CALGARY, ALBERTA — (Marketwire) — 07/19/11 — Attempts to restrict U.S. imports of Canadian oil ignore the reality of U.S. dependence on foreign oil and could force America to buy oil from repressive governments that restrict civil, political, and economic freedoms, concludes a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, Canada–s leading public policy think-tank.
The report measures how 38 major oil-producing jurisdictions, defined as those that produce more than 250,000 barrels of oil daily, perform on 17 comparisons of civil, political, and economic freedoms. The comparison also includes eight measurements specific to women–s freedoms.
“In recent years, Canada–s oil exports have been assailed by groups trying to persuade American consumers and policy-makers that a reduction in Canadian oil imports would not have negative consequences for the United States,” said Mark Milke, Fraser Institute director of Alberta policy and author of .
“On the contrary, in the absence of Canadian oil, Americans would likely face increased costs for oil and possible supply limitations. Americans should also not overlook the critical issue of civil, political, and economic freedoms. Unlike Canada, most other sources of oil imports are jurisdictions that any reasonable person would find objectionable.”
The study found that, with the exception of Norway, Canada is the only major oil-exporting country that scores highly on all measurements of civil, political, and economic freedom. That includes: the rights of women to full career, medical, and travel choices; the property rights of all citizens; media freedom; religious freedom; economic freedoms such as property rights; and other measurements such as judicial independence and relative freedom from corruption.
“Restricting trade with an ally that has similar values in terms of equality, civil rights, and individual freedoms is simply not in America–s best interest,” Milke said.
Some facts from the study:
“Oil will remain a chief component of the global energy mix for the next several decades, so America has two options: either continue to embrace oil imports from Canada-a safe, secure, and stable ally with an excellent record on human rights-or resort to importing increasing amounts of oil from governments that regularly violate human rights as a matter of policy, and in some cases, are state sponsors of terrorism,” Milke said.
“Critics of imported Canadian oil must confront the fact that, in the absence of such imports, America will need to seek other suppliers of oil and those supplies will likely come from jurisdictions that many American consumers and policy-makers find objectionable for common-sense reasons.”
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 80 think-tanks. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute–s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit .
Contacts:
Fraser Institute
Mark Milke
Director of Alberta Policy
(403) 216-7175 ext. 423 or Cell: (403) 510-6270
Fraser Institute
Dean Pelkey
Director of Communications
(604) 714-4582
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