Another way to tell the NEP story is to actually start back in 1961 with Diefenbaker's National Oil Policy. With that policy everything east of the Ottawa Valley would use imported world price oil, and everything west of the valley would use oil from Alberta. This resulted in everyone west paying $1 to $1.50 more above the world price for Alberta oil... keep in mind most of the oil companies at the time in Alberta were foreign owned.
So from 1961 to about 1973 everyone west paid billions of dollars more for Alberta oil than those east of the valley using imported world price oil, which is something that is usually forgotten. Then around 1973 the OPEC oil embargo managed to quadruple the price of oil, which resulted in Canada being put into an economic spin.
With Diefenbaker gone, Trudeau enters the picture and to try and help the economic crisis he first introduces Petro-Canada and then in 1980 the NEP, with an aim to ensure Canadian oil security, increase Canadian ownership of the oil resources, and with the greater oil prices keep more of the funds in Canada for all Canadians, while also selling Alberta oil to the rest of Canada at less than world oil prices at the time to try and help the economic crisis.
Such a plan of course did not go over very well with the foreign owned oil companies, and compound that with the severe global recession of 1981 and 1982, which had nothing to do with Trudeau or the NEP... but with the Conservatives dominating politics in Alberta at the time and for decades to come... it became easy to blame Trudeau for anything and everything, and the legend of NEP was born. Keep in mind for that recession Canada's bank of Canada rate hit 21% (how much is it today?), inflation was around 12%, and unemployment in Canada was around 12% as well.
Just a different spin I guess, which should always be expected with anything political.
