The largest oil supplier to the U.S. is. . .Canada?

Television can teach us some things we did not know, especially things we should know. That it took a fictional show to bring this up is even more appalling.

Senator Arnold Vinick, as played by Alan Alda, is the Republican Party candidate running for president on "The West Wing," airing on NBC and CLT in Canada. Vinick told the audience in a live airing of the show last night that Canada's is the U.S.' largest oil supplier.

In fact, Canada surpassed Saudi Arabia as the U.S.'s most significant oil supplier in 2000. Also, the size of Canadian oil reserves is second only to Saudi Arabia.

Canada has received a lot of attention lately from China, with its sharply increasing demand for oil. There is a segment of the Canadian public who believe Canada should threaten to pull some of its oil supply to the U.S. to get the American government to pay back the softwood lumber tariffs.

Then again, the U.S. audience that doesn't know where its oil comes from, also doesn't know it's being threatened, and doesn't know about the softwood lumber issue.