On June 19 Althia Raj, a Leftist affiliated with the Toronto Star and the CBC, published a piece in my local newspaper, The Hamilton Spectator, headlined: “Carney’s Bill C-5 tramples democracy.” Her objection to the bill was that it “allows cabinet to give the green light to big resource projects before any study has begun ….. It gives one designated cabinet minister the power to choose which conditions – if any – to impose on a project.”
The Bill received parliamentary assent on June 20. In response, the Canadian Government posted the following on Canada.ca: “Today’s passing of Bill C-5, One Canadian Economy Act, will remove trade barriers, expedite nation-building projects, and unleash economic growth, with Indigenous partnership at the centre of this growth.” Clearly Carney was reacting to economic concerns expressed by both conservatives and a good many “ordinary” Canadians. But the Can.ca post, as if to defend him from the accusation that he had sold out to the opposition, pointed out that the Bill included the stipulation that every project authorized be submitted to 30 days of scrutiny by environmentalists and the general public before being allowed to proceed. Moreover it was clear that Indigenous peoples would be consulted and included in the projects wherever appropriate. That this was not enough to assuage Althia Raj’s anger illustrates quite clearly that Leftists such as she no longer believe in Free Enterprise, a principle that used to be considered an essential aspect of our Western Capitalist Democracies. Indeed endorsing free enterprise is now apparently Undemocratic!
No doubt, due to Environmental or Indigenous-related concerns, governments might in some cases be justified in stifling certain resource projects. But while both Climate Change and Native Rights entail contentious issues too complex to deal with here, what one can say with certainty is that the Left has become comfortable in cancelling such projects for purely Ideological as opposed to Rational reasons. Here in Canada, for example, several proposed pipelines [ i.e., the Northern Gateway, the Energy East, the Keystone XL, etc. ] have been abandoned either because of direct government intervention or because their viability had been deliberately compromised by things such as regulatory restrictions, carbon taxes, etc.. To the committed environmentalist, my reference to this trend as Ideologically motivated is of course absurd. But Climate Change is not a Scientifically validated Fact and the crusade against fossil fuel projects such as pipelines has had some truly regrettable repercussions!
Briefly: The earth’s temperature has been fluctuating throughout its entire history. This is a geologically verifiable Fact. Human activities are responsible for only a minute percentage of the planet’s Greenhouse Gases. This also is a Fact. Seventy-five years ago, scientists were warning of the possibly devastating effects of Global Cooling. This too is inarguable, as is the impending exhaustion of the Earth’s supply of fossil fuels within a few decades! So why, pragmatic conservatives are asking, when we still rely on fossil fuels, when we cannot replace them by simply snapping our fingers, why are climate fanatics impeding their further production and delivery, thereby imperilling our economies while at the same time increasing the cost of living for ordinary Canadians through the imposition of punitive burdens such as carbon taxes?
A Truth never mentioned by the political Left is that it loathes Capitalism and aggressively uses Environmental Alarmism in its assault on Free Enterprise, an assault that is inherently anti-democratic. As I have already said, in some cases that assault is perfectly justified. But forcing Alberta to get its oil products to Eastern Canada by shipping them down the West Coast, through the Panama Canal and up to the Maritimes, is utterly absurd. Stifling that province’s oil industry while various foreign nations with no environmental conscience whatsoever continue to drill, is in no way going to deter whatever climate issues await us. We need to pragmatically respond to our contemporary needs while aggressively exploring “cleaner” energy options for the future. Prime Minister Carney, realizing a good many Canadians share this pragmatic vision, attempted to placate them with Bill C-5. As various commentators have pointed out, his past as a radical environmentalist suggests nothing much is going to change here in Canada under his leadership. Yet his very suggestion that he might give “the green light to big resource projects” led Althia Raj to denounce him as anti-democratic. If you disagree with those on the Left, you are anti-democratic. Sadly, they don’t seem to realize that their self-righteous certitude is the very poison that leads to Totalitarianism!