Canada should follow Norway’s example on energy and be honest about what impact its oil and gas has on the global economy
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” So goes the Serenity Prayer, recited around the world in 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
But petro-superpower Norway also has a much better environmental record than Canada. For example, drivers face high carbon and fuel taxes, with the price of gasoline in Oslo the equivalent of around $3 a litre. Nine out of 10 cars sold this year are fully or partly electric. The country is also aggressively moving to lower emissions from oil and gas production. Put it all together and Canada’s greenhouse-gas emissions per capita are 130 per cent higher than Norway’s.
What is within Canada’s power to change? How much carbon we emit within our own borders. What’s beyond Canada’s control? How much carbon the rest of the world chooses to emit – and how much or how little demand there is beyond our borders for carbon-based fuels.Conservative politicians would mostly prefer to pretend the environmental imperative doesn’t exist, and the last thing they want to talk about is how voters might have to pay so much as one red cent to reduce pollution.
Last fall and earlier this month, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to temporary cuts in oil output, in a bid to boost prices in the face of a slowing global economy. The cuts add up to nearly four million barrels a day, or about two-thirds of Canada’s output. In other words, if Canadian oil disappeared tomorrow, Autocrats R Us would laugh all the way to the bank. Riyadh and Tehran and Moscow would be able to pump more oil while enjoying higher prices per barrel.
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