Never Let A Crisis Go To Waste

There are wildfires burning all across Canada.

And, right on cue, Justin Trudeau is pointing the finger straight at climate change.

“We’re seeing more and more of these fires because of climate change,” stated the Prime Minister last week. “We’ll keep working - here at home and with partners around the world - to tackle climate change and address its impacts.”

In other words, the old Liberal mantra: ”Never let a crisis go to waste!”

I’m not even going to wade into the debate about “who started what fire where” or which academic paper measures the number (or area, or severity) of the fires correctly.

The simple fact is, even IF everything the Liberals claim about the wildfires is correct, their proposed “solution” is insane.

The Liberals’ climate policy is ridiculously aggressive and utterly unaffordable, and even if they were given completely free rein to implement their plan in its entirety, it wouldn’t do a single thing to address wildfires.

If our country keeps taking dramatic and reckless policy pathways every time a natural disaster occurs, how can we ever expect the middle class to keep their heads above water when economic conditions inevitably deteriorate as a result of those policies?

The economic costs of a rapid transition off of fossil fuel energy are well-documented, clear, and pricey. This is especially true for colder jurisdictions that rely heavily on affordable sources of natural gas for electricity and heat generation.

Jurisdictions like Alberta and Saskatchewan.

We’ve already seen the economic impacts of the carbon tax on the affordability of a tank of gasoline and other day-to-day necessities.

Restrictions on pipeline construction and the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act have made the problem even worse.

And the federal government didn’t stop there.

The implementation of the Impact Assessment Act, a complex environmental regulatory framework that gives the federal government veto power over virtually any major project construction, has been opposed by eight provinces in the Supreme Court, with none supporting the federal government.

Today comes the Sustainable Jobs Act, which creates a "Sustainable Jobs Secretariat" to oversee a centrally planned "Just Transition" of energy workers into lower-paying jobs, or out of work entirely.

Remember: "Never let a crisis go to waste!"

Look, I’m as concerned as the next guy about the wildfires.

But if the "solution" is to impoverish our people with poorly thought-out policy ideas that are going to drive costs up and force them out of their homes, I think that’s rather unethical.

If tackling climate change means destroying the economy, then we obviously need to find different solutions to these problems.

Maybe the federal government can start by banning all internal combustion engine vehicles in southern Ontario?

I’m sure the people of Toronto would love that.

Western Canada will not stand idly by and watch the federal government decimate our natural resource industry.

Western Canada must seek a better deal, in whatever legal configuration that may require.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are both signalling that they are prepared to take the fight to Ottawa.

The federal government has used its environmental jurisdiction as a Trojan horse to centralize political control and stomp all over provincial jurisdiction.

Neither side is willing to give an inch.

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Regards,

Josh Andrus
Executive Director
Project Confederation