Alberta's oil sands represent a vast and untapped oil reserve that could reasonably supply all of Canada's energy needs for the next 475 years. With an estimated 300 billion barrels of recoverable oil at stake, the quest to develop this natural resource has been undertaken by many powerful actors, both nationally and internationally. Using research that integrates the economic, political, scientific, and business factors that have been influential in discovering and developing the sands, this book provides a comprehensive history of the oil sands project and a window on the nature of the complex relationships between industry, government, and transnational players. This book is the first comprehensive volume that examines the origins and development of the oil sands industry over the last century.

Covers the research - private, scholarly, and government - that went into developing the oil sands.

First published in 1980, The Transition to Reality is a look into Canada's industrial health, or lack thereof. Author John Shepherd criticizes the contemporary lack of a conscious industrial strategy in Canada, asserting that the need for a coherent policy was masked by essentially ephemeral manufacturing growth in the 1960s. He suggests policymakers focus on the mechanics of producing wealth, rather than merely distributing it. The Transition to Reality is a bracing and often contrary entry into the vibrant political economy debates of the early 1980s.