Environmental activist organizations like to spread the message that “clean” sources of energy (i.e. wind, solar, biomass, and battery-powered electricity and vehicles) offer more economic benefits to Canada than does the oil and gas industry. A recent report published by the Pembina Institute (Drilling Down Oil and Gas Jobs in Transition), claimed that reduced employment trends in the oil and gas industry over the last decade were indicative of future trends. In other words, additions to employment in clean energy in future will cause Canada to prosper.

Six years ago, the Friends of Science posted an article of mine (Renewable Energy Jobs – For Other Countries). In that article, I cited Statistics Canada data indicating that “clean energy” was not a growth industry in Canada, that the increased costs of electricity due to renewables was reducing employment in Canadian industry, and that the main economic benefits of renewables were in fact accruing to China.

I recently reviewed the data to see whether the trends have changed. They have not. “Clean energy” (very broadly defined by StatsCan) is still only 3% of Canada’s GDP, even after many billions of dollars have been spent by governments promoting it. Rising electricity rates in Canada, especially in Ontario, have continued to drive industry to other jurisdictions, just as is happening in Europe. China’s role as the main global supplier of wind, solar and battery technologies has expanded at an alarming pace.

The Pembina Institute Report is misleading in almost every respect. It implied that employment levels are the most important standards against which to judge the economic contribution of an industry. Wrong. Some industries, including oil and gas, are capital-intensive, not labour-intensive, meaning that the production process entails higher levels of capital investment per unit of output. As a result, the oil and gas industry provides a broad range of economic benefits – higher national income, higher productivity, higher rates of investment in new technology and innovation, higher wages for workers, and higher levels of export revenues.

Read the full report.