Research Bulletin

Publisher:  Research Dept. of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Canada
Year Published:  1977
Pages:  16pp   Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX484

The main article of this issue looks at the energy crisis.

Abstract: 
The main article of this issue looks at the energy crisis. It begins by defining energy as accumulated work and links this to sources (fuels) and uses (industry). The brief history of industrial heat supplies and consumption outlines the process leading to present requirements. World oil consumption, for example, increased by 70 percent from 1964-1973. With key industrialized nations relying on imported oil (Japan - 85 percent, Western Europe - over 90 percent, the United States - 30 percent and Canada - 55 percent despite the fact that it exports 59 percent.) the impact of world price increases has created great concern. The article tries to answer why Canada's domestic price of oil should follow increases in world prices when it produces more oil than it consumes. The answer is related to the policy of continentalism which has been practiced by the Canadian federal government since the end of the second world war. The policy has the effect of tying the Canadian economy to the U.S. investment in such a way that they gain control and ownership of Canadian resources.

For instance, the Canadian petroleum industry is 91 percent foreign controlled. Considering this in light of the fact that nuclear plants and fossil sources have not developed according to schedule and that by 1985 U.S. energy consumption alone will equal the 1970 world consumption, the pressure to maintain control over import becomes more crucial. The articles show that it is the multinational corporations which control the petroleum industry and in such a way to benefit substantially from the situation of increasing demand and crisis. The net percentage increase in profit from 1970 to 1976 for the following companies were: Exxon - 102 percent, Mobil - 95 percent, Gulf - 48.3 percent, Shell - 150 percent, Standard - 93.5 percent, British Petroleum - 49 percent. The article points out that these corporations took further advantage of the current situation by selling inventory stocks at new increased prices, forcing the Canadian government to push crude oil prices up to the world market so there would be no competitive advantage, fixing estimates of reserves to determine quantities they were allowed to export and restricting supplies to raise prices in the short term to create a long-term atmosphere of declining reserves which also paves the way for future price increases.

The paper raises other critical questions about inefficient use of energy and the production of unnecessary products n order to stimulate thinking and discussion. Another article looks at some of the reasons why Canada does not as yet recognize that the unemployment rate is as high as in the depression years. Claims are not processed by mail which dispenses with crowds. Benefits are better than during the depression and that more family units now have two or more employed persons which delays the full impact of layoffs. With the jobless rate up to one in five, the long term impact on the lives of the unemployed and the fabric of Canadian society will be very damaging the article concludes.