Oil sands investment benefits all parts of Canada

Huge oil sands investment in Canada will not bring economic benefit to the energy-rich province of Alberta, but also other parts of the country, a Canadian report released Wednesday said. Nearly one-third of the economic benefits of oil sands investment between 2012 and 2035 will occur in provinces other than Alberta, according to the report of Conference Board of Canada, an independent applied research organization in Canada. Assessing the impact of an estimated 364 billion Canadian dollars' investment on Canada' s regions and industry sectors, the report said much of the economic benefits outside Alberta will be in the eastern province of Ontario and the western province of British Columbia. In addition to the direct effects associated with spending on new projects, as well as spending on improvements, maintenance, and repairs to capital assets, the study considered supply chain effects - employment associated with the use of intermediate inputs or other support services that are part of oil sands investment. It also included income effects, which occur when the wages that employees earn from the direct and supply chain effects are spent. While the majority of the supply chain employment effects (70 percent) will occur in Alberta, nearly one-third of supply chain effects will occur in other provinces, with Ontario taking up 14.8 percent and British Columbia sharing 6.7 percent, according to the study. Beyond the employment impacts, Oil Sands-related investment is expected to generate government revenues of 79.4 billion Canadian dollars, which includes 45.3 billion Canadian dollars in federal revenues and 34.1 Canadian dollars for provinces between 2012 and 2035, on an inflation-adjusted basis, it said.