Project Confederation says COP28 bad for West

An advocacy organization for better treatment for the west within confederation is calling out the federal government for concessions offered at the United Nations’s 28th Climate Change Conference in Dubai.

In an online post emailed to supporters, Project Confederation Executive Director Josh Andrus said, with COP28 “generating headlines, we all knew it was only a matter of time before Canada’s radical eco-activist Environment Minister did something stupid."

“And here it is, from Steven Guilbeault himself.”

Guilbeault said, "The Government of Canada's plan to cap and reduce emissions from Canada's largest emitting sector is ambitious, but practical. It considers the global demand for oil and gas — and the importance of the sector in Canada's economy — and sets a limit that is strict, but achievable."

Project Confederation (PC) said it warned the public a year ago about the cap and now it “is finally upon us”

“Now, we know just how bad it actually is,” PC said. 

“The framework that's being proposed by the federal government would cap emissions at between 35% and 38% below 2019 levels.”

Other details were more sketchy.

“How exactly would this be done? What will it cost? No one knows,” Andrus wrote.

“The federal government just says that they'll release the details via regulation sometime next year.”

Andrus quoted a “livid” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

“[The announcement is an] intentional attack by the federal government on the economy of Alberta and the financial well-being of millions of Albertans and Canadians,” Smith said in a statement.

“Justin Trudeau and his eco-extremist Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, are risking hundreds of billions of investments in Alberta's and Canada's economy."

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe echoed Smith.

“[The cap] will have serious economic impacts on Canadians and limit our sustainable Canadian energy products from providing heat and electricity to the world,” Moe said.

“Saskatchewan will protect our constitutional right to build our economy in accordance with the priorities of Saskatchewan families and businesses.”

Andrus pointed out the Supreme Court already had Ottawa “in legal hot water” this fall for “constitutional overreaches” in the Impact Assessment Act and the plastics ban.

“Ottawa has consistently ignored provincial jurisdiction on a wide range of issues and their inability to stay in their constitutional lane has been a major source of tension with the provinces,” Andrus said, adding the emissions cap was “just the latest example.”

Besides, Andrus said, the emissions cap is “a terrible policy” in its own right.

“First, it’s an admission by the government that the carbon tax, their signature climate change policy, is not working,” he wrote.

“This cap is a direct and deliberate attack on western Canada’s oil and gas industry.”

Although the cap applies to oil and gas, it won’t apply to Ontario’s automotive industry, Quebec’s cement industry and other high-emitting industries in other parts of Canada, Andrus complains.

“The cap also excludes refineries, even though that is part of the oil and gas industry, because many of Canada's refineries happen to be in regions of the country that mostly vote Liberal,” he wrote.

“[T]he hypocritical and political nature of Ottawa’s climate agenda reveals their true intentions and undermines the credibility of their entire plan.”

Andrus drew renewed attention to PC’s petition Stop The Cap On Oil And Gas and urged supporters to forward it to family and friends. The petition has a goal of 10,000 signatures and the time of publication had reached more than 6,400.