—If We Stopped Fighting Ourselves
Few countries on Earth have the combination Canada does:
Massive hydrocarbon reserves developed under some of the strictest environmental standards in the world
World-leading renewable resources—hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass
Abundant critical minerals needed for clean technology
Nuclear expertise unmatched globally
A highly skilled, adaptable workforce
Stable institutions and rule of law
Instead of capitalizing on this once-in-history advantage, we’ve allowed ourselves to frame energy as a zero-sum morality play. Oil and gas vs. renewables. Provinces vs. Ottawa. Environmentalism vs. prosperity. It’s a false choice, and every time we reenact it, we squander opportunity.
Canada should be supplying the world with clean LNG, responsibly produced oil, next-generation nuclear, renewable electricity, hydrogen, and the minerals that make electrification possible.
Instead, we are busy arguing.
The Real Enemy Isn’t Oil or Renewables. It’s Short-Term Thinking.
We are facing a future defined by massive population growth, electrification, geopolitical instability, and increasing energy demand. The world needs:
More baseload electricity
More hydrocarbons with lower emissions
More renewables built faster
More grid stability
More energy storage
More pipelines
More transmission lines
More innovation
This is not ideology. It is physics, engineering, and economics.
The idea that we must choose between oil and natural gas or renewables is absurd. The world needs both—a lot more of both—and Canada is uniquely positioned to deliver.
Energy Workers Aren’t the Enemy—They Are the Backbone
It is long past time to stop vilifying the men and women who keep our lights on and our homes heated. Energy workers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and every corner of this country make modern life possible. Their work is not a threat to climate progress; it is essential to it.
If we want to build offshore wind farms, nuclear reactors, geothermal plants, hydrogen hubs, transmission lines, and carbon capture facilities, guess who has the skills to do it?
The same people who built Canada’s energy sector in the first place.
We don’t need to replace these workers. We need to unleash them.
Let Today Be a Turning Point
The Alberta–Canada MOU could be more than a political news story. It could be the start of a new era if we choose cooperation over conflict.
Imagine:
A Canada where energy security is a shared national project
A Canada where oil, gas, nuclear, and renewables work—not in competition—but in partnership
A Canada that stops apologizing for having energy
A Canada that exports not only commodities, but leadership, innovation, and stability
A Canada united by pragmatism, not divided by ideology
This is possible. But only if we stop using energy as a proxy for political identity.
We Are on the Same Side—If We Choose to Be
Energy should not be a left vs. right issue. It should be an all of us issue:
for workers, for families, for affordability, for economic growth, for environmental progress, for national security.
Canada is strongest when we remember we are one country, not a collection of feuding ideologies.
The world needs more energy. Canada has more energy. And Canadians, deep down, want the same things: security, prosperity, sustainability, and a future our kids will thank us for.
Let’s stop fighting each other.
Let’s start building together.
Let this be the moment we get back on the same page—one team, one country, one energy future.