Calling a NASA scientist like James Hansen’s estimations of the effect Canada’s oilsands developments would have on climate change “exaggerated,” as Oliver did last week when he was in the U.S. (again), does two immediate things: First, because he can point to another study by Canadian academic (and B.C. provincial Green party candidate) Andrew Weaver, that puts forward much more moderate predictions for the oilsands climate impact, Oliver gets to show that he isn’t a grumpy old science-skeptic. Second, because his attack on Hansen is so eye-popping for most back home, he gets to go on every political TV show in the country. Once on the air, he can attempt to gain much-needed credibility by quoting the Weaver climate study and, more importantly, talk about the Keystone XL pipeline some more.
The second one is obviously most crucial to Oliver and the Conservatives.
“After 2000, Canada has been losing world market share on a relatively sustained basis. Canada’s share of global exports fell from 4.5 per cent in 2000 to 2.7 per cent in 2010,” Daniel de Munnik, Jocelyn Jacob and Wesley Sze wrote in October in a Bank of Canada report on the nation’s competitiveness. “Between 2000 and 2007, Canada’s global market share declined from 4.5 per cent, more than erasing Canada’s gains in the previous decade.”
This hints at why it’s important to look at what else Oliver has been saying while he’s been in the United States. Oil isn’t Canada’s only export, and he’s not just there to sell Keystone.
“We are also fortunate that our resources do not end at the land’s surface. We know that renewable energy sources are a key to the long-term sustainable future of energy,” he told a crowd in New York City earlier this week. (That speech received very little coverage, if any, back in Canada – all the more reason to make some controversial comments to grab some attention.) And what did he talk about right after that? Oilsands? Keystone? Pipelines? Nope.
“Hydropower, of course, is our biggest source of renewable energy. And it is getting bigger,” he said. “Take the Lower Churchill project in Newfoundland and Labrador. This $7.7 billion investment will create enough zero emitting, renewable power to supply 430,000 U.S. households.”
He went on from there, describing everything from emissions targets to the government’s clean energy fund to carbon capture and storage. He talked about Keystone, but last of all.
This is important, not just because of all the resources the Conservatives are looking to sell, but the image that goes along with it. Perhaps to state the obvious, but it’s also why the Conservative attacks on NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, daft as they may be, are worth at least noting before being dismissed.
It seems somewhat contradictory for Oliver to tell a crowd in New York about Canada’s eco-energy plans, when back home, the Conservatives refer to the NDP’s carbon pricing scheme as a “carbon tax on everything,” that would (allegedly) raise the price of all consumer goods and make things like Halloween, Christmas, and vacations too expensive for regular folks to even think about doing anymore. But it can’t be any other way, really. The Conservatives have to solely own the issue. As far as they’re concerned, there can be no other party of resource development, eco-ideas, or even eco-friendliness. They have to have all of it. So what is a carbon pricing or cap-and-trade scheme for the Conservatives (or was, when they were advocating for it) is now a wild-eyed socialist economic theory from some leftist goon.
Because what they’re both ultimately talking about isn’t the environment, it’s the economy, the theme both parties have decided already they want voters to consider when they go to the polls in 2015. And here, the Conservatives are in a tough spot – a tougher one in some ways than the NDP.
The Conservatives have branded themselves the party of “jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity.” It’s a bold claim, and one that, for a while, has paid off. But now economic forecasts are less rosy, things are lagging and the housing market is a (stabilizing) perpetual worry. The economy needs a boost, and the most likely place that will come from is commodities. Keystone, like anything else Oliver listed, has to be sold. The Conservatives talk a good game, but they must by now be getting somewhat desperate for some real good news on their most prized file. Otherwise, it could suddenly start to look like they’ve been completely full of it all along.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics.ca
Author: Colin Horgan
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