Western Standard - January 13, 2023


Federal government just transition policy


Episode Stats

Length

6 minutes

Words per Minute

149.15051

Word Count

913

Sentence Count

72

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary

Justin Trudeau wants to move Canada's energy sector away from oil and gas to clean energy, but is it a good thing or a bad thing? And what kind of benefits will it bring to the economy and the people who depend on it?


Transcript

00:00:00.000 You've probably heard about the federal government's just transition policy,
00:00:06.900 a transition away from oil field work.
00:00:10.980 But I don't believe that it is just.
00:00:14.380 If Ottawa wants to take energy workers earning $150,000 a year
00:00:19.100 and put them into jobs yielding half that,
00:00:23.060 you could call the transition a lot of things,
00:00:25.460 but certainly not any word that means fair, equitable, or just.
00:00:31.340 Yet that's what the Liberal government is planning to do now to Canada's energy workers.
00:00:37.300 A lot of them in Alberta, of course, but by no means all of them.
00:00:40.760 Nationally, oil and gas means, directly and indirectly,
00:00:44.500 more than half a million jobs to this country.
00:00:47.580 More than a third of them are outside Alberta.
00:00:51.040 Same with the money.
00:00:51.860 Oil and gas is worth nearly $140 billion to Canadian GDP.
00:00:57.680 But again, a lot of the money invested developing energy out West,
00:01:02.440 energy all Canadians need, is actually spent in central Canada.
00:01:07.360 And with the money, you're the jobs.
00:01:09.540 71,000 in Ontario, 20,000 in Quebec, more in the Atlantic provinces.
00:01:15.280 As I said, more than half a million Canadians depend on oil and gas
00:01:18.820 to pay their taxes and feed their families, just like the old bumper sticker said.
00:01:23.680 So if the just transition turns out to be unjust, it's a national problem.
00:01:28.440 So why do the Liberals want a transition anyway?
00:01:32.220 The official government line is that Canada must lead the world
00:01:35.680 in lowering carbon emissions, and to do that,
00:01:38.340 we have to move everything gas-powered, cars, trucks, home heating,
00:01:42.480 over to electrical power.
00:01:43.760 The transition then will be to green jobs.
00:01:48.560 So much for the official line.
00:01:50.480 The unofficial line, as we know, is that the oil sands must be phased out.
00:01:55.260 The Prime Minister said it, then said he misspoke.
00:01:58.120 But over the last seven years, Mr. Trudeau has been killing pipelines,
00:02:01.840 chasing tankers away from the West Coast, not the East,
00:02:05.000 using regulations to make it more expensive for oil and gas producers to operate,
00:02:09.560 and putting potentially valuable exploration lands out of reach in national parks.
00:02:16.420 So what does that look like to you?
00:02:19.400 It's a transition, all right.
00:02:22.320 But a just transition?
00:02:24.800 If you ever had any doubts about federal good faith,
00:02:28.040 keep in mind how Canadian gas producers were shut down
00:02:30.980 after they pointed out that the more Canadian gas they could sell to China,
00:02:35.500 the fewer coal-fired generators China would have to build.
00:02:39.700 Like, carbon dioxide is borderless.
00:02:41.980 Less carbon dioxide admitted worldwide is a net gain for all of us, right?
00:02:48.000 Well, in fact, shouldn't Canadian gas producers get green credits for doing that?
00:02:53.420 Not a chance for this government.
00:02:55.300 It's like they want to show the world they can make it work,
00:02:57.500 whether it has a global impact or not,
00:02:59.640 and if Canadians suffer, tough.
00:03:02.560 Is this for bragging rights in Davos?
00:03:05.620 Who knows?
00:03:06.400 You wonder sometimes.
00:03:07.260 So Justin Trudeau's just transition plan is going ahead.
00:03:12.560 It'll kill us here in Alberta, of course,
00:03:14.500 but for him, perhaps that's a small price to pay.
00:03:16.920 It's not like so many people here vote liberal.
00:03:19.760 Here's the thing, though.
00:03:20.540 Where are these green jobs, these great green jobs, going to come from?
00:03:25.900 The largest manufacturers of hydrogen-driven generators are not in Canada.
00:03:30.940 They're in Europe and they're in China.
00:03:33.020 Same goes for solar panels.
00:03:35.760 That could change, perhaps, if the government put enough money into it.
00:03:38.660 But why should they?
00:03:40.620 Trudeau's liberals chase away $150 billion in private investment for the oil patch.
00:03:47.280 But if we're not going to live in a world of brownouts without end,
00:03:51.000 they'll need to make massive investments of taxpayer funds in the green grid.
00:03:54.780 So there could be some jobs, perhaps, expanding the grid.
00:03:57.380 Maybe, but nobody seems to be doing much about it at the moment.
00:04:02.300 And the question, therefore, for something like 140,000 Canadians from Atlantic Canada to BC is
00:04:08.380 just transition?
00:04:11.000 Transition to what?
00:04:13.480 Breaking leaves?
00:04:14.360 In other words, just transition is just a fraud, a sugary cover for a bitter pill.
00:04:22.660 This is intended to hurt.
00:04:26.220 For the Western Standard, I'm Nigel Haniford.
00:04:30.660 The current Lethbridge feed grain prices are as follows.
00:04:33.720 Cash barley is down $2 at $4.35.
00:04:36.820 Feed wheat is unchanged at $4.42.
00:04:39.900 And corn is up $3 at $443 per ton.
00:04:43.760 In the milling wheat markets, March Minneapolis futures are up a penny at $9.13,
00:04:49.340 with local hard red spring bid for February movement at $11.55 per bushel.
00:04:54.920 In the oil seeds, nearby canola futures slipped to $1.20 at $841.20 per ton,
00:05:01.840 with delivered values for February movement at $18.85 per bushel.
00:05:07.660 In the pulse markets, nearby red lentil prices remain at $0.33 per pound.
00:05:12.140 And yellow peas are trading at $13.50 per bushel.
00:05:16.640 In the cattle markets, February live cattle are down $0.25 at $157.30 per hundred weight.
00:05:23.080 For more information on pricing and picked-up options, please call 403-394-1711.
00:05:31.160 I'm David Lee at Marketplace Commodities.
00:05:33.460 Accurate real-time marketing information and pricing options.
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