The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, March 12, edition that the war in Iran has led to a significant energy shortage. The Post's guest columnist Danielle Smith writes that nations worldwide are grappling with this crisis while seeking more reliable energy suppliers. Of the nine largest proven oil reserves, five are in the unstable Middle East, with Venezuela and Libya also facing instability, and Russia in conflict. However, Canada remains a secure and reliable energy partner. Alberta boasts the world's fourth-largest recoverable oil reserves, holding more than 177 billion barrels of oil that is valued at more than $12-trillion based on today's prices. Albertans have long argued that if Alberta does not meet the world's energy needs, anti-democratic regimes like Russia will. This troubling reality is now unfolding before us. A lost decade of stalled development has put Canada behind. Ottawa's anti-resource policies have hindered production instead of supplying our abundant natural resources to allies. Building pipelines instead of blocking them would add 2.5 million barrels of oil per day in export capacity, resulting in an extra $21-billion in GDP and $15-billion in annual government revenue.