It is clear that the Liberal climate plan reflects what the oil and gas industry wants — fossil-fuel expansion at a time when the best science makes it crystal clear we must be reducing and ultimately eliminating fossil fuel extraction in this country. And yet Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government seems satisfied with creating a climate action illusion—pretending to be climate leaders.
Image Over Substance – the Liberal Way
“You can and will continue to pretend but nature and physics will not fall for it…You don’t only continue business as usual as before; in many cases you’re even speeding up and scaling up the process, pretending to have the most ambitious climate policies while granting new oil licenses, exploring future oil fields, bragging about your so-called ambitious climate commitments.” — Greta Thunberg July 1 2021
Here are a few quotes from an op-ed I recently had published in The National Observer. Please go to this link for the full article.
The Thunberg quotation sums up the Liberal way in a nutshell. The Liberal Party does not seem overly concerned about the climate emergency. Witness the latest manipulations involving the Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Bill C-12. As originally drafted last fall, it lacked the substance and accountability needed to be effective. This was obvious to everyone.
Before the bill was introduced into the House of Commons, several NGOs wrote a joint letter to the Federal government laying out what they saw as the five pillars of a serious climate accountability act:
Bill C-12 falls short of the gold standard
Many Canadian environmental groups have chosen to applaud the passage of this bill — while holding their noses over its inadequacies — because they are desperate for any legislation that might help move the Federal government to action on the climate crisis. As several groups expressed in a June 23rd letter to the Senate: “While the bill falls short of the gold standard, we cannot afford further delay in its progress through the Senate and passage into law.“
The Liberal climate plan will not replace fossil fuels with renewables but rather increase fossil-fuel extraction to make “blue” (mostly from fracked gas) hydrogen. The plan is to invest heavily in costly, unproven and risky small nuclear reactors and ramp up very costly, ineffective carbon capture to bury emissions. Each of these initiatives is fraught with problems, will distract from the required urgent action and divert tax dollars away from renewables. The SCAN assessment is captured in the 50-page report entitled, “The Liberal Climate Action Formula: A Recipe for Failure.”
ICYMI:
Is Net-Zero 2050 Just Another Spin on Climate Action
Only Pretending To Be Climate Leaders
Canada On Pace to Meet Paris Emissions Target … In 200 Years
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