Canada is rich, big and cold, and we share two borders with the United States. Those four factors explain why we are the world’s energy pigs in the consumption of non-renewable energy, but they do not justify it.

Only the United States comes close to our per capita annual energy consumption of more than 8,300 kilograms of crude oil equivalent. Lots of American energy consumption comes from nuclear-fuelled electricity, while Canada’s nuclear industry is much smaller. That increases our relative dependence on non-renewable energy compared to our neighbours. So stand proud, Canada: The true north, strong and free, is number one in energy consumption and waste.


Rich: Unless you are living in Caracas, where gasoline sells for three cents per litre, you may have noticed that gasoline prices have skyrocketed in the last few years. This concerns us all. Indeed, three quarters of Canadians worry that they will be personally affected by a gasoline shortage in the next five years, but their actions do not seem to match their anguish. Last year, for example, 43 per cent of Canadians reported increasing their consumption of gasoline during the previous three years, compared to 21 per cent who reported lowering it. Yet during that three-year period, prices nearly doubled.

This partly reflects the economic good times of recent years. Many Canadians have seen their personal wealth (think house prices) grow greatly. For many, this has made gasoline price increases – a relatively small part of the household budget – seem less significant than it would have in a recession, say.

The relative insignificance of gas prices today is one of the main reasons we are less likely to change our driving habits than we did during the last great run-up in gasoline practices, between 1975 and 1980. We have become addicted to gasoline, and that addiction is growing. Yet we aren’t as responsive to higher prices as we used to be, and this could become a problem.