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I remember growing up in Calgary in the early 90s when happy meals were five bucks and gasoline was just above 40 cents per litre. Back then I was a young child and my parents paid for it all anyways… ah, the good ol’ days when maintaining a job wasn’t even a fathomable thought.

I remember when my pops decided to get a new SUV and trade in his station wagon. The bill at the gas station pump almost doubled. How could my parents even afford this!? It seemed like so much money at the time. Oh, that’s right… my parents were both engineers and had good jobs. Growing up and advancing through the grades I began to learn about different career paths and admired my parents for what they were. They inspired me to follow the same road, so I did!

I also remember when the appeal of becoming an engineer in a province home to the world’s third largest recoverable oil reserves was too good an opportunity to overlook. The job market in the oil and gas industry was booming. Unlike my distant memories of cheap gas, happy meals and inspirational parents, this was during much more recent times.

Luckily for me, I graduated from the University of Calgary and got off to a good start a few years before the economy crashed in 2014 and have been able to maintain my job ever since. Other aspiring engineering students, fresh graduates and even industry professionals I know haven’t been so lucky as of late.

How can you support Canadian energy and the opportunities that mega-projects like the Trans Mountain expansion, Keystone XL pipeline and BC LNG would bring to our nation?

Truth is that we as Canadians needs to stand up for our prosperity! We cannot let loud vocal minorities dominate the conversation with mis-information concerning our energy sector any longer!

Every voice counts in this battle for Canada’s economic future. Here are a few simple ways you can get involved in the conversation and do your part:

With lengthy delays and so much uncertainty when it comes to getting pipelines built in Canada, it seems Canadian producers have found another way to get their oil to market.

According to Statistics Canada, there was a total of 16,193 railway carloads transporting petroleum and fuel oil in June of 2018. That’s about eight times the amount seen a decade ago and a fresh record high.

Furthermore, because of limited pipeline capacity the biggest increase in weight moved by rail for the second consecutive month was for crude petroleum and fuel oils – up by 45.8% (464,000 tonnes) year-over-year.

Crude-by-rail exports also rose by 31.4% since January 1st while in June of 2018 they rose by a whopping 86.8% when compared with the same time frames the year before. This is largely due to the modest recovery oil prices have made in recent months, as producers scramble to take advantage of the potential boost in revenues.

So what does this all mean for Canada?

Over the weekend Abacus Data undertook to a poll of Canadians to measure support for the Trans Mountain expansion. The results were a resounding 7/10 people supporting the project, including 67% of people in British Columbia. A significant majority.

Are you wondering about the facts when it comes to Canada’s oil and natural gas industry? There's been a lot of misinformation put out there about Canada's energy sector in the past several years... it's important that both sides of the discussion are heard and that the benefits of oil and gas in Canada are well known!

Here’s 25+ quick facts that will get you up to speed on the importance of this industry to Canada AND the world as a whole:

Did you know that there are 43 aboriginal communities who have signed contracts called Mutual Benefit Agreements (MBA) with the Trans Mountain expansion project, valued at more than $400 million?

This includes a majority of the First Nations along the route – 10 in Alberta and 33 in British Columbia. In fact, about 80 percent of the communities within close proximity to the pipeline support the project.

It’s very important that as Canadians we look at the big picture and are listening to all sides of the discussion. We cannot forget that there ARE in fact many First Nations whose communities are located along the pipeline’s route that want to see this project happen!

Here’s a few quotes from First Nation Chiefs who support the TransMountain Pipeline Expansion:

Only one of the world’s top 10 oil exporting nations has carbon pricing initiatives – Canada. If you aren't familiar with which countries are the world's top exporters, here's a list (WTEx, 2017):

Pipelines have been a hot topic of debate in recent years in Canada. While most of us have a good idea as to what they do, there’s many things you probably didn’t know about pipelines in Canada.

Check out these 15 interesting facts on Canadian pipelines (sourced from CEPA), some of which you may have had no idea about!

You might have an idea as to how much petroleum is a part of your daily life. I mean, the gas in your car and the oil in its engine are a given, right? But what about those products made with some petroleum-derived material that aren’t the usual suspects?

I mean, who would of thought that the crayons your kids are using to scribble in those colouring books are made from paraffin wax, a substance created from petroleum? What about the lipstick you just put on, or that which you have on your cheek unknowingly after a kiss from your mom?

Depending on the brand, that lipstick could have very well been made using mineral oil or petrolatum, both of which are by-products of refining crude oil to make petroleum products such as gasoline.

These are just a few of the every day items we use as consumers that we might not think or would suspect are made from petroleum. What others are there?

"The spokesperson for a gaggle of eco-friendly, sustainable-energy types had a counter-intuitive message for B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan. Support the damn oil pipeline."