Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed a classic political gaffe in January 2017 when he said in Peterborough, Ontario that Canada needed to “phase out” the oilsands and then, days later in Calgary, Alberta that “I misspoke. I said something the way I shouldn’t have said it.”
A political gaffe occurs when a politician accidentally tells the truth, which is what Trudeau did in Peterborough.
Flash forward to today and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, the former Greenpeace activist, is now talking about “the need to phase out unabated fossil fuels.”
He said the federal government is ending financial support for Canada’s fossil fuel energy sector, save for projects that are consistent with its climate change goals and reduce emissions through such technologies as carbon capture.
That has the premiers of Canada’s two leading energy-producing provinces —Alberta’s Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe — up in arms, warning about the economic consequences of Trudeau’s plan to reduce emissions from Canada’s fossil fuel energy sector by 42% compared to 2019 levels by 2030. They say that target is unrealistic, even with carbon capture.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed a classic political gaffe in January 2017 when he said in Peterborough, Ontario that Canada needed to “phase out” the oilsands and then, days later in Calgary, Alberta that “I misspoke. I said something the way I shouldn’t have said it.” A political gaffe...
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While Guilbeault and Trudeau insist their plan is to cap emissions, not oil and gas production, Smith tweeted Monday about a report in the Globe and Mail citing a study by S&P Global that concluded in the oilsands alone, the federal government’s target would mean a cut in oil production of 1.3 million barrels a day, leading to the loss of 5,400 to 9,500 jobs.
Moe tweeted Saturday: “If it wasn’t clear before, it is now. The Trudeau government doesn’t want to just reduce emissions in our energy sector, they want to completely shut down our energy sector. This will devastate our economy and kill thousands of jobs.”
Trudeau and Guilbeault are playing Russian roulette with a major part of our economy. Canada is the world’s fourth- largest oil producer and fifth-largest producer of natural gas.
As of 2021, it accounted for 7.2% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product or $168.2 billion annually: 442,100 direct and indirect jobs and 29% of exports, or $140 billion annually.
Given that nothing Canada does is going to have a significant impact on global emissions, much less the weather in Canada, they need to tread carefully.