Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigning in Barrie, Ontario. Photo: Bruce Forsyth.
August 2018
Regarding the dispute with Saudi Arabia, Justin Trudeau has a real opportunity to show some true leadership here. What we should do in response to Saudi Arabia’s actions is immediately start ramping up our own oil industry so we can stop importing Saudi oil. Get the Energy East, Trans Mountain, Northern Gateway and XL pipelines built, along with any other pipelines that are needed, and start building new Canadian oil refineries to process our own plentiful oil supplies. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to completely shut off the Saudi oil supply until our own infrastructure is in place, but the sooner we get started, the better.
We currently import 80, 000 barrels of Saudi oil every day ($2 billion every year), a shameful number when you consider Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world. Minister Freeland’s tweet means nothing if we don’t back it up with solid, decisive action.
I’m not a Trudeau fan and never will be, but I’ll certainly applaud him for doing something good for Canada instead of simply embarrassing us internationally. It’s in your court now Prime Minister.
***************************************************************************************************
The unedited version:
I’ve never had any trouble showing my contempt for our selfie-loving Prime Minister’s immature behaviour and his reckless social-justice warrior policies that have decimated our economy and our international reputation. Now we are embroiled in a dispute with Saudi Arabia concerning their human rights record, specifically the imprisonment of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, whose wife and children are Canadian, and his sister Samar Badawi.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland posted on Twitter on 2 August the following: “Very alarmed to learn that Samar Badawi, Raif Badawi’s sister, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi.”
This tweet was met harshly by the Saudi government, who recalled their Ambassador and diplomatic staff, have ordered our diplomatic staff to leave Saudi Arabia, told Saudi students studying in Canada to leave within 4 weeks, pausing business deals and air travel between our countries.
While we could debate whether it was a good idea to have this dispute on Twitter, Justin Trudeau now has a real opportunity to show some true leadership here. One thing we should do in response to Saudi Arabia’s actions is immediately start ramping up our own oil industry so we can stop importing Saudi oil. We currently import 80, 000 barrels of Saudi oil every day ($2 billion a year), a shameful number when you consider Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world.
Speaking of which, if fossil fuels are so evil, I do wonder why the pipeline protesters aren’t protesting all the Saudi oil that comes into our eastern ports, but that’s another discussion.
What Prime Minister Trudeau needs to do is get the Energy East, Trans Mountain, Northern Gateway and XL pipelines built, along with any other pipelines that are needed, and start building new Canadian oil refineries to process our own plentiful oil supplies. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to completely shut off the Saudi oil supply until our own infrastructure is in place, but the sooner we get started, the better.
As Toronto Sun columnist and secular Muslim Tarek Fatah puts it very clearly in his column “Saudi Arabia has nothing but contempt for us” (8 August 2018), “We were selling our souls to those who have nothing but contempt for us.”
Minister Freeland’s tweet means nothing if we don’t back it up with solid, decisive action. I’m not a Trudeau fan and never will be, but I’ll certainly applaud him for doing something good for Canada instead of simply embarrassing us internationally. It’s in your court now Prime Minister.
