Sep 29, 2026 · 18 min · 7 segments
Taylor Noakes, an award‑winning public historian and independent journalist, joins Rob to talk about the history of this sometimes uncomfortable relationship between neighbo(u)rs. Runs 17m 43s. Aired…
Taylor NoakesGuest
Rob FaiHost
As an environmentalist and as an environmental reporter who writes a lot about energy economics, if they want to spend the billions and tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars setting up a refinery operation in Venezuela, if they want Venezuela to be their new capital, primary supplier of cheap oil, be my guest.
If that ultimately forces Canada to abandon fossil fuels entirely and find something to replace that, that's the best thing we could possibly do, not just for our environment, but our economy as well.
$40 billion for a West Coast pipeline is just one part of what is ultimately hundreds of billions of dollars that Canadians spend just to support the oil industry.
An industry that employs, I think at best, 177,000 workers, nearly all of whom live in Alberta.
Most of those people are not oil engineers whose job is really specific to that industry.
They're construction workers, workers who can be retrained to build other kinds of electrical systems or energy systems for Canada.
The reason why I say this is probably in our best economic interest to get off of fossil fuels as quickly as possible, not only does this give Canada more economic independence and more political leverage, It also would be best for Canadian consumers.
Estimates have already been done on what it would cost to get Canada off fossil fuels completely and build a national electrical grid, as an example, using fully renewable resources.
The estimates that I've seen put that national grid cost at about $30 to $40 billion, so roughly equivalent to what TMX cost.
Every time the United States starts a new war in the Middle East, it means that the food on your table costs more money.
Well, if we remove ourselves from that equation, if we essentially get off of an international oil economy where price fluctuations in one part of the world can lead to major disturbances in supply chains and the cost of food on your table, et cetera, et cetera, on the other side of the world.
If we get ourselves out of that completely, we are more secure, we're more sovereign, and we're more sustainable.
As an environmentalist and as an environmental reporter who writes a lot about energy economics, if they want to spend the billions and tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars setting up a refinery operation in Venezuela, if they want Venezuela to be their new capital, primary supplier of cheap oil, be my guest.
If that ultimately forces Canada to abandon fossil fuels entirely and find something to replace that, that's the best thing we could possibly do, not just for our environment, but our economy as well.
$40 billion for a West Coast pipeline is just one part of what is ultimately hundreds of billions of dollars that Canadians spend just to support the oil industry.
An industry that employs, I think at best, 177,000 workers, nearly all of whom live in Alberta.
Most of those people are not oil engineers whose job is really specific to that industry.
They're construction workers, workers who can be retrained to build other kinds of electrical systems or energy systems for Canada.
The reason why I say this is probably in our best economic interest to get off of fossil fuels as quickly as possible, not only does this give Canada more economic independence and more political leverage, It also would be best for Canadian consumers.
Estimates have already been done on what it would cost to get Canada off fossil fuels completely and build a national electrical grid, as an example, using fully renewable resources.
The estimates that I've seen put that national grid cost at about $30 to $40 billion, so roughly equivalent to what TMX cost.
Every time the United States starts a new war in the Middle East, it means that the food on your table costs more money.
Well, if we remove ourselves from that equation, if we essentially get off of an international oil economy where price fluctuations in one part of the world can lead to major disturbances in supply chains and the cost of food on your table, et cetera, et cetera, on the other side of the world.
If we get ourselves out of that completely, we are more secure, we're more sovereign, and we're more sustainable.
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