Working in Parliament, I learn what issues motivate Canadians to write to their MP demanding action. The one that has me confused at the moment is Cuba.

It isn’t that I don’t understand the issue. The United States has ramped up its blockade of the island nation that has been in place more or less since the 1950’s Cuban Revolution.

Oil supplies have been cut off, which means fuel for vehicles and electricity generation is in short supply. This will have a cascading effect on health care and food supplies. Many are calling it a humanitarian crisis.

Canadian airlines have stopped flights to what is normally a major tourist destination. Canadians have been advised against travel to the island.

None of the many letters I have seen have suggested that Cuba’s Communist government bears any responsibility for the situation they find themselves in. I can understand that – things were pretty bleak in Cuba before the revolution. The Communists were seen as an improvement.

Of course whether the US is right or wrong, legally or morally, is not the issue. The issue is what should Canada’s response be to a potential humanitarian crisis?

Most of the letters I have seen have had a similar suggestion. Canada should break the blockade and send oil. After all, we have lots of it, and, unlike the US, we have good relations with Cuba.

I must admit, the first time I saw the suggestion I laughed. But as more letters arrived my amusement turned more to sadness. People just don’t understand.

Canada isn’t going to send oil to Cuba, no matter how bad the situation gets. If Canadians were paying any attention to their own country, they would know why.

To get Canadian oil anywhere requires a way of getting it from the production site to a refinery. The best way to accomplish that in any volume is by pipeline.

Canada does not have a pipeline to take oil from the west, where most production happens, to the east, from where it could be refined then shipped to Cuba. Recent governments have either not made pipelines a priority or have actively opposed them.

Cuba got its oil from Venezuela until the US shut off that supply. That’s also where Eastern Canada got its oil until just a few years ago. Cheaper to import it than to fight the anti-pipeline brigade to bring oil from western Canada.

A possible option would be to send oil by pipeline from Alberta to the west coast, then by tanker around the bottom of South America and then continue by sea to Cuba. That would take a long time and be expensive to do.

A shorter route would b to send tankers through the Panama Canal. That really isn’t an option The United States controls the Canal and wouldn’t wouldn’t allow oil for Cuba to pass through it.

I have no idea if the government would want to send oil to Cuba, but Canada does tend to step up in humanitarian crises. As well, there is a lot of pressure from the political left to support Cuba. Partly because they oppose the United States and partly because they believe in the ideals of Communism (something quite common for those who have never seen it practiced)>`

I’m left wondering how many of those clamoring for oil shipments to Cuba supported the idea of an east-west pipeline across Canada. The loudest voices against building one were those on the political left.

I wonder what they think now.