Western Standard - November 10, 2021


Harper blasts Trudeau’s climate plan as unfair to Alberta and Saskatchewan


Episode Stats

Length

2 minutes

Words per Minute

161.6085

Word Count

355

Sentence Count

19


Summary

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Justin Trudeau's plans on climate change are unfair because it punishes Alberta and Saskatchewan more than the other provinces, says the Globe and Mail. Harper says he made it a habit not to go to war with the provinces when he was in office.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello, I'm Dave Naylor, the news editor of the Western Standard.
00:00:04.820 Justin Trudeau's plans on climate change are unfair because it punishes Alberta and Saskatchewan more than the other provinces, says former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
00:00:14.560 Quote, I made it a habit not to go to war with the provinces, the Globe and Mail reported Harper's said on Tuesday to a virtual meeting of the Canada West Foundation.
00:00:23.420 Harper didn't mention Trudeau by name, but he spoke of the need to, quote, fair treatment by the Feds and avoid conflict with the provinces.
00:00:33.420 He said if he was tackling climate change as Prime Minister, he would not be taking measures to, quote, shut down, unquote, an industry in a region that didn't generate political returns for him, the Globe reported.
00:00:46.360 In the September election, the Liberals didn't win any seats in Saskatchewan and only two in Alberta.
00:00:53.420 Harper said the government, when he was in power, treated all regions fairly, quote, whether they voted for us or not.
00:01:01.240 He continued, obviously, the way some things are being handled today, where certain parts of the country are singled out in ways that others aren't, I think is really inexcusable.
00:01:12.260 He continued, frankly, I don't see that happening in other parts of the world.
00:01:16.580 At the Glasgow COP26 conference last week, Trudeau again pledged to impose greenhouse gas emission caps on Canada's oil and gas industry.
00:01:27.280 If you look at COP26, it seems people are arguing that this is all a matter of will, Harper said.
00:01:34.260 It's not a matter of will.
00:01:35.900 It's a matter of actually having a cost-effective and real solution in our time.
00:01:40.880 He continued, so much of the energy transition that people are talking about depends on technological developments that simply have not occurred yet.
00:01:50.500 Or in cases where they are occurring, they suffer from serious resource deficiency.
00:01:56.020 When it comes to Canada, international investors simply do not believe that this country can get it done.
00:02:01.860 They just don't believe it.
00:02:03.080 For this and other stories, make sure you visit the Western Standard Online News site.
00:02:09.540 For The Standard, I'm Dave Naylor.