Most media outlets want you to believe the sky’s falling on the Canadian economy
Is the sky really falling, or is it the media ensuing panic among Canadians? Fuel costs globally and the cost of goods and services has increased, and no one denies that fact. The war in Ukraine has some role to play, but not as big as the world wants you to believe.
Canada, just like most countries, is not 100% dependent on any one supplier or product to sustain its economy. The influx in prices was inevitable; unforeseen circumstances led to the increased cost of goods earlier than most would have wanted.
Let’s take gas, for example, Canadian oil reserves sit at 170 billion barrels, but oil prices are still soaring. This has nothing to do with production but everything to do with corporate greed. No real impediment stops oil companies from increasing production, especially at the federal government’s request.
In Canada and the United States, gas prices are also at record levels, but the big oil companies continue to make huge profits from the sanctions at the expense of the end-users.
Enbridge Inc., Canada’s no. 1 oil company by revenue as of 2021, according to Statista 2022, earns $33.67 billion annually. Suncor Energy Inc ranks second, making $24.61 billion a year, and the top 10 companies have base revenues ranging from $10 billion to $25 billion a year.
The top five U.S. oil companies, Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, saw their revenues increase by 300 percent after the War between Russia and Ukraine, to more than $35 billion in three months.
Despite all of those factors, life still goes on. Big corporations must be responsible to not just their shareholders but also to their customers, just as the media has a responsibility not to cause chaos and panic. Everything happening now with Canada’s economy has already happened in previous times, so the notion the sky is falling when the country is performing exceptionally well is irresponsible, considering it’s coming out of a pandemic.
The price of gas never started at two dollars a litre and nor did the average price to purchase a home begin at $600K. This is the 21 century and not Pleasant Ville. The cost of goods are supposed to increase which is often attributed to a healthy economy. Governments will always do their darndest to stave off a recession or prevent the economy from collapsing. It remains in the media’s best interest to provide balanced reporting and stop instilling fear into their readers the sky is about to fall on the heads of Canadians.
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