{"id":15816,"date":"2023-12-17T10:01:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-17T15:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=15816"},"modified":"2023-12-17T23:04:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T04:04:10","slug":"sabotaging-natural-resources-development-deconstructing-canada-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=15816","title":{"rendered":"Sabotaging natural resources development: Deconstructing Canada (part 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Niagara Independent, December 15, 2023 \u2013<\/em> To understand the Trudeau government\u2019s natural resources development approach, one must first know that Justin Trudeau and a core group of his ministers and senior staff are champions of an evolving global order fixated on managing the economies of countries with a stated quest to address climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past eight years the Trudeau government has closely aligned Canada\u2019s economic growth strategies to global climate change objectives that are centrally planned by the United Nations (UN) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). In doing so, the Trudeau government is implementing a global agenda that is focused on transitioning energy use away from fossil fuels. It is expressly anti-oil and gas.<\/p>\n<p>In pursuing international goals ahead of Canadians\u2019 interests, the globalists and environmental activists within the Trudeau government have been effectively sabotaging the development of the country\u2019s rich store of natural resources. PM Trudeau is doling out hundreds of millions of dollars to UN programs, and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland as a WEF Board trustee coordinates the country\u2019s compliance. The Liberals have a gaggle of state-interventionists who are establishing the global policy framework within Canada: Mark Carney, Steven Guilbeault, Catherine McKenna, as well as Katie Telford and her mentor Gerald Butts, who still sways influence on the network of senior staff members directing Trudeau\u2019s ministers and MPs.<\/p>\n<p>This week, at the UN\u2019s climate summit in Dubai, Canadians again bore witness to the Trudeau government proclaiming international commitments without first arriving at a policy consensus with Canada\u2019s political and industry leaders. Canada was a signatory to a UN agreement that dictates \u201ctransitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner,\u00a0accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.\u201d This new plan calls for the tripling of renewable energy capacity and a doubling of energy efficiency by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault heralded the UN agreement, which was framed \u201cto avert the worst of climate change\u201d and to ominously signal \u201cthe eventual end of the oil age.\u201d Indeed, Guilbeault had a spring in his step as he and the nearly 200-person Canadian delegation jetted back to Ottawa to begin the task of doubling down on the government\u2019s green energy plan. Yet, signing onto the new UN plan will be the easy part given the reality of the Trudeau government\u2019s record in meeting its global commitments. Consider this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Freeland has budgeted for $109 billion of government investment in the next decade to support $790 billion worth of \u201cgreen\u201d initiatives. For every one dollar the government is to invest, the Trudeau government is looking to encourage the private sector to invest six dollars \u2013 nearly $700 billion private sector investment that is just not there. A RBC Economics 2021 assessment concluded it would take $2 trillion of investment \u2013 annual spending of at least $60 billion through to 2050 \u2013 simply unrealistic, not happening.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">This plan is predicated on a continuous flow of government subsidies. Canadians need only review the tens of billions of dollars of \u201cinvestments\u201d made to support the new EV battery manufacturing facilities, or the hundreds of millions of dollars slipped to Liberal-friendly companies through the green slush fund (a.k.a. Sustainable Development Technology Canada) to realize that these subsidies are unaffordable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are also the inconvenient truths that 1) Canada has missed every emissions target the UN has set. 2) Since 2015, under the Trudeau government\u2019s stewardship, Canada\u2019s carbon emissions have actually <i>increased<\/i>. 3) According to the UN, Canada is on track to miss its next emissions target in 2030 by 15 per cent. 4) Canada\u2019s own environment commissioner in November assessed that the government\u2019s climate plan is \u201cinsufficient\u201d and it has not charted a roadmap to meet its 2030 emission reduction target.<\/p>\n<p>In Dubai, Canadians were shamed by the UN with the release of a report that ranks Canada in 62nd place out of 67 countries when measuring greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use, and climate<\/p>\n<p>policy. (But then, just perhaps, our country\u2019s vast geography, cold climate, and its citizens\u2019 suburban lifestyles requiring travel for work, all make it impossible for Canada to meet the UN\u2019s expectation \u2014 that in less than 30 years Canadians will be able to significantly curtail energy use and carbon emissions.)<\/p>\n<p>Still, the Trudeau government pushes onward with its impractical green scheme that adheres to the UN\u2019s and WEF\u2019s agenda. In Dubai, Guilbeault used the UN\u2019s pulpit to make significant domestic policy announcements for Canada\u2019s natural resources industries. He released new draft regulations to cut methane emissions and also announced a new program to penalize beef cattle farmers for bovine burps (you cannot make this up). The government also unveiled an aggressive emissions reduction target for 2030 for Canada\u2019s oil and gas sector. Guilbeault crowed that Canada was the first oil and gas producing nation in the world to be establishing such an emission cap plan.<\/p>\n<p>Pundits and industry experts in Canada are divided on the impact of the new emissions cap, with some sector analysts labeling the new targets as \u201cunrealistically ambitious.