A TransAlta wind farm near Pincher Creek, Alta., on March 9, 2016.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
As Canada reels from tariffs, economic uncertainty and annexation threats, climate change has been somewhat lost in the clamour. Support for pipelines is growing and the leaders of both the Liberal and Conservative parties want to boost oil and gas production.
This is not to say Canadians no longer care about the environment. But there’s a recognition that a way must be found to balance those priorities. In a poll earlier this month, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they supported a new east-west pipeline while nearly half wanted to keep a carbon price on industrial greenhouse gas emissions. In Quebec, Premier François Legault has signalled new openness to a pipeline crossing that province.
A sovereign country needs a strong economy that is not dependent on a neighbour seeking to coerce it. That is the bedrock of the national interest.
Climate change remains a critical issue, but the last three months have demonstrated the need for a revamped national energy policy that strikes a new balance between the oil and gas sector, and climate change measures.
For Canada, that means a new national energy policy that will open up overseas markets to oil and natural gas exports and lessen this country’s dangerous dependence on the United States. At the same time, the ambition to increase trade with the European Union requires action on climate change.
Public support exists for a new energy policy. The need is as obvious as it is urgent. The missing ingredient is leadership, willing to articulate the national interest, and fight for it. Both the Conservatives and the Liberals fall short.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forceful about supporting the energy sector but his platform says little on emissions reduction beyond a vague promise of technology and tax credits. Liberal Leader Mark Carney has better green credentials, but he equivocates on new pipelines, a word that does not even appear in his platform.
Consider the federal carbon fuel charge. The levy became so unpopular that Mr. Carney pulled the plug as soon as he became Prime Minister. Supporters may call that pragmatism, but it’s hard to square his professed environmental enthusiasm with bragging to drivers about cheaper gasoline.
For his part, Mr. Poilievre offers no replacement for the tax. He would further help drivers by cutting the sales tax on Canadian-made vehicles, eliminating a phase-out the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035 and clean-fuel regulations.
A free idea: use hydro to get Canada’s north off diesel power generation, a particularly dirty method.
At the same time, both candidates say Canada needs to increase energy production to reduce imports from the United States.
Mr. Poilievre has promised to revoke Bill C-69, which is criticized, particularly in the West, for making it harder to build pipelines. He says he would not subsidize their construction.
Mr. Carney would keep C-69 and end subsidies to oil and gas companies. He defends the country having bought the Trans Mountain pipeline but told a Quebec talk show that managing the trade war would require the government picking a few top priorities. “Not necessarily pipelines, but maybe pipelines,” he said in French.
He is promising to reduce emissions through expanding the industrial carbon tax, along with a carbon tariff. That is a good idea undermined by his flimsy argument that the cost of this will not be passed on to Canadian households.
Mr. Poilievre argues that shipping liquefied natural gas to India would reduce the need for coal and so would slash global emissions. That policy is more a hope than a plan.
The bigger challenge, however, is domestic. Many Canadians oppose pipelines, for environmental or other reasons. The leaders were asked during the French-language debate how they would react if a province or Indigenous groups opposed a pipeline.
This question is, at its heart, about their willingness to fight for the national interest. Mr. Carney said he would never impose a pipeline, while Mr. Poilievre did not answer directly.
Both responses are an abdication of leadership. Canada needs a prime minister who knows that the time for dodges has passed, and who is prepared to take the steps needed to ensure that this country’s natural bounty is used to bolster its sovereignty. Neither Mr. Carney nor Mr. Poilievre have yet shown that they are that leader.