When Canadians discuss the role of the country’s oil industry in a carbon-constrained future, the conversation usually focuses on Alberta and, to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan. Often overlooked is Newfoundland and Labrador, where offshore drilling accounts for 5% of all Canadian oil production and just under a quarter of light oil.
Oil also contributes indirectly to the province’s economy. Although the statistics are confusing, a large percentage of fly-in and fly-out workers in Alberta’s oil sands are Newfoundlanders.
I put this week with Andrea Furey, the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, in his office at the legislature which has a commanding view of St. John’s. Mr Furey, who became prime minister in 2020, has a number of accolades. He is currently the country’s only Liberal prime minister, is an orthopedic surgeon who still practices the minimum number of days required to maintain his medical license, and is the founder of a group that provides medical assistance in Haiti.
Our conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
Citing recent inflation, she unsuccessfully asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to suspend the increase in the national carbon tax, which came into effect earlier this month. Mr. Trudeau challenged her and other prime ministers to come up with a better idea. Do you share the view of your Conservative counterparts that the tax should be eliminated?
No, I said “break.” Supposedly this carbon tax on consumers is built to get people to change their behavior. But we don’t have the ability to change behavior here in Newfoundland and Labrador. The infrastructure and availability of electric vehicles simply doesn’t exist in Newfoundland and Labrador right now, there are no subways in St. Anthony or Gander.
In any policy cycle it is normal to reevaluate a policy as time evolves. Perhaps already in 2016 it was thought that there would be much more availability of electric vehicles, better availability of electricity, etc. But that is not the reality of where we live in Newfoundland and Labrador right now. So it deserves at least a pause to see if there are other alternatives available. I am happy that the Prime Minister has changed his mind and is open to other alternatives. This was not the message he suggested to us in the past.
The province’s current offshore oil projects are at or nearing end-of-life. Does the industry have a future here, especially in light of climate change?
We see that our oil and gas industry has an important role to play in this transition period. The most recent discovery off our coast, approximately one billion barrels of oil, has a carbon footprint of eight kilograms per barrel. Oil sands currently stands at 80 kilograms per barrel.
I hope we can all agree that there will be no electric planes or hydrogen planes in the next few years. So the world will need petroleum products during the transition and we believe our product is best for that transition.
This is not a dead industry in our province in any way, shape or form.
You are a doctor who is also, de facto, the head of the provincial health system. How will you solve her current difficulties, which she shares with many other places in Canada?
The health care infrastructure was designed, both politically and in terms of the actual physical infrastructure, for the 1960s, and has not really evolved to meet the modern needs of Canadians. It’s broken right now and needs to be fixed.
The problem is a combination of factors, including 10 years of anemic investment in the healthcare sector.
I firmly believe that changing primary care, the way we think about it, is critically important for the future. The romantic idea that a young doctor will show up in a small rural community, lay out his tiles outside, see people in the middle of the night, seven days a week, taking care of you from cradle to grave, no longer exists. . The longer people hold on to this romantic idea, the harder it will be to change.
What we need is a team-based approach. Because truth be told, you don’t always need to see your family doctor to get your blood pressure medication or to fill out your driver’s license form. There are many things for which the expertise of a family doctor is not necessary. Someone else on the team could take care of this and allow the GP to deal with complicated medical conditions.
What should Canada do for Haiti during the current crisis?
There is no law and order, it’s devastating. It’s time for Canada and the United States to take the lead, whether they want to or not.
Canada should take a leading role on the international stage to come together with a collective force through the United Nations for peacekeeping. It is necessary to send people, peacekeepers.
I know there are many things on the international agenda. But the UN peacekeeping force was established precisely for this scenario. And right now we are failing Haitians as global citizens.
Trans Canada
This section was compiled by Vjosa Isai, a journalist-researcher based in Toronto.
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Calgary-based Enbridge is asking U.S. authorities to shut down an oil pipeline, known as Line 5, that runs through tribal lands in Wisconsin and connects Alberta to refineries in Ontario.
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A government bill that proposes to regulate technology companies to reduce harmful content online has sparked opposition from free speech advocates.
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Robert MacNeil, the Montreal-born, Halifax-raised journalist who rose to fame at PBS, has died. He was 93 years old.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday refuted reports of election meddling in a federal investigation into foreign interference.
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The Times Travel section offers a 36-hour itinerary for visiting Toronto.
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Canadian actress Rachel McAdams, who hadn’t played a stage role since college, made her Broadway debut. She views her acting choices as a way to expand her orbit.
Born in Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen studied in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has written about Canada for the New York Times for twenty years. Follow him on Bluesky a @ianausten.bsky.social
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