Oil stuff 3

So the oil industry's demands of the Canadian people, so far this week, are this:

One: Start fucking. The oil industry needs more workers. (Immigrants are also acceptable, but only if the feds foot the bill for training them and teaching them to speak normal-talk.)

Two: Don't even think about taxing oil profits, you dirty pinko hippie.

Three: Lay out billions of dollars of subsidies for the Mackenzie gas pipeline.

Now, if you're a normal human being with a sense of reason -- or shame -- you might see a conflict between demands 2 and 3. But you aren't privy to the genius of the oil industry (commie.) Let's take this little nugget:

For starters, the line will allow the eventual production of an estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas north of the 70th parallel, equivalent to 10 years of Canadian consumption.

There is already up to 7 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves where the pipeline is going. The Mackenzie Delta is a triangular region, 75 miles from point to point.

First of all, "10 years Canadian consumption" is only half the issue (literally) because Canada exports half its production to the US. How much of the natural gas (taxpayer funded, no less) is going to be sent to the US? Will Ottawa be given any say on restricting exports in a time of shortage? (No, commie.) This is relevant because, you see, the Russians are coming!

Moscow is another issue. Ever since Russia's submarine stunt in the Arctic, it's obvious that Ottawa must establish sovereignty, beyond just subsidizing First Nations' traditional way of life and building a few ice roads.

By making the Mackenzie Valley pipeline a national priority, Canada will put its money and support where its sovereignty mouth is.

Huh? Moscow's claim is over a huge chunk of the Arctic Ocean, not over any Canadian land, nor even over the Northwest Passage. I'm sure that building a pipeline 1,500 miles away from the North Pole (and 3,000 miles from St. Petersburg) is going to send shivers down Moscow's spine. But even if we take this sovereignty argument seriously, doesn't that just imply that Canada should, I dunno, use its energy resources as a source of national sovereignty? Like, exactly what Russia is doing? Or should we just invoke national sovereignty when it's convenient for the oil lobby?