Making energy more expensive is incompatible with fighting inflation or addressing the rising cost-of-living. As if that’s not enough, the Liberals constantly miss their own targets anyway, damaging the economy without helping the environment.
Given the surge in the cost-of-living, and global events that are set to drive up energy costs and food prices even more, the last thing the government should be doing is making life more expensive.
When the world changes, it is essential for those in power to be able to adapt.
Setting aside ideology, governments have to be able to respond to reality as it is, not as they wish it to be.
We can see this in Europe, as governments are rapidly increasing military spending amid the threat of Russian aggression.
Countries are also re-evaluating their energy policies, with Germany planning to build two new LNG terminals, and many European countries working with the United States to secure large amounts of oil & natural gas to displace Russian exports.
There is also a growing recognition that green energy policies – though potentially well-meaning – have had severe consequences both financially and in terms of national security.
When free and democratic nations choose to cripple their energy sectors, all that happens is that supply shifts to authoritarian states, enriching those states and giving them more leverage.
Adapting to this reality would mean some changes here in Canada, particularly the cancellation of the carbon tax and an end to policies that have hurt the energy sector.
Yet, with a carbon tax hike just days away, the Liberals are once again doubling down on the same policies that are making this country and the Canadian people poorer.
2030 targets
The Liberals have announced that the oil & gas sector must cut their emissions by 42% between now and 2030.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed this can be done because of high oil industry profits:
“With record profits, this is the moment for the oil and gas sector to invest in the sustainable future that will be good for business, good for communities and good for our future,” Trudeau said.
“Big oil lobbyists have had their time on the field. Now, it’s over to the workers and engineers who will build solutions.”
Those remarks show significant ignorance on Trudeau’s part.
First, the record profits are a response to a global crisis, and will lead to a new equilibrium as sustained high prices lead to recessions, which then brings down demand. Energy companies know this, and aren’t going to just spend massively based on short-term factors.
Second, the idea that workers and engineers haven’t already been working on solutions is condescending and incorrect.
The objective fact is that Canada’s oil & gas sector has long been on the path to be more environmentally friendly and efficient:
“According to data from the Government of Canada’s 2019 National Inventory Report, Canada’s oil sands per barrel greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 34 per cent since 1990. The inventory is Canada’s official report submitted to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on greenhouse gas emissions.
Canada has a huge potential role to play in reducing net global GHG emissions. A single liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, exporting Canadian LNG to offset coal use in other nations, can reduce global GHG emissions by 100 megatonnes; the equivalent of taking every passenger car in Canada off the road.”
And, according to the government’s own numbers, Canada’s emissions are lower now than they were in 2005:
“Emissions in 2019 were lower than 2005 emissions, with a decrease of 8.5 Mt CO2 eq or 1.1%. Emissions from public electricity and heat production by utilities showed a large decrease in emissions, 56 Mt CO2 eq. or 45%, and was a contributor to the emissions reduction.
According to the greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator developed by Natural Resources Canada, this 8.5 Mt CO2 eq emission reduction is equivalent to removing over 2 600 000 passenger vehicles from the roads for one year, or the energy-based emissions from nearly 2 000 000 homes for one year.”
Since 2005, Canada’s population has grown by about 5 million people, meaning emissions per person have gone down significantly.
For those who may claim this is because of the carbon tax, the facts show that isn’t the case at all:
As you can see, emissions went down during the Harper government era, despite the absence of a federal carbon tax, and with a government that was more friendly to the energy sector.
Protecting the climate through innovation
One of the most effective aspects of political propaganda in the modern era has been the ability of the Liberals to convince many people that anyone who opposes carbon taxes and government power also opposes protecting the climate.
The chart we saw above makes clear that isn’t the case, but the Liberal message is effective politically nonetheless, because it tells a clear and simple story many people want to believe.
Reality is much more complex.
Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has happened as part of the same process that led to industrialization in the first place:
Innovation and the spread of human knowledge.
When countries reach a certain level of wealth, they become less emissions-intensive. At a certain level, there is enough value created that companies can produce more while consuming less.
As knowledge spreads, innovation combines with the aforementioned increase in wealth to generate sustained changes in production and energy use that emissions decline.
That is indeed what happened in much of the Western world, at roughly the same time, regardless of whether right-wing, left-wing, or centrist governments were in power.
That is is also why emissions in countries like India will continue to rise until they reach a certain level of wealth, and it’s unfair to demand otherwise.
Most importantly, we can see that empowering innovation and continued wealth generation are the real keys to reducing emissions and protecting the climate.
Does ’empowering innovation’ and ‘continued wealth generation’ describe Canada right now?
Not so much.
Instead, our economy is stagnant, the cost-of-living is surging, investment often looks elsewhere, and the government increasingly appears anti-business.
If we can’t continue to generate wealth, our pace of innovation will slow, and when our pace of innovation slows we won’t be able to maintain our standard of living while also helping to protect the planet.
You can see the truth of this in how the Liberals constantly fail to meet their own targets, as their approach becomes counterproductive.
By doubling-down on their failed approach, all the Liberal government will do is make Canadians poorer.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
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