As every grade 9 science student knows you can’t suck and blow at the same time. Or, to put it a little more delicately, you can’t both inhale and exhale.
But that’s precisely what the federal Liberals are trying to do with their fossil fuel and climate change policies. They still haven’t figured out, after six and some years in power, that you can’t subsidize oil and gas corporations and fight global warming at the same time.
Let’s put aside the 4.5-billion-going-on-12-billion-dollar pipeline they bought for Alberta and look at some other gifts the feds gave the industry in 2020 …
$2 billion in direct subsidies (targeted financial support as defined by the WTO)
$18 billion in support (mostly public financing for Big Oil and Gas)
$63 billion in externalities (cost to taxpayers of ill-health, environmental damage, etc).
And that’s not including the cost of cleaning up orphaned wells – gas and oil wells that have been abandoned by the industry because they are not producing enough to make them profitable. There are nearly 300,000 of these deadbeats in Alberta alone. Many are leaking methane, toxic to humans and animals, and a green house gas more potent than carbon dioxide.
It will cost some $260 billion to clean up this mess (if we’re lucky). The Alberta government has collected a measly $226 million from the oil and gas industry, which is beyond incompetent and closing in on lunacy. Guess who’ll be on the hook for that cleaning bill.
What are we up to now? Over $300 billion, and I haven’t even mentioned the cost of rehabilitating the oil sands.
It should surprise no one that we have the worst record in reducing carbon emissions among G20 countries … and one of the highest rates of emissions per capita in the world.
Do you think the oil and gas corporations (who, by the way, are reaping profits like the old days, thanks to a surge in demand, more efficient production and to dumping their costs into our environment) will wake up one day and stop sucking Canadians dry?
Well, here’s a wake-up call for you – oil and gas corporations are planning to ask the Liberals for some $50 billion to help them reduce their carbon emissions. How? By getting us to pay for sequestering carbon underground, using ‘cleaner’ production tools, and small nuclear reactors to generate electricity. Whatever happened to polluter pay?
The news on CEWS is the icing on the cake. CEWS – Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy – was meant to see workers through the COVID pandemic. One of the biggest recipients of the subsidy was Imperial Oil which took $120 million in CEWS and still managed to pay out $324 million in dividends.
The federal government has tagged nearly $18 billion to move to a green economy. Think of what $300 billion could do.
David McLaren
Neyaashiinigmiing, ON
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Cost of Trans Mountain expansion soars to $12.6B
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vassy-trans-mountain-pipeline-1.5455387
Canada's fossil fuel subsidies
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/06/03/explainer/canadas-fossil-fuel-subsidies
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/scm_e/subs_e.htm
Crazy Days in Alberta: The Poison Wells File
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/12/16/Alberta-Poison-Wells-File/
Cleaning up Alberta’s oilpatch could cost $260 billion, internal documents warn
https://globalnews.ca/news/4617664/cleaning-up-albertas-oilpatch-could-cost-260-billion-regulatory-documents-warn/
Canada's embarrassing climate record is worst of G7 nations
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/06/01/news/canadas-climate-record-worst-g7-countries
IISD G20 Fossil Fuel Subsidies Scorecard - Canada
https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-11/g20-scorecard-canada.pdf
What's the cost of cutting oilsands' carbon emissions? A cool $75 billion
https://calgaryherald.com/commodities/energy/oil-gas/oil-sands-carbon-cuts-come-with-60-billion-bill-loose-ends/wcm/f294d5c4-5f37-49c9-8c83-1d502eed9d1a
Revisiting the New Alberta Advantage: Oilsands' net-zero initiative not nearly enough
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/07/20/opinion/alberta-oilsands-net-zero-initiative-not-nearly-enough
Canadian companies that received CEWS and kept paying a dividend
https://financialpost.com/investing/canadian-companies-that-received-cews-and-kept-paying-a-dividend
Government of Canada highlights Budget 2021 investments to create a healthy environment for a healthy economy
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2021/04/government-of-canada-highlights-budget-2021-investments-to-create-a-healthy-environment-for-a-healthy-economy.html
