The Carney government says it has never conducted a direct comparison between the regulatory burden imposed on Canadian oil producers and the requirements applied to foreign oil imported into Canada.

The admission came in response to an order paper question from Conservative MP Michael Kram, who asked whether the government had assessed how domestic oil regulations compare to those governing imported crude and whether federal policies create incentives to import foreign oil instead of developing Canadian resources.

According to a June 15 response from Natural Resources Canada, the answer is no.

"The Government of Canada has not conducted direct comparative assessments between the regulatory regimes governing domestic oil production and transportation and those governing imported oil," the department stated.

The response notes that Canadian producers face a web of federal and provincial regulations covering everything from methane emissions and environmental protections to pipeline approvals and species-at-risk requirements.

Imported oil, meanwhile, is produced outside Canada and is only subject to applicable customs, border, safety and downstream regulations once it arrives in the country.

Despite years of debate over Canada's dependence on foreign oil and repeated complaints from industry about regulatory barriers to domestic development, the federal government acknowledged it has never formally compared the two systems.

The department did point to a decline in foreign oil imports over the last decade, largely due to expanded pipeline access for Western Canadian crude. Ontario refineries, for example, now process nearly 100% Western Canadian oil after the reversal of Enbridge's Line 9 pipeline in 2015.

But when asked whether Ottawa had analyzed whether its own policies incentivize foreign imports over domestic production, the government offered no direct answer.

Instead, Natural Resources Canada highlighted recent government initiatives, including the new Major Projects Office, the Canada-Alberta memorandum of understanding, expanded export capacity, and promised reforms to project approvals.

The response leaves unanswered a question often raised by Canada's energy sector: if Canadian oil faces some of the world's most stringent regulatory requirements, has anyone in government ever measured how those requirements compare to the standards applied to oil imported from countries with weaker environmental and labour protections?

According to Natural Resources Canada, the federal government has not.

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