Misguided green-washing: Alberta business group calls for Canada-wide Chiquita boycott

EDMONTON: Alberta Enterprise Group (AEG) is urging all Canadians to boycott international brand Chiquita Bananas in light of their decision to boycott energy derived from the Canadian Oil Sands under the banner of San Francisco-based environmental group Forest Ethics.

"The reality is that energy derived from the Canadian oil sands is high quality, conflict free, heavily regulated and transparent," said AEG President Tim Shipton. “Turning your back on Canadian oil means more barrels of oil produced by the likes of Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria. A company like Chiquita, which ships bananas around the world and burns more fossil fuels than some small countries, ought to know better.”

Oil sands crude is 50 per cent of the crude oil supply in western Canada, mixing with conventional sources -- all of which is refined into liquid transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel.

The US Midwest is also highly dependent on western Canadian crude with one-third of the crude supply in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin coming from Western Canada. In 2009-10 the oil sands industry had $11.5 billion impact on the United States economy and created 172,000 person years of employment.

Across Canada, some 112,000 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by the oil sands industry. In 2009 Oil Sands companies contracted $810 million in goods and services from aboriginal-owned businesses. “Chiquita should educate themselves about global energy supply and the Canadian Oil Sands,” said Shipton.

“Greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands crude is comparable to other sources and are steadily improving as are other key environmental benchmarks. Until these companies get up to speed on the facts, Canadians should take their business elsewhere.”

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AEG members employ more than 50,000 Canadians in the energy, manufacturing, construction and retail industries and generate billions of dollars in economic activity each year.