Ethical Oil

Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada's Oil Sands
AuthorEzra Levant
LanguageEnglish
PublisherMcClelland & Stewart[1]
Publication date
2010
Publication placeCanada
Pages261
ISBN0-7710-4641-3
OCLC437081482

Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada's Oil Sands is a book written by Canadian talk-show host and political activist Ezra Levant, which makes a case for exploiting the Athabasca oil sands and its sister projects in Alberta. Published in 2010 by McClelland & Stewart in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,[1] the book became a non-fiction best seller[2] and won the National Business Book Award for 2011.[3]

In the 261 page book, Ezra Levant makes the case that in terms of four criteria (the environment, conflict, economic and social justice and freedom from oppression) the Canadian petroleum industry is "heads above other crude producers like Saudi Arabia, Libya, Nigeria and Venezuela".[4][5] Highlighting perceived hypocrisy from Western progressive and environmental movements,[6] the author confronts what he sees as unfair and excessive criticism of oil sands, stating that the "oil sands are not perfect, and criticizing them is fair game. But why has criticism of the oil sands been so disproportionately loud compared to criticism of other, larger, more disturbing sources of oil?".[7]

Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada's Oil Sands has popularized the concept of "ethical oil" as a neologism, giving ammunition to the Conservative government of Stephen Harper and providing the inspiration behind Alykhan Velshi's "EthicalOil" campaign in the United States and Canada.

The Economist called Ethical Oil a "polemical defence of the tar sands."[8]

  1. ^ a b AMICUS (2010), Full Record, Library and Archives Canada
  2. ^ BookNet Canada (September 2010), CBC Bestseller Lists 2010 – Top Canadian Non-Fiction, CBC, retrieved 21 August 2011
  3. ^ 2011 Winner, The National Business Book Award, archived from the original on 14 July 2011, retrieved 2 August 2011
  4. ^ Vanderklippe, Nathan (13 September 2010), Blood diamonds, blood oil?, Toronto: The Globe and Mail, retrieved 2 August 2011
  5. ^ Goddard, John (25 September 2010), "Made in Canada", Toronto Star, retrieved 2 August 2011
  6. ^ Morrow, Walker (7 February 2011), Review: Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada's Oil Sands, Libertas Post, archived from the original on 24 March 2012, retrieved 2 August 2011
  7. ^ Levant, Ezra (p. 140)
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference economist_20110101 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).