I agree in principle with David Black’s thesis. (Opinion, OakBayNews.com)
Canada could benefit greatly in jobs, GDP and taxes by adding value to its varied primary industries. In the case of refining bitumen, there would be the added benefit of making cleanup possible after a marine spill. However, I have great difficulty connecting the dots with respect to the fossil fuel industry.
We are told that we are committed to the Paris accord – the reduction of emissions. At the same time, the industry backed by the federal and some provincial governments, seems interested in using taxpayers’ dollars to fund costly long term infrastructure to shore up what has become a sunset industry, as will become increasingly apparent. Either the industry is generally in denial and intending to frustrate any efforts to adapt, or they have adopted the approach that climate change is real but we’ll deal with it later.
In the meantime, they would scrap putting a price on carbon; increase production and build infrastructure for what is obviously a murky future for the benefit of foreign investors. I am prepared to accept that emissions in Canada may be decreasing but this would be a one-shot situation based on the closing of coal-fired generating plants.
Graham Ross
Oak Bay