Even if the Trudeau government were to go away tomorrow it may still be too late to undo the damage caused by eight years of Liberal rule.That was the message from Canada’s largest association of oilfield energy contractors on Tuesday, who find themselves on the front line of almost a decade of ruinous fiscal and energy policies.Mark Scholz, the president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC), said time to turn the ship of state — and the energy economy — is running short in the face of continued anti-energy policies as espoused by the present government..“I would say there are a limited a number of acts in this play that we have. And I'd say we need to kind of get serious very quickly. Otherwise, I think we're going to lose generational opportunities that are going to be lost.”CAOEC President/Mark Scholz.And even a clearing of the decks might not be enough to right the ship. Although industry associations try to be non-partisan, there were few words that could be sufficiently minced when it comes to the present government in Ottawa.“I think the ship has been sailing in the wrong direction for a number of years now. I think the first step is to probably set a different course, clearly, but it's gonna take time,” he said following the group’s spring meeting.“I would say there are a limited number of acts in this play that we have. And I'd say we need to kind of get serious very quickly. Otherwise, I think we're going to lose generational opportunities that are going to be lost.”Those opportunities aren’t confined to the conventional oil and gas sector.According to Scholz, the federal budget missed the mark on emerging clean tech services — which also happen to share similar skill sets from old fashioned rig hands that will be needed to extract the critical minerals such as lithium required if Ottawa is to reach its own energy transition goals..“This was a lost opportunity. The government wants to reduce carbon emissions, develop critical minerals, support indigenous peoples, and create sustainable jobs, but they are not prepared to walk the talk and help the industry meet those goals.”Mark Scholz.That’s because the Liberal government turned its back on thousands of energy workers by not extending the Clean Technology Manufacturing investment tax credit to include carbon technology innovations in the drilling and service rig sector, such as electrification, fuel switching, battery technology, and hydrogen blending, he said.“This was a lost opportunity. The government wants to reduce carbon emissions, develop critical minerals, support indigenous peoples, and create sustainable jobs, but they are not prepared to walk the talk and help the industry meet those goals.”Scholz compared it to a self-induced recession.“I think when you burn when you burn investors, and you have set a precedence of not being a reliable jurisdiction that has set clear timelines and kind of stays a government that stays in its lane as being a regulator as opposed to what we've seen in the past where we have the Prime Minister coming out, and specifically, stating unequivocally, there's no business case for certain energy infrastructure projects. That is not helpful. And quite frankly, is not grounded in reality or facts.”
