Recently the Canadian Taxpayers Federation heard some pretty shocking news. According to a reliable contact in Alberta’s energy industry, a major international energy investor had been looking at making a sizeable investment in Canada but decided not to … the company is going to invest in Tanzania instead.

Yes, Tanzania.

The contact went on to describe an edge in Tanzania’s favour – “once they make a decision, they stick with it.” This is a far cry from the game the federal government played with TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline project and the current Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in B.C.

Recent news stories about Canadian oil companies moving their rigs to the United States and major firms like Suncor stating that Canada is too “difficult” to invest in right now (due to regulatory hurdles and uncertainty) paint an even bleaker picture.

Taxpayers across Canada should be very concerned about stories like these.

Our country is sitting on the third largest oil reserves in the world and significant natural gas reserves. If we develop those resources, governments could continue to receive billions upon billions of dollars in tax revenues and resource royalties.

Those dollars could then continue to help pay for health care, education and other government services across Canada (remember, Ottawa receives a share of tax revenues from oil companies as well). If we don’t develop our resources, and governments miss out on billions in revenues, guess who will have to pay even more of the bill for government services? Hint: you.

Note that oil and gas projects represent more than just revenues for governments – they create thousands of jobs across the country. According to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, nearly 1,600 small businesses in Ontario provide $4 billion in goods and services to Alberta’s oil sands each year.  

Now consider our new competition – Tanzania. Go on the Government of Canada’s travel advisory website and you’ll find a glaring warning about visiting the African country: “exercise a high degree of caution in Tanzania due to rising crime levels and the threat of terrorism.”

Our government also notes it’s common for Tanzanian airport staff and police officers to demand bribes from tourists, and visitors could be thrown in jail for life if they’re gay and commit a “sexual act” with someone of the same sex.

Politically, things don’t appear much better. Tanzania’s opposition leader was shot last year and he’s currently recovering at a hospital outside the country. To top it off, the Catholic Church recently called the country’s president a dictator.

Overall, Tanzania ranks 116 in the world on the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index. And yet, they’re apparently a more stable investment environment than Canada for the oil and gas sector.

Environmentalists in Canada have been celebrating the cancellation and delays of various oil and gas projects in our country. If these people actually cared about the environment they wouldn’t be driving projects from Canada to countries with far less stringent environmental rules. Any bets on how stringent Tanzania’s emission regulations are?

Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Notley should clear their schedules, meet with Canada’s energy industry and immediately undo their detrimental policies and decisions.

Damage has already been done, but with urgent action, they can stop some of the bleeding yet to come.