Canada is at a crossroads just as the United States is

Okay, so, The Arctic Imperative is a book I’ve finished.  Stan? Brian?

I don’t really remember the Energy Crisis in the ‘70s.  We were already living in the cabin and heating with wood.  (And by heating, I mean “hardly heating at all.”) We were already in the habit of buying $2 worth of gas instead of filling the tank.  But I guess the crisis was a big deal to other people.  I remember a TV special called “WE WILL FREEZE IN THE DARK” and I remember that sounded like a bad thing.

I tried reading The Arctic Imperative in that context.

Nope.  The “imperative” part of The Arctic Imperative could be “It’s imperative that we kill the monster from The Thing” and this would still be a dry, repetitive, pedantic book.

Actually, wait.  A “monster” is one of the metaphorical things that Richard Rohmer actually says the Arctic Imperative is. 

… the Arctic Imperative is truly a monster out-of-hand.

The Arctic Imperative is very much alive, it is very much a monster, and it is very much out of Canada’s control.

A slumbering, frozen giant… capable of either gripping Canada by its economic throat or, if controlled, of giving Canada a guiding hand into a prosperous future.

… the slumbering Arctic resource giant was ready to leave its womb of ice and rock.

The great resource giant of the Canadian Arctic sleeps no longer.  It is wide-awake, growing rapidly.  It is undisciplined, uncontrolled, and uncoordinated.  It must be taken in hand and moulded by clearly defined national policies and goals designed to benefit all Canadians. (Last Lines)

And that’s not the only powerful action language in The Arctic Imperative:

The United States is just entering the foothills of a mountainous range of energy shortages.

Canada is at a crossroads just as the United States is.

The eyes of Canada gradually turned north to watch with growing alarm the passage of this juggernaut that the American elephant was shoving through the remote Arctic waters of the Canadian North.

Both the US and Canadian governments then began to withdraw to their respective lairs to wait for the next Arctic event to bring them forth in a nose-to-nose confrontation.

… the United States and Canada were locking horns…

… the local people were starting to flex their muscles and fight back the great steamroller.

The game of oil pipeline chess is still on and all bets should be left open.

… has Canada as a nation once again been just too stupid to be able to foresee what it is allowing to be done to it? It can’t be called rape because rape does not exist when consent is present.

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s when a clumsy monster rapes a sleepy giant at the mountainous crossroads.  That’s when all chess bets are off, and I start pushing elephants around with a steamroller.

And what's it all about, in the end?  What's Rohmer's point? Canada needs an energy policy, and the policy should be good for Canadian business.  

Why didn't he just say that?