Aaron Gunn wants a national energy program. He’d never describe it that way, of course, but the MP for North Island-Powell River is just the latest in a long line of Conservative politicians to unintentionally argue for the revival of Pierre Trudeau’s signature energy policy. With gas prices spiking above $2 per litre in his province, Gunn tried to blame the Liberal government for its apparent failure to inoculate the country from the consequences of Donald Trump’s decision to blow up global energy markets. 

“Pipelines should have been built 10 years ago,” he wrote on social media. “Refineries should have been built 10 years ago. We should have an energy policy that puts Canada, and Canadians, first. This is ridiculous.”

He’s right about that last part, but not in the way he intended. Canada could have built every pipeline on the proverbial drawing board since 2015, from Northern Gateway and Keystone XL to Energy East, and voters in his riding would still be paying $2 per litre for their gasoline. That’s because oil, and the products that are refined from it, are traded on a global market and priced accordingly. It’s the reason why, despite all the oil being drilled and refined in the United States (the world’s biggest oil producer), gasoline prices are spiking there as well. 

Energy analysts have suggested that the current crisis, which has removed almost 10 million barrels per day of oil supply from global markets, is worse........

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