It almost sounds too good to be true.
The way Liberal leader Mark Carney was talking about energy policy in Calgary on Wednesday, one could be forgiven for thinking the Prime Minister-select underwent a religious epiphany on the altar of oil and gas.
Reading the Liberal policy paper was almost like 2006 all over again.
That’s when former prime minister Stephen Harper declared in a speech delivered before the G7 in New York and again in London that Canada was an “emerging energy superpower” in the world.
A year later in Australia, he upgraded the term to “global energy superpower.”
What Carney was proposing on Wednesday didn’t sound much different. In fact, it could be called preaching to the choir.
“Canada has a tremendous opportunity to be the world’s leading energy superpower,” he said. “To weather the economic storm induced by President Trump, and build Canada strong, we must invest in our natural strengths and ensure our economic sovereignty.”
That presumably includes fast-tracking pipelines, building a ‘national’ electricity grid which he compared to building the CPR or the TransCanada Highway, and creating preapproved energy corridors to fast-track projects deemed to be in the ‘national interest’ — a specific legal term that gives cabinet sweeping powers to approve any infrastructure project it damn well pleases, regardless of what greenies, environmental activists or even provincial governments (Quebec) think.
Carney even said, rightly, that building out Alberta’s energy and energy infrastructure is critical to attaining economic self-sufficiency in the face of the US trade assault.
Did I hear that correctly?
Carney even went as far as to tell one noted local scribbler (that’s what he calls himself) that anything less is ‘un-Albertan’.
“Hey, I'm from Alberta. You don't need to tell me what Alberta is like. I'm from Alberta. I know this province, tons of friends here. I’ve got family here. I grew up here,” he said.
“I'm focused on results. I'm focused on specific projects. I’m focused and I'm putting in place, as prime minister… a very clear process. We're going to identify projects of national interest. Any major energy project, virtually any major energy project that comes from this great province is going to pass the boundaries of other provinces.”
He then asks said reporter for his vote, before taking it ‘back’.
“I shouldn't ask that of the media. I'm sorry. We need the vote of your readers. Let me, clarify that,” he jibed.
It’s almost enough to want to believe him. BUT. Gramps always said if something sounds too good to be true…
Buried in Carney’s unwitting platitudes of devotion are some fairly nagging red flags. His insistence on making distinctions between ‘clean and conventional’ energy. Any engineer in this city will tell you it’s all the same, whether it’s petroleum, nuclear, or renewables. There really is no such thing as ‘clean’ energy — they all have environmental drawbacks.
So while, yes, Alberta will be at the heart of any energy renaissance — real or imagined — it’s not a predefined inflection point. In that regard net zero by 2050 is an arbitrary target; it will happen when it happens and when people are good and ready for it. The carbon tax debacle shows they aren’t yet.
Then there’s Carney’s past affiliations with the WEF and the UN Climate Change Secretariat and reforming so-called ‘green’ finance laws — something he’s pursued with an almost evangelical zeal.
Don’t forget, that Steven Guilbeault is still his Quebec lieutenant. That’s enough to throw smoke on anything he says to the contrary.
And in Vancouver, Carney recruited former mayor Gregor Robertson as his star candidate. Robertson has his own well-documented history of fighting against energy projects and even pushed a ban on natural gas in new residential construction.
Those two aren’t running for the Liberals because they think Carney will allow for more oil and gas development.
Similarly, Carney continues to double down on Justin Trudeau's anti-energy laws, like Bill C-69 and Guilbeault’s emissions (production) cap and ‘clean’ electricity regulations that are all vehemently opposed by Alberta’s UCP government.
Just last year, he claimed 90% of all energy investment went into renewables. Apart from being a fantasy, it’s just not true. Like when Trump says the US ‘subsidizes’ Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year. Right.
He has also promised some new industrial carbon tax scheme while providing zero new details over the course of the campaign.
He has still not publicly committed to the five policy proposals of Calgary energy CEOs who argue are essential to getting projects built and reducing Canada’s dependence on the US.
He’s even praised Greta Thunberg’s carbon budget scheme, which is even more toxic than any of his alleged associations with Jeffery Epstein.
Then there’s the issue of his former company Brookfield investing in US pipelines under the auspices of the Canada Pension Plan instead of building them here in Canada — which presumably they might want to do given that their former chairman is prime minister?
Something smells in Denmark.
That’s not stopping Canadians from thinking that Carney will do a better job of managing energy issues even as the appetite for moving faster on energy projects is a record 69% — including 64% in Quebec — according to an Ipsos poll released Tuesday.
Which begs the question. Has Carney truly seen the light or is it all smoke and mirrors?