O’Toole silent as Trudeau starts shutting down energy industry
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
186.54597
Summary
Justin Trudeau announced an emissions cap targeting Western Canada s oil and gas sector at the COP26 summit. Why is Conservative leader Aaron O'Toole's silence on the issue so deafening, especially when Canada's flags are being lowered on Remembrance Day?
Transcript
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Nobody should be surprised that Justin Trudeau used the COP26 summit as a platform to announce
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an emissions cap targeting Western Canada's oil and gas sector. Trudeau campaigned on imposing a
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cap and the climate summit provided him an ideal international stage from which to announce it.
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The Trudeau family's disdain for the West and our energy sector is well established.
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Pierre Trudeau castrated the oil and gas sector with his national energy program back in the 80s.
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When the Western yokels became upset, he responded by literally giving Western protesters the middle
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finger when he later passed through the region. It was later known as the Trudeau salute.
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Justin Trudeau sees the prairies as nothing more than a flyover country that bores him as he looks
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out the window of his Challenger jet en route to a solemn beach vacation. To see Justin carrying on
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a legacy of assailing Western Canada's energy sector is not shocking at all, or at least it shouldn't be.
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What is surprising though, is the federal conservative leader Aaron O'Toole's complete silence on this.
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Trudeau's act of international virtue signaling at the expense of the West's oil and gas sector provided
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O'Toole an opportunity to demonstrate some leadership and backbone. God knows we've been looking for it out of
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them. A thoughtful and strong rebuttal to Trudeau's short-sighted emissions cap could have established
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Trudeau as an opposition leader willing to take on a debate with Canada's interest in mind. Instead, O'Toole is
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avoiding the issue at all costs and is focused on the issue of Canada's flags being lowered while Remembrance Day
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approaches. Perhaps somebody should tell Aaron it's time to take on more than one issue at a time. It is possible to do it.
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The flag issue is pressing and it's an emotional one, but it's short term. Trudeau is likely going to raise the flag
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shortly before Remembrance Day so they can be lowered symbolically and he'll paint himself as a hero who's sensitive to both
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Canada's First Nations community and veterans. Whether it works or not, we'll see. O'Toole's stance on the
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flags though will be forgotten within weeks while the emission cap he let go unimposed could damage
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Canada's economy for generations. O'Toole is terrified of upsetting the precious voters within Quebec and
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Southern Ontario. Indeed, the CPC is going to have to make serious inroads within Central Canada if they
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hope to win the next federal election. Opposing Trudeau's proposed emissions cap on the oil and gas sector
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doesn't mean sacrificing Central Canadian voters. The emissions cap is going to harm Canadians from
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coast to coast as inflation is growing and energy poverty is looming for all of us. O'Toole could
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have been critical of Trudeau's plan without being regionally divisive, but it would have taken time
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and effort to make the case that the plan is bad for all Canadians. O'Toole chose to try and hide from
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the issue rather than show leadership on it. Energy security. It's going to be a pressing issue for all of
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us in the very near future. The fate of Enbridge's Line 5 is very questionable right now. If it's shut
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down, both Ontario and Quebec are going to suffer immediately and dearly with energy shortages.
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Europe is currently increasing its coal consumption while Russia is expanding their production of oil
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and gas in order to feed the ever-hungry energy consumers of India and China. President Joe Biden
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is begging OPEC to increase output due to skyrocketing energy prices. Even Norway is unapologetically
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increasing its oil exploration and production in order to meet world demand. There's no better
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time than right now. To point out Canada's clean, ethical, petrochemical products are available to
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fill North America's growing energy needs. We're here. We've got it. An emissions cap targeting oil and
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gas within Canada, though, is going to chill investment and slow production. Energy demand isn't going
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away. Thus, Canada is going to be finding itself importing more oil than ever from nations with terrible
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environmental and human rights standards. We're going to be paying a premium for oil while literally
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shutting down our local supplies. It's self-destructive and it's ludicrous. Why can't Aaron O'Toole make
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this case? Why is he refusing to? Western Canada's energy sector has been working to reduce emissions
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intensity for decades and has had great success. Between 2008 and 2011, the emissions from a barrel
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of oil produced in the oil sands have been reduced by 22 percent and they're continuing to drop.
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Carbon capture and hydrogen technology have made incredible advances in reducing emissions thanks
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to research done by Canadian energy producers. We can increase energy output while still keeping
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the emissions under control. A responsible opposition leader like O'Toole should be celebrating
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those accomplishments. Energy producers hardly feel incentivized to continue investing in emission
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reduction technology if they can't even get positive recognition for it, much less a fiscal reward.
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O'Toole could have opposed Trudeau's plans without taking regional sides. He could have been a force
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for Canadian unity, actually, as he made a case for the entire nation on the benefits of embracing our
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clean ethical oil and gas sector. In his silence, O'Toole has actually fed regional division within
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Canada. Oil and gas producing provinces rightly feel they have no allies left on the federal front
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and they're being left out in the cold by O'Toole and the Conservative Party of Canada. While Western
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Canada contributes heavily to the Conservative seat count, they still get the cold shoulder from the
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party leadership in times of need. It almost feels like our equalization payments. We keep paying
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and we don't get anything back, whether in dollars or respect.
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Aaron O'Toole had the chance to stand out as a leader willing to put it all on the line for Canada.
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He could have taken the tough but principled road in defending our oil and gas sector against Trudeau's
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incursions. O'Toole instead decided to hide from the issue and Western Canada is going to pay
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dearly for his cowardice. It's time to stop supporting a party that won't support us. Come to think of it,
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it's getting near time to stop supporting a nation that won't support us. But that's fodder for a whole new column.