COMMENTARY: Canada’s Big Four Energy Companies Continue to Contribute Their Fair Share to Canadian Economy – William Lacey

Their Contribution to “Our Fair Share” Keeps Piling up

By William Lacey

Canadian Natural Resources was the last of the Big 4 energy companies to report their financial results today. This group consists of Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil and Suncor. Together, they represent the lions share of oil sands production, upgrading technology and downstream assets, along with a significant presence in natural gas and conventional oil production. Often you hear the cries that Big Oil is subsidized, and that they are not paying their fair share to society. Thankfully, those cries have been muted somewhat of late due to President Trump and his tariffpalooza, where he seems to be taking guidance from the which way / choose your own adventure books that we grew up with when we were kids. Suddenly, energy security, diversity of customer bases and the ugly head of inflation are all front of mind, again. So what of the “fair share” discussion?

In the chart below, I have outlined two key components that directly impact Canadians, namely the current (cash) taxes paid by corporations, and the royalties paid for the use of the resources. In aggregate these four companies paid $7 billion in taxes (up 10% from ‘24) and $15 billion in royalties (up 21% from ‘24), amounting to $22 billion versus $19 billion in ‘24. Almost all of this money goes back into the public system, both provincially and federally, to help pay for the things that we take for granted each and every day such as schools, medicine, social safety nets, etc.

Note that this does not include the personal income taxes (which are often paid at the highest marginal rates), investment dollars and a sundry of other benefits that these companies provide on a daily basis.

For a point of reference, I like to look at other industries, and the Big 4 banks jumps to mind, namely Bank of Montreal (BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Toronto Dominion Bank (TD). As you can see, these four banks paid $14 billion in cash taxes in ‘24, up from almost $12 billion in ‘23.

This is not a knock on the banks, as they are significant contributors to the economy and play a vital role in the day to day lives of Canadians. Rather, this is just to highlight that Canadian energy companies also play a very important role in providing the energy that you need and key inputs to the stuff you use every day, and they also make material contributions to the financial coffers of this nation.

Finally, I thought I would highlight the updated rant that has come out recently, a reboot of the original I Am Canadian – The Rant by Molson Canadian, and is now simply titled We Are Canadian.

Click the link. It’s worth a watch.

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