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Canada needs to demonstrate that it has control over its energy supplies in order to become a secure nation amid tariff threats from the United States, says one industry expert.

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“We have a big decision to make in this country: whether or not for future generations and future prosperity, we want to create a truly sovereign system of pipelines and energy corridors, not just oil and gas but electricity, across this country,” Peter Tertzakian, president of Studio.Energy, said in a recent interview with the Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn.

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One way to do so is by building or reviving a West-East pipeline that connects Alberta and Atlantic Canada.

Tertzakian said a cross-country pipeline would not only make Canada more energy secure but also make it more economically secure by giving it export alternatives other than the U.S.

“What we have is a peculiar situation in this country that’s not just economic. It’s also about energy security,” he said. “We don’t have an East-West energy security situation, and it also hurts us economically.”

Tertzakian explained that that’s because the bulk of the oil produced in Western Canada goes to one customer — the U.S. At the same time, the bulk of the oil consumed in central Canada is purchased from the U.S.

But regulatory hurdles and interprovincial trade barriers make it challenging for investors and pipeline companies to move forward with such projects.

“We have to have the will to invest in it, get it done quickly today for future generations,” Tertzakian said.

He explained that Canada should pursue the pipeline project because oil is a feedstock for many industrial processes in the country.

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“Oil is used for far more things than just combusting an engine,” he said. “It’s a vital commodity and natural gas is as well.”

Despite the shift to electric vehicles, demand for oil is not decreasing, he said. “The demand for oil is not going away soon. It’s a very difficult commodity to get off of. History has shown that.”

A West-East electricity grid is another project that Canada should be focused on but is lagging behind other nations due to those same barriers, according to Tertzakian.

“We’re being left behind,” he said. “It’s the time value of money thing … If something’s going to take seven to 10 years to just get through a process with no guarantee that it’s going to be approved and then end up in the courts, there’s nobody that’s going to provide capital to do that.”

Tertzakian said the European Union moving away from their dependence on Russia should serve as a model for Canada.

“It was a crisis — the Russia-Ukraine war. It woke everybody up and said ‘well, we need to be more energy secure in Europe,’” he said. “The remarkable thing is that within a few years … there’s been a wholesale rerouting of the energy supplies.”

Tertzakian said that Canada may also need to call an energy emergency and do the same.

“I think we can do it, too. We just have to put a sense of urgency on it.”

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