Bill C-59, the law of unintended consequences?
Many of us were taught that proper conversational etiquette never brings up politics or religion. Weather, however, is fair game. For generations this advice served us well. Today, it’s a little cloudy.
For decades scientists have been studying trends and patterns in the earth’s temperatures spanning over hundreds, even thousands, of years. Guess what they found? Proof that weather changes and, much like everything else in nature, it has a cycle.
World elites spotted an opportunity and got busy creating non-government organizations (NGO’s) or funding them. I’m not sure when it happened, but somehow the term ‘weather’ became synonymous with ‘the environment’. Then these folks declared themselves environmental gurus and, because they control large chunks of funding, no one was willing to argue. In the name of saving the Earth, they took hold of the universities along with various partisan associations, and created a cult-like religious following.
To this day any scientist who points out inconsistencies in the current 'modelling' is immediately defunded and gagged. To mask the obvious irregularities and save face, the term ‘global warming’ was swapped out for ‘climate change’. After all, the climate does change. Still, to keep us on our toes, we do see the odd headline warning us ‘global boiling’ lurks just around the corner.
Never wanting to miss a parade, politicians soon got on board politicizing whatever they could as well. With unfettered jubilation, Liberal and NDP governments have capitalized on ‘climate change’ as a means of wielding control through legislation and taxes. Purposely demonizing oil and gas, Albertans bear the brunt of these Bills. Bill C-59 is the latest one and the intention behind it is, once again, to completely screw us over.
In the legislation it states oil and gas companies now have to prove their net zero claims and cannot advertise any positive environmental effect without substantiated evidence. The process of doing so is nothing short of insufferable and if their claims are found to be false, some unnamed bureaucrat in Ottawa will come after them with fines and perhaps even jailtime. That is no exaggeration.
Making it impossible to prove our oil and gas industry is clean will force its demise and pave the way for renewables. Spoiler alert: that is the plan. There is just one problem. Every type of renewable energy, from the beginning stages of production to decommissioning, use oil and gas in its various forms. How is this going to affect these ‘green’ projects? We may already have an example of this coming down the pipe (pun intended) with which we will find out.
Where I live in Strathcona County almost all of our elected officials and County administration have bought into the net zero narrative. A building company based out of Edmonton is claiming to have made the first ‘hydrogen powered home’ in Sherwood Park. This ‘net zero dwelling’ will be open for public tours this Fall. A couple of weeks ago, one of our residents penned an excellent Letter to the Editor in the Sherwood Park News pointing out some significant inconsistencies with the project. Not the least of which is that the infrastructure to provide hydrogen power to a residential dwelling doesn’t even exist yet.
Let that sink in for a second. Does that not make the claims regarding this net zero home false advertising? Has this company, along with our Mayor and Council, unwittingly set themselves against Bill C-59? Will the law of unintended consequences be brought to light? Fines? Jail time? Anything?
Let’s be honest. Given this is all about getting to ‘net zero’ no matter the cost, probably not. When it comes to proving their ‘carbon emissions’, these companies seem to be able to borrow from another Liberal Prime Minister of yesteryear. Though he wasn’t talking about climate change or carbon emissions, the message is almost verbatim: “A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof, and when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven.” (Jean Chrétien, Liberal PM from 1993-03).
As frustrating as this is, let us not deceive ourselves as to why this law, and all the others before, have been brought in to begin with. It is all a direct attack on our oil and gas industry and, therefore, Albertans. This has been our reality for decades. Unfortunately, not everyone sees it for what it is. After all, we’re just talking about the weather… sorry, the environment… I mean, climate change, and… by golly, it’s all science for ‘the greater good’! … Right…??
Weather is science. Wars are political. Once the war on ‘climate change’, and CO2 specifically, was declared, we ceased talking about the weather or science.
Ottawa has never shied away from creating a negative political environment for Albertans and, consequently, many of us have had enough. Twenty-four years ago, another law was brought in called C-20, also known as the The Clarity Act. Originally intended to help manage political strife with Quebec, it applies to every province. More and more of us are warming to the ways we can use this particular law to create a political climate more aligned with our way of doing things. We all know it won’t be easy. In fact, it’s likely to be a bit stormy while details get sorted out. But after the dust settles, we'll finally be able to set politics aside once in a while and just talk about the weather.
