Foreword

Canadians have never thought much about energy unless the price at the pump emptied their wallet. That’s happening a lot these days. I’m offended, and you, dear reader, are probably getting ticked off, too. But if you read this book, you will understand why more offensive price hikes are on the way. The reason, aside from this thing called “The End of Cheap Oil,” is pretty basic: Canadians just don’t think strategically about energy and are about to pay a hell of a price for their collective ignorance.

David Finch, a crafty oil patch historian, thinks Canadians should get informed instead of mad. He believes that energy, carbon, and water—the unholy trinity of modern life—has transformed Canada into a so-called energy superpower with some super liabilities as well. The realities are stark. Oil is getting harder to produce. It’s also slurping up more and more surface- and groundwater. And it’s making hefty clouds of carbon. So, Canadians have to get smart about the black gold they are pumping into their cars, homes, and food.

Finch has got it right: he doesn’t think we can really afford to be stupid drawers of water, careless hewers of wood, and greedy oil-sand miners anymore. And that’s why I really like this book. No evangelical industry bashing; just the facts. Hey, we’re all in this hydrocarbon mess together. So, the amiable historian explains what the energetic oil patch does and why we are all addicted as hell to oil. We’re not only the world’s largest consumer of petroleum products on a per capita basis but also the globe’s largest belchers of climate changing gases. Go Canada!

In addition to providing the greasy details on how the stuff in the ground gets to your fuel tank, Finch gives Canadians a fun guide to petroleum vocabulary (it’s sexy), a whole lot of head-scratching statistics, a history of national or not so national energy policies, and some excellent distractions. Did you know for example that Albertans once planned to nuke the entire tar sands with the code-name Project Cauldron? Or that Hell’s Half Acre isn’t located below ground but on the surface in Alberta? Or that it takes three times as many oil and gas wells to keep the nation running then it did seven years ago? Or that the average Canadian consumes 25 barrels of oil a year? No kidding. An ordinary family of four has a 100-barrel-per-year addiction. And those silly Albertans, well get this, on average, each one of them burns his or her way through 60 barrels a year.

So read on. Get pumped. And power down.

Andrew Nikiforuk, Calgary, May 2007