Canadian Energy Centre
A Matter of Fact: How the oil sands benefits Canadians

SAGD oil sands project in northern Alberta. Photo courtesy Cenovus Energy
From the Canadian Energy Centre
By Deborah JaremkoIndustry contributes $9 billion to $10 billion per year to government revenues across the country
The oil sands industry in northern Alberta is one of Canada’s most important resources.
The industry provides reliable energy supply as well as jobs, taxes and government revenues that help pay for services like roads, schools and hospitals across the country.
Here are the facts.
Government Revenues
Using Statistics Canada data, CEC Research calculated gross revenues to federal, provincial and municipal governments from the oil and gas industry between 2000 and 2021.
This includes personal and corporate federal and provincial income taxes, indirect taxes, royalties, and crown lease payments.
Over the last two decades the oil and gas industry, including the oil sands, contributed $578.7 billion to governments across the country.
Of this, the oil sands sector itself contributed an estimated $195 billion to $210 billion, or about $9 billion to $10 billion per year.
That’s enough revenue to pay for three new hospitals every year, considering the new hospital and cancer centre being built in Surrey, B.C. comes at a cost of $2.88 billion.
Government contributions from Canada’s oil sands sector are expected to rise over the coming decades.
Under a conservative scenario where the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price benchmark averages US$60 per barrel, Canadian government revenues from the oil sands are expected to rise from US$12.1 billion in 2023 to US$19.4 billion in 2050.
That would mean an oil sands contribution of over US$420 billion to Canadian governments over the next three decades.
Boost to the economy
The oil and gas sector broadly accounts for about 5.5 per cent of economic activity in Canada, averaging $104 billion in annual GDP between 2016 and 2021, according to Statistics Canada and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).
Over that period, the oil sands alone contributed about 3 per cent of Canada’s total economic activity, or an average $54 billion per year.
Jobs
In 2020, Canada’s overall oil and gas industry supported nearly 600,000 jobs across Canada, according to the federal government.
The oil sands sector alone supported 166,000 jobs across the country that year, according to analysis by Prism Economics and CAPP.
Suppliers across the country
The oil sands may be located in Alberta, but it is supported by companies across Canada. In 2019, more than 2,300 companies around the country did direct business with the oil sands, including 1,887 in Ontario and Quebec.
Canadian Energy Centre
Saskatchewan Indigenous leaders urging need for access to natural gas

Piapot First Nation near Regina, Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy Piapot First Nation/Facebook
From the Canadian Energy Centre
By Cody Ciona and Deborah Jaremko
“Come to my nation and see how my people are living, and the struggles that they have day to day out here because of the high cost of energy, of electric heat and propane.”
Indigenous communities across Canada need access to natural gas to reduce energy poverty, says a new report by Energy for a Secure Future (ESF).
It’s a serious issue that needs to be addressed, say Indigenous community and business leaders in Saskatchewan.
“We’re here today to implore upon the federal government that we need the installation of natural gas and access to natural gas so that we can have safe and reliable service,” said Guy Lonechild, CEO of the Regina-based First Nations Power Authority, on a March 11 ESF webinar.
Last year, 20 Saskatchewan communities moved a resolution at the Assembly of First Nations’ annual general assembly calling on the federal government to “immediately enhance” First Nations financial supports for “more desirable energy security measures such as natural gas for home heating.”
“We’ve been calling it heat poverty because that’s what it really is…our families are finding that they have to either choose between buying groceries or heating their home,” Chief Christine Longjohn of Sturgeon Lake First Nation said in the ESF report.
“We should be able to live comfortably within our homes. We want to be just like every other homeowner that has that choice to be able to use natural gas.”
At least 333 First Nations communities across Canada are not connected to natural gas utilities, according to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).
ESF says that while there are many federal programs that help cover the upfront costs of accessing electricity, primarily from renewable sources, there are no comparable ones to support natural gas access.
“Most Canadian and Indigenous communities support actions to address climate change. However, the policy priority of reducing fossil fuel use has had unintended consequences,” the ESF report said.
“Recent funding support has been directed not at improving reliability or affordability of the energy, but rather at sustainability.”
Natural gas costs less than half — or even a quarter — of electricity prices in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, according to CER data.
“Natural gas is something NRCan [Natural Resources Canada] will not fund. It’s not considered a renewable for them,” said Chief Mark Fox of the Piapot First Nation, located about 50 kilometres northeast of Regina.
“Come to my nation and see how my people are living, and the struggles that they have day to day out here because of the high cost of energy, of electric heat and propane.”
According to ESF, some Indigenous communities compare the challenge of natural gas access to the multiyear effort to raise awareness and, ultimately funding, to address poor water quality and access on reserve.
“Natural gas is the new water,” Lonechild said.
Alberta
The beauty of economic corridors: Inside Alberta’s work to link products with new markets

From the Canadian Energy Centre
Q&A with Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transport and Economic Corridors
CEC: How have recent developments impacted Alberta’s ability to expand trade routes and access new markets for energy and natural resources?
Dreeshen: With the U.S. trade dispute going on right now, it’s great to see that other provinces and the federal government are taking an interest in our east, west and northern trade routes, something that we in Alberta have been advocating for a long time.
We signed agreements with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to have an economic corridor to stretch across the prairies, as well as a recent agreement with the Northwest Territories to go north. With the leadership of Premier Danielle Smith, she’s been working on a BC, prairie and three northern territories economic corridor agreement with pretty much the entire western and northern block of Canada.
There has been a tremendous amount of work trying to get Alberta products to market and to make sure we can build big projects in Canada again.
CEC: Which infrastructure projects, whether pipeline, rail or port expansions, do you see as the most viable for improving Alberta’s global market access?
Dreeshen: We look at everything. Obviously, pipelines are the safest way to transport oil and gas, but also rail is part of the mix of getting over four million barrels per day to markets around the world.
The beauty of economic corridors is that it’s a swath of land that can have any type of utility in it, whether it be a roadway, railway, pipeline or a utility line. When you have all the environmental permits that are approved in a timely manner, and you have that designated swath of land, it politically de-risks any type of project.
CEC: A key focus of your ministry has been expanding trade corridors, including an agreement with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to explore access to Hudson’s Bay. Is there any interest from industry in developing this corridor further?
Dreeshen: There’s been lots of talk [about] Hudson Bay, a trade corridor with rail and port access. We’ve seen some improvements to go to Churchill, but also an interest in the Nelson River.
We’re starting to see more confidence in the private sector and industry wanting to build these projects. It’s great that governments can get together and work on a common goal to build things here in Canada.
CEC: What is your vision for Alberta’s future as a leader in global trade, and how do economic corridors fit into that strategy?
Dreeshen: Premier Smith has talked about C-69 being repealed by the federal government [and] the reversal of the West Coast tanker ban, which targets Alberta energy going west out of the Pacific.
There’s a lot of work that needs to be done on the federal side. Alberta has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to economic corridors.
We’ve asked the federal government if they could develop an economic corridor agency. We want to make sure that the federal government can come to the table, work with provinces [and] work with First Nations across this country to make sure that we can see these projects being built again here in Canada.
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