Paul Morden, July 28, 2009, The Sarnia Observer--Sarnia is scheduled to be a stop on a three-day oil sands awareness tour organized by the Polaris Institute and the Sierra Youth Coalition.
The dozen young people taking part in the Tracking the Tar Sands: Tri-City Youth Tour are set to stop in Sarnia Aug. 20.
Elly Adeland, water and energy campaigner at the Polaris Institute, said the group is expected to leave Toronto that morning and arrive in Sarnia for a tour of the Shell refinery after lunch.
Following that, they are scheduled to meet with Ron Plain, Environmental Defence Aboriginal Program manager, for a tour and discussion on the impacts of the tar sands on First Nations' communities.
After the Sarnia stop, the tour moves on to Detroit and Windsor, before returning to Toronto.
The institute, an Ottawa based national activist group, opposes Canada's oil sands developments.
"We're hoping (the tour) will bring about an understanding of the impacts of the tar sands in Ontario" and that "it is a national issue we need to confront," Adeland said.
She added the institute is working to build awareness of the issue among young people. It also wants to build "a network for youth to educate each other" around the issue of creating "a sustainable future."
Refineries in Sarnia aren't currently using a large amount of raw material from the oil sands, according to Dean Edwardson of the Sarnia-Lambton Environmental association.
The general manager of the organization representing local petrochemical industries, said, "I canvassed our members and there's just not a lot of bitumen coming this way."
Still, Edwardson said Western Canada's oil sands generate enough economic activity in Ontario to keep 33,000 people working for 35 years.
If the oil sands developments in Western Canada advance, their impact in the province's economy could grow even larger, he said.
"Oil sands investment could contribute up to $102 billion in Ontario's (gross domestic product). So, we're not talking small change here."
That, Edwardson said, "is more than Ontario's manufacturing, utilities, arts and entertainment industries combined."
The new Shell refinery once proposed for Lambton County is an example of the opportunities that could exist for the region if new oil sands investment goes ahead, he said.
Edwardson said that even with the movement towards greener industries, Canada will have a dependance on hydrocarbons, like the oil sands, "for at least the foreseeable future."
It its annual meeting in May, the association hosted a presentation by Don Thompson, president of the oil sands developers group.
"We brought him in because there has been a lot of things said about the oil sands, both bad and good," Edwardson said.
"Unfortunately, in my opinion more bad than good."
The association hosted the presentation by Thompson to "bring some balance to this argument," Edwardson said.