As Canada begins to look at an economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, let’s look at the size and impact of oil and natural gas on Canadian jobs, economic growth and cleantech investment. How much do you know about the economic impact of Canada’s oil and natural gas industry?
Take our 10 question quiz and find out:
Learn more about the answers and sources:
- D): Canada’s oil and natural gas industry supports more than 500,000 jobs. Note: An indirect job is one created or sustained in a supporting or supply chain industry—for example, a steel worker in Ontario that makes pipes that are then used by oil and gas companies.
- B): Canadian oil and natural gas companies invested an estimated $34 billion in capital projects in 2019. Capital investments like building pipelines, drilling wells and constructing LNG facilities create jobs and economic growth for both local and national economies.
- C): Oil and natural gas producers contributed an estimated $110 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019; that represented 5.6 percent of Canada’s total GDP. GDP is a key measure of a nation’s economic health and prosperity
- A): It’s true, for both environmental protection and cleantech, oil and natural gas invests more than all other industries combined.
- A): Based on the latest supply chain data from 2016/17, 1,162 Ontario companies were supported through a total spend of $1.9 billion. That means jobs and economic growth for Ontarians.
- C): Canadian oil and natural gas companies represented approximately 6.5% of the total value of the TSX in 2019.
- D): Oil and natural gas production are concentrated in a few provinces. However supply chain purchases, capital projects and tax revenues mean that every province and territory in Canada derives significant benefit from oil and natural gas.
- C): Based on a 3-year average (2016-18), including royalties, income tax, land sales, carbon, municipal and corporate taxes, Canadian governments receive about $8 billion a year in revenues from oil and gas. These revenues help fund health care, pay for schools and roads, support social programs and so on.
- C): Six percent of Canada’s direct oil and natural gas workforce identifies as Indigenous. This works out to direct employment for close to 12,000 workers who identify as Indigenous. This makes the oil and gas sector the largest direct employer of Indigenous peoples in Canada.
- A): It’s true. And with more pipelines Canada has an opportunity to gain even more value from natural resources by exporting to global markets that need our energy.
