Birchcliff Energy president and CEO A. Jeffery Tonken and Tourmaline Oil president and CEO Mike Rose were on hand at the packed Calgary Petroleum Club at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 26 to present a new video, put forth by a group calling itself Canadians for Canada’s Future.
On that morning it launched a new national campaign to reinforce the significant impact that the energy sector has on Canada. The organization has committed funds to a national campaign that highlights the fact that when the energy sector is at risk, and they noted every Canadian is affected.
By midnight, the video had 10,000 views on YouTube. While the video is entitled “Supporting the wellbeing of every Canadian,” its central message is explained by a narrated line one-quarter in. It says, “Today we say enough is enough.”
Jesse Doenz is the group’s spokesperson and co-founder. His day job is being the controller and investor relations manager for Birchcliff, an 80 per cent gas-weighted producer whose daily production equals 78,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
He didn’t say who his other co-founders were, other than they were in marketing and media.
The objective of the campaign, according to the group is to encourage the necessary discussion about the energy sector in Canada and to promote the benefits that this industry directly and indirectly brings to all Canadians.
“The video is the starting point for the conversation,” Doenz said.
It’s being launched now and will be accompanied by TV ads, prior to the federal election writ period, which restricts political advertising.
Doenz said because of the significance and scale of Canada’s energy sector, “Our quality of life and high standard of living - that we enjoy every day in this great country - is a direct result of the access we are fortunate to have to many forms of energy. Canada has an abundance of natural resources that can fuel our nation yet we are importing resources daily from countries that take advantage of us, and that do not share the social values or legal standards that we demand from ourselves.”
Asked who makes up their organization, he replied, “There’s a large group of service companies and energy companies.
“We had a big show at the Petroleum Club today, and all facets were out.”
Doenz said, “I like to always say, when someone understands the whole story, I have never met a Canadian that supports billions and billions of dollars going to other countries, along with tens of thousands of jobs, yet that is what happens every year, year after year.”
“Our energy industry is the most technologically advanced and environmentally friendly energy industry on this planet. Every single one of us cares about the environment and how we develop our resources and we want to bring all of Canada together to understand that this is the truth. The message about the industry’s commitment to the environment and to safety and its investment into alternative energy sources is all too often overshadowed in current discussions.”
“World energy demand is increasing every year and we support the growth of all responsibly developed energy to fill this demand, including significant growth in renewables. There is no question Canada should be a world leader in supplying the most responsibly sourced energy to not only ourselves but to other parts of the world.
“We’re also blessed with the ability to supply ourselves and fuel our whole nation with our own natural resources, yet we chose not to do that. We take energy from countries that don’t have anywhere near the social values, or rule of law, or treatment of their own individuals, as we have, and aren’t nearly as environmentally friendly. And yet, we take their products as opposed to using our own, and we buy those products at world prices, and we sell ours at massive discounts. How does that make sense in any world?”
He added, “We as a nation need to come together and fix the issue of our country selling our resources for less than world prices. This will stop the growing debt burden we are all facing, which leads to crushing interest payments and cuts to social programs we all want to see thriving. It will also bring back investment and stimulate our economy in a way that will benefit all Canadians and all sectors of industry.”
