Canada’s oil producers could only sit and watch as the price of their product plummeted last month to less than what it costs to buy a litre of soda, hit by the double whammy of a COVID-19-induced drop in global demand and a production war between Russia and Saudi Arabia that flooded the market with more oil it didn’t need.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday his government is looking for a way to help. But it is also clear any aid package is being influenced by the push-pull the Liberals have long felt between one of Canada’s most influential economic sectors and an environment movement which sees this as Canada’s opportunity to move away from fossil fuels once and for all.