It didn’t take the Government of Canada long to throw down the gauntlet following the re-election of Danielle Smith and the UCP..The latest insult to Alberta was released Thursday by Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, announcing legislation, the Sustainable Jobs Act, that will accelerate the whole country in “the global race to net zero.”.The last phrase is better translated as the federal race to destroy the economies of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and for good measure the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador as well..No one seriously thinks that oil and gas, to say nothing of coal, are exiting the global electricity-generation scene anytime soon. At present, Canada is the world’s fourth largest oil producer and sixth largest gas producer. Yet, under Justin Trudeau, in the words of Minister Wilkinson, “Canada is executing its plan to become the clean energy and technology supplier of choice in a net-zero world.”.Translation: the Government of Canada is executing the economies of the petroleum-producing provinces..On March 29, 2022, Justin and his fanatical environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, announced the Canadian version of what we now know as the “Just Transition.” It started with an emissions cap for oil and gas, which in reality meant a production cap..The original notion of a just transition was introduced during the 1980s in the United States from an alliance of organized labour and enviros. The wider world learned of it during the early 2000s at climate-change festivals — the notorious Conferences of the Parties — first gaining adoption at COP 15 in Copenhagen in 2009, then reinforced at COP 21 in Paris in 2015, and again at COP 26 in 2021 in Glasgow. The Glasgow event added government commitments to transition to gender equality, disability inclusion, intergenerational equity, and other desiderata of the progressive left, which makes it part of a broader ideological initiative, the chief practical attribute of which is more governmental control of our lives..When one looks at the just transition narrative, it turns out to be nothing but a tissue of misleading clichés. It begins by asserting the existential dangers of anthropogenic climate change, followed by criticism of the petroleum industry as the cause of the catastrophe, and climaxing in a histrionic call to reduce fossil fuel production to zero, asap. As an afterthought, there are often calls to expand renewable energy sources to sustain a “green economy.”.Every statement of that narrative is bogus. But no matter. Even sensible people must take account of a fabulous and imaginary political climate of opinion when it is widely believed by the credulous and embraced by the power-hungry..And so, for example, Danielle Smith told the Government of Canada last January she wanted to work with them, which included keeping the conventional energy sector in operation as well as fostering so-called clean energy. The latter, for Smith and the Prairie West more generally, meant carbon dioxide capture and utilization, production of petrochemicals, hydrogen, lithium, and helium, along with geothermal and nuclear energy. But it also meant liquid natural gas exports to Asia to replace coal-fired electricity generation there, and no federal restrictions on resource extraction or agriculture, both of which are provincial responsibilities..Rachel Notley at the time said Smith’s objectives were “laudable” though Smith’s previous opposition to Canada’s initiatives were “combative and inflammatory.” Given the latest initiative from Ottawa, they were not nearly combative enough..For his part, Wilkinson promised so much employment from the green economy that he was “actually quite worried there are so many opportunities [with the just transition] that we will not have enough workers to fill the jobs.”.Others calculated rather different consequences, starting with the loss of around 15% of the labour force, which means a million Canadians out of work, most of them in the Prairie West in the energy and agriculture sectors..But, proponents claim, 400,000 new jobs will be created! And if the Volkswagen taxpayer grants are indicative, we know where these notional new jobs will be located..Among the hardest hit (once again) by the destruction of the petroleum industry are indigenous peoples. First Nations and Metis are employed in this sector at over twice the rate for non-oil-and-gas industries. That means thousands of jobs and millions of dollars paid to reserves. In 2017, for example, the petroleum sector distributed $55 million to First Nation governments and spent $2.4 billion in partnership with indigenous companies..In this context, the BC Coastal GasLink holds the greatest promise to introduce positive economic change in northwest BC. Jason Victor, a member of the Cheam First Nation, called hydrocarbon energy development “an opportunity for Indigenous unity” and an “unprecedented opportunity to raise our people out of poverty.”.Unfortunately, a just transition means economic devastation to First Nation communities, which also means that economic reconciliation between First Nations and other Canadians is not on the agenda of this Canadian government..So far as I can see, the only beneficiaries indicated in the Thursday announcement by the natural resources minister are those who will create the contemplated “Five-Year Plan,” which ought to remind us of similar plans concocted in Stalin’s Soviet Union, and members of a “Sustainable Jobs Secretariat,” which means more bureaucrats in Ottawa and more control of us by Laurentians. That is the point..Nobody else gets anything. That is also the point.