\u201d CIBC experts concluded that \u201cachieving the emissions target, as stated, would in effect become a cap on production.\u201d S&amp;P Global data firm calculated that Canada\u2019s oil sands will likely need to reduce 1.3 million barrels a day of possible production to meet the new 2030 targets, resulting in the loss of between 5,400 and 9,500 jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Canadian politicians\u2019 rebuke of Guilbeault\u2019s declaration was led by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith who stated, \u201cThis is the thing that I think Albertans are tired of \u2014 is that we continue to be the punching bag of the federal government and this Liberal prime minister, in particular, for political reasons.\u201d Alberta\u2019s Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said the federal plan must ensure \u201cthat we\u2019re not putting Albertans out of work and having to cut production, which, at a time when the world needs energy, just doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Trudeau cohort\u2019s zeal for implementing the global climate agenda has often not taken into account Canadians\u2019 best interests with respect to developing natural resources. It also ignores the possibility that Canadian resources industries can amply respond to the energy and environmental needs of the international community. The Trudeau government\u2019s anti-resource development approach has directly undermined the country\u2019s success in providing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">LNG exports to European countries looking to reduce dependency on Russian oil, and exports to Asian countries, including China, looking to reduce dependency on coal-generated power.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Oil and gas production that would help satisfy the energy demands of the U.S. now forced to buy oil produced by less environmentally responsible regimes in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Natural gas from Nova Scotia\u2019s offshore Inceptio project, the latest energy mega-project cancelled because of government regulatory hassles, a fate similar to the Enbridge Northern Gateway, TC Energy East, Teck Frontier, and the Energie Saguenay mega-projects before it.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">A secure oil and gas supply for Canadians, via Canadian pipelines, instead of importing oil and gas supplies from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Trudeau government\u2019s anti-oil and gas stance defies the fact that the country\u2019s prosperity is reliant on a healthy oil and gas sector. Oil and gas, including extraction and support activities, petroleum refining, pipeline transportation and natural gas distribution, account for 7.5 per cent of national GDP. The oil and gas industries account for one million Canadian jobs and nearly one quarter of all Canadian exports. Canada is the fourth largest producer of oil in the world and is \u201cthe preferred country\u201d to supply oil to the world, according to a 2023 Ipsos international survey.<\/p>\n<p>A group of Canadian oilsands companies cite the recent Ipsos study in making the argument for greater growth and development of the country\u2019s natural resources. \u201cThis reinforces that North American energy is desired worldwide, and if we work together and with governments to advance our climate goals, we can increase global market share of responsibly produced energy \u2014 something that is good for the climate as well as jobs and economic growth on both sides of the border.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This sentiment was also advanced by Ken Coates, Munk Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, who additionally lamented the impact an anti-natural resources approach has on the county. Coates opines: \u201cOpportunities exist for Canada to become a major global player; our current strategy, however, is sending us headstrong to national mediocrity, inaction on meaningful climate change initiatives, and to a lower quality of life. This is not the outcome that Canadians desire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The last word goes to Derek Burney, career diplomat and former Ambassador to the US, who has observed, \u201cA line must be drawn between obtuse environmental orthodoxy and the rational need for responsible energy development.\u201d Yet this distinction is the rub: to support prosperous Canadian oil and gas industries the Trudeau government would need to rethink its green energy plan, something unfathomable for the core globalists and environmentalists who are so vested in the agendas of the UN and WEF.<\/p>\n<p><i>This is the fifth of a six-part series that takes account of Justin Trudeau\u2019s eight-year record pursuing his \u201cpost-national\u201d vision for Canada.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Chris George<\/em><\/strong><em>\u00a0is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cgacommunications.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CG&amp;A COMMUNICATIONS<\/a>. Contact:\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:ChrisG.George@gmail.com\">ChrisG.George@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>LINK: <a href=\"https:\/\/niagaraindependent.ca\/sabotaging-natural-resources-development-deconstructing-canada-part-5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/niagaraindependent.ca\/sabotaging-natural-resources-development-deconstructing-canada-part-5\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Niagara Independent, December 15, 2023 \u2013 To understand the Trudeau government\u2019s natural resources development approach, one must first know that Justin Trudeau and a core group of his ministers and senior staff are champions of an evolving global order fixated on managing the economies of countries with a stated quest to address climate change&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[76],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15816"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15818,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15816\/revisions\/15818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}