Dan McTeague, former Liberal MP and president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, blasted Canada's climate change policies and the rhetoric behind them as a threat to Canadians’ standard of living..“There seems to be no pushback to the insanity of suggesting that somehow, Canada's responsible for weather conditions somewhere else in the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. The mere fact we haven't had this kind of discussion demonstrates the extent to which people have bought into a notion that is beyond anything that one would consider rational,” McTeague said in an interview with Western Standard..“The United Nations and others are willing to talk about and use hyperbole like murder, homicide, killing the planet. This is not only irresponsible, it's quackery. And it is certainly not based on science.”.McTeague’s comments followed the release of the federal government’s $1.6 billion National Adaptation Strategy. The government will establish a Centre of Excellence for Wildland Fire Innovation and Resilience as part of $284 million of fire prevention, while another $164.2 million will fund “free, up-to-date, and authoritative flood maps.".McTeague said a more straightforward, less expensive approach would ensure basic forest management or reconsider allowing housing in floodplains. Even here, insurance premiums force people to adapt, he said..“If it isn't a carbon tax, if it isn't a Clean Fuel Standard, if it isn't a cap on emissions, if it isn't blocking pipelines, if it isn't spending billions of dollars to look for green grifters to go out and make a lot of money, to promoting renewables that are both ineffective, that are not reliable, and much of its built in China … people have to understand your country has spent 150 to $170 billion,” McTeague said..“The government intends to spend $2 trillion. Who's going to finance this? And what are we going to show at the end of the day when countries like China and India shrug their shoulders or perhaps better yet laugh and thumb their nose at our willingness to interact like the international boy scouts while not managing to move the needle anywhere?”.The former 18-year MP laments U.S. President Joe Biden wants Venezuela to produce more oil instead of accepting it from Canada. He says Canadians have adapted to the weather without government help and should be proud of the responsible way they extract fossil fuels..“Do Canadians expect that when you have an industry like the oil and gas sector, which ranks the highest in the world on ESG standards of any producing country, that that's somehow going to be replicated by doing even more damage? For a prime minister to think that imposing taxes or regulations on an already very clean industry is somehow going to change the weather is beyond farcical. And it is the stuff of magic and make believe,” McTeague said..“Scientists want to become politicians, and politicians want to fake [as] scientists. We have to be very skeptical, not just of the science that's underlying this, but of course, the politicians who are trying to cash in on it. The mere fact that we haven't had this kind of discussion demonstrates the extent to which people have bought into a notion that is beyond anything that one would consider rational.”.McTeague, who lives in Toronto, said Trudeau and “demagogues like Steven Guilbeault” are taking advantage of the environmental goodwill of Canadians by implementing “frivolous” and “brutally deceptive policies.” He said Canadians should prepare to “pay a lot more” if they remain willfully ignorant of this..“It's time for Canadians to make the connection between the high cost of living, their inability to make ends meet, high interest rates, high inflation, and, of course, grocery store prices, because they're all connected to a green policy, of driving out our ability to produce the very nitrogens, the very ureas, the very phosphates that are necessary for fertilizer, that is necessary in our transport system,” he said..“More and more Canadians are going to start to have to clue in. They don't have a choice, they’re going broke. They're going broke because they're going woke.”
