War takes us out of a certain naïveté. Blue flower-type pacifists and disarmamentists stand in awe when a bloodthirsty head of state invades the neighboring country and drops bombs on the heads of the people.
I will speak to you today regarding the environmental angelism that has recently dominated Canada. In the name of climate change, Canada has canceled nearly all of its energy transmission projects. Pipeline projects dedicated to export, such as projects to liquefy natural gas to ship it by ship, have come up once morest ideological opposition.
Unfortunately, the rejection of these projects did not reduce the consumption of oil on Earth. Buying countries have turned to other producers. In this process, Canada has ceded a huge role to Russia.
The role we don’t play
Even more unfortunate, at a time when Vladimir Putin needs to be brought into line, Canada would have the potential to represent the ideal alternative supplier. Consider Germany, half of whose natural gas comes from Russia. Would they be buyers of Canadian liquefied natural gas these days?
Canada is depriving itself of billions of revenues and at the same time, it is depriving itself of a crucial geostrategic role in the world. In Stephen Harper’s time, some western conservatives used the term “ethical oil” to refer to Canadian oil.
It is not a question of making oneself believe that our oil does not pollute. We need to make the energy transition. In the meantime, let’s have the lucidity to realize that Canada’s oil is produced in a democracy, by companies that are supervised and listed on the stock exchange, by following serious environmental laws.
It is certainly a better option than oil produced by Russia, for the benefit of a clique of oligarchs and a president who collects the funds to prepare a war with the neighbor. When idealism prevents fair comparisons, it becomes naïveté.
Billions of purchases
Quebec is the undisputed champion of ecological angelism. We have even come to pass a law to formally prohibit any exploration and exploitation of gas or oil. When you look at this law in an idealistic absolute, you say, “Bravo! What an ecological society with admirable values! »
However, when you analyze the Quebec approach in real life, things are less rosy. We refuse to produce oil, but we consume it worth almost $6 billion a year. This figure will grow with the current price of the barrel. We import it 100%.
Canada has even imported petroleum products from Russia, worth half a billion in the last two years. More than half of these products came… to Quebec!
Produce it? Never ! Buy some from the Russians? OK. There is no perfect option. When our supposed idealism prevents us from making the right comparisons to arrive at informed choices, it is naivety.
