Editing Ernest Manning (section)

===Development of oil sands===
[[File:Athabasca Oil Sands map.png|thumb|right|Athabasca Oil Sands.]]
In 1945 the Abasand plant again burned down; this time, it was not rebuilt. The huge discoveries of conventional oil at Leduc and [[Redwater, Alberta|Redwater]] cast even more doubt upon the development of the oil sands because of the difficulty in accessing and processing the bitumen and the numerous technical problems. Manning, however, was not dissuaded since he was convinced that the oil sands would grant the province incredible wealth. He even went so far as to convince the entire Alberta Legislature to visit the Bitumount plant in 1949 since he believed that they would agree to continue development after it had witnessed the success in separating the oil sands. Manning also commissioned a [[petroleum engineer]] by the name of [[S. Robert Blair|Sidney Robert Blair]] to prepare a report on the economic feasibility of the separation process. With Pew's support, Sun Oil's majority-owned subsidiary, [[Great Canadian Oil Sands]] (GCOS), filed an application for a commercial oil sands project in Canada in 1962, the first-ever constructed.<ref name="Great_Oil_Age_1993">{{citation |first1=Peter |last1=McKenzie-Brown |first2=Gordon |last2=Jaremko |first3=David |last3=Finch |title=The Great Oil Age |publisher=Detselig Enterprises Ltd. |location=Calgary |year=1993}}</ref>

At the opening ceremonies for the Great Canadian Oil Sands plant, Pew repeated Manning's belief of the need for the [[oil sands]]. Telling his audience, "No nation can long be secure in this atomic age unless it be amply supplied with petroleum.... It is the considered opinion of our group that if the North American continent is to produce the oil to meet its requirements in the years ahead, oil from the Athabasca area must of necessity play an important role."<ref name="Great_Oil_Age_1993"/>