Environment Minister Jim Prentice says there is no need for a moratorium on future offshore drilling in Canadian waters while the world tries to figure out what went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico.
Canada's response to the disaster runs counter to that of U.S. President Barack Obama, who put future drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on hold until more is known about the cause of the catastrophic leak that began on April 20.
The spill of thousands of barrels of crude a day into the Gulf, and the environmental devastation that now threatens the Louisiana shore, have prompted other governments to put future drilling on hold, even if it could mean higher energy prices.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued a moratorium on future oil drilling permits off the state's coast until it can be determined that a disaster similar to the one in the Gulf of Mexico can be avoided.
But Mr. Prentice sees no need to follow the example set south of the border.
"I don't think the answer is a moratorium," the minister told reporters on Thursday. "We are all appalled by what we're seeing in the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone is worried about that. Here in Canada, we've not had those kinds of incidents and that's because of the strong regulatory environment that we have had with the National Energy Board (NEB)."
The NEB is responsible for licensing oil and gas exploration in the Arctic and for ensuring that the environment is protected. A similar job is done by the Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOPB) off the coast of Newfoundland, where Chevron started this week to drill one of the deepest offshore wells in the world.
Industry observers say the equipment needed to drill a relief well would not be available fast enough should there be a rupture in the Chevron well, which will lie 2,600 metres beneath the ocean surface.
But the CNLOPB and provincial government in St. John's agree with Mr. Prentice's assessment that there is no need to halt the project.
"We're watching very carefully what's happening in the Gulf. And certainly here, the safety and protection of the environment is of paramount importance," Kathy Dunderdale, Newfoundland's Minister of Natural Resources, told The Globe and Mail on Thursday.
"However," she said, "until we understand more about what's happened there, we really don't see any reason at this point in time to deviate from what we're doing, so we don't have any immediate plans to stop drilling."
Before the Gulf spill, the Obama administration was looking at opening up offshore drilling off the coast of Mexico, because technology has allowed oil companies to drill deeper - more than 3,000 metres in some cases - and in rougher waters than ever before.
Canada does have a moratorium on drilling off the coast of British Columbia, which was instituted in the 1970s by the federal government to stop a small amount of exploration in environmentally sensitive waters.
The B.C. Liberal government, when elected in 2001, pushed to open up the coast for drilling, but shelved the idea by 2005, given lack of support among voters. The Gulf disaster pushes it farther back on an already dusty shelf.
"This is not about extracting resources at any cost," said B.C. Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom. "The reality is the world is watching what's taking place in the Gulf with grave concern and I share that concern."
With a report from David Ebner in Vancouver