Question Period Note: Oil Imports

• Our government is supporting Canada’s transition to a low carbon economy by investing in innovation and delivering economic growth, competitive industries and clean jobs, while protecting the environment.
• While we work towards this transition, we understand the importance of building pipeline capacity to gain access to global markets and connect Canadian refineries with domestic sources of crude oil.
• That is why our government approved the Line 3 replacement project, the Trans Mountain Expansion project, and has always supported Keystone XL.
• Canada has a market-based energy framework whereby the private sector makes decisions on imports and exports, including based on cost.
• Overall, Canada is a net exporter of fuels. However, in certain circumstances, Canada does rely on imports.
o For example, refineries in Eastern Canada may choose to import crude oil when it is more economical for their operations.
• Oil imports have steadily declined since 2010 (to just under 600,000 barrels per day in 2018). The majority of these oil imports come the US (64%), followed by Saudi Arabia (18%), Azerbaijan (6%), Norway (3%) and others.

Despite being among the top oil exporters in the world, Canada’s eastern refineries still rely on oil imports from the US and other countries to meet domestic demand.

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