[R-G] [spp-monitor] Prentice plays oil card at U.S. conference

[Anthony Fenton]

Full text of speech, indicative of how 'selective' Canwest's reporting  
is:

http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/ic1.nsf/en/02873e.html

Prentice plays oil card at U.S. conference
Tries to free up cross-border trade. Cites warning by business groups  
that fees, regulations creating costly delays
ERIC BEAUCHESNE, Canwest News Service
Published: 8 hours ago
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/business/story.html?id=923dbd82-ec31-4aaa-82b9-dea5705b8753

Industry Minister Jim Prentice played the Canadian oil card to an  
American audience yesterday in a bid to lubricate the flow of cross- 
border trade, which he warned is being gummed up by post-9/11 security  
measures.

And he trumped his message at the Americas Competitive Forum in  
Atlanta with a promise of tougher environmental regulations on  
Canadian oilsands development, addressing concerns that have been  
expressed in the U.S. about the environmental damage of such  
development.

"Since 1990, industry has reduced the Co2 (carbon dioxide) intensity  
of oilsands production by 45 per cent," Prentice said in the speech,  
copies of which were released here. "We will also be introducing tough  
new environmental regulations that will require even more dramatic  
cuts."
"We will also be introducing tough new environmental regulations,''  
Prentice told the Americas Competitive Forum yesterday.View Larger  
Image View Larger Image
"We will also be introducing tough new environmental regulations,''  
Prentice told the Americas Competitive Forum yesterday.

Despite the environmental challenges in developing the Canadian  
oilsands, he said Prime Minister Stephen Harper "insists that Canada  
be the most responsible environmental producer of oil and gas in the  
world."

Prentice, meanwhile, also noted that concerns have been raised by  
business groups on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border that the  
"thickening" of the border since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. is  
standing in the way of realizing the full economic potential of the  
trade deal.

"We have developed, under the auspices of NAFTA, the most successful  
trading relationship in the world," Prentice noted in an interview  
from Atlanta prior to his address, adding it's important for both  
Americans and Canadians to realize that.

"The free flow of energy is an important part of that," he said.  
"We've actually developed the largest free-flowing energy arrangement  
in the world that's working quite successful.

"And on the manufactured goods side, we have a similarly extraordinary  
good arrangement, but we are facing difficulties at the border," he  
said.

In his speech, he cited a warning by Canadian and U.S. business groups  
that "new fees and regulations are creating costly delays at the  
Canada-U.S. border."

"Now, more than ever, we must take advantage of our proximity to each  
other so that we can reap all of the benefits offered by trade  
liberalization in our hemisphere," Prentice said in the speech.

But not all North American trade is taking place at border crossings,  
Prentice said, playing on another major concern of Americans - their  
dependency on foreign energy.

"It's not just asphalt and concrete that link our economies together,"  
he said, pointing to oil and gas pipelines as well as electrical power  
lines, through which $1 billion a year worth of energy flows from  
Canada to the U.S.

Prentice's comments also underscore Harper's warning to Americans last  
spring that, thanks to Canada's oil riches and the U.S. dependence on  
imported energy, Canada would be in a stronger position today should  
the U.S. move to reopen the free-trade deal, as presidential candidate  
Barack Obama has indicated a Democratic administration would do.