MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 19, 2007

Harper government must reject oilsand expansion, says Council of Canadians

Ottawa – The Council of Canadians is calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Environment Minister John Baird to immediately reject the plan for a fivefold expansion of oilsands production emerging out of a Security and Prosperity Partnership meeting between Canadian and U.S. oil executives and government officials, details of which have just been uncovered by Radio-Canada.

The citizens’ advocacy group argues that Canada’s energy subservience to the United States has already prevented it from adhering to its Kyoto Accord obligations.

“Poll after poll has shown where Canadians stand on Kyoto,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “If Stephen Harper has his priorities upside down, it is because he’s been taking direction from the Bush administration and the energy industry.”

Canada already exports 70 per cent of the oil it produces each year to the United States while importing oil from other countries to meet our own energy needs. “Stephen Harper claims Canada is an energy superpower", says Jean-Yves Lefort, trade campaigner.  “What kind of ‘energy superpower’ needs to import nearly half of its oil and gas from abroad?”

The Council of Canadians has actively campaigned against a move towards the creation of a continental energy and natural resources pact that would grant U.S. investors even greater access to Canadian energy supplies – a key element of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

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For more information, contact:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer: Tel.: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249;

Read more:

• Security and Prosperity Partnership
• Council of Canadians energy campaign
• Maude Barlow's editorial "Close energy ties to U.S. limit action on climate change" from the Calgary Herald
• CBC news story "U.S. urges 'fivefold expansion' in Alberta oilsands production