Compared to NorwayI'm just curious here, but does Norway sell oil under the contractual understanding that it will never be refined or burned?
Or else why is their sale of oil on the world market somehow laudable?
No one is saying it's laudable. They are saying the country has a massive fund they built up instead of wasting it on tax breaks.
But if oil is so awful that it should be kept in the ground(as in North Report's first paragraph), what's the point of criticizing one oil producer for being less economically prudent than another(as in North Report's second paragraph)? It's like saying that pimping is a disgusting misogynistic activity, and then lamenting that Bob The Pimp is doing a worse job of saving for his retirement than Mike The Pimp.
People are not promoting the continued development or expotential development of oil in Norway. What is being said is over the past decades they used the profits to create a massive sovereign wealth fund that will continue to benefit Norway once the oil is long gone. Alberta chose to spend most of it avoiding taxes. Now that the oil industry is winding down it's too late. It doesn't really matter because Alberta won't change its ways anyway. It will continue squandering whatever wealth comes from the oil sands.
Attitude matters. If Alberta expressed understanding that they needed to change now and treat their oil more like Norway does they might get a more sympathetic hearing. Trudeau is suggesting we need the money to pay for social services and transition. If he said 100% of the taxes coming to the federal government would go to a crown corporation created to develop renewable energy in Canada that might make a difference. If Alberta had a plan for winding down the oil industry and demanded that they put aside funds to clean up their messes that might make a difference. Instead we have Wells asking the feds for money to clean up abandonned wells.
In every way Alberta and the oil industry illustrate that they don't get it or don't care. They want to bulldoze opposition as they always have.