Separated At Birth?

 

H/t Moudakis

I sometimes indulge in a bit of a thought experiment: how would we evaluate the actions and policies of Prime Minister Mark Carney if we no longer faced such a prodigious threat from the United States? Would we give him the free reign he is currently enjoying, or would we more openly begin to question some of the directions he is taking us in?

While I think Carney has done a tremendous job during these very difficult times, that approval should in no way compromise our critical thinking. That skill, always in development for me, demands that each choice made by the government be scrutinized and evaluated. 

This leads me to the Carney government's dangerous dismantling of environmental laws and regulations in the quest to "Build Canada Strong." So great is our sense of peril from the U.S. that our voices are muted when the EV mandate is dropped, the carbon tax is eliminated, and the talk goes to building another pipeline to facilitate the development and expansion of our fossil fuels, the promise of Cop28 forgotten.   

Now a new peril appears to be arising:

Ottawa is considering lifting its moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration in the Western Arctic, throwing into question the continuation of a decade-old policy intended to preserve the region’s marine ecosystem.

Marie-France Faucher, the lead spokesperson for Finance Canada, said the fall budget’s increased funding for Arctic offshore oil and gas governance will in part be used for “consideration of potentially lifting the current moratorium on Arctic offshore oil and gas exploration in the Western Arctic.”

As Althia Raj writes, this is a bad idea:

“Not only are there huge climate implications and the Arctic is warming … faster than the rest of the planet,” said former environment minister Catherine McKenna from Antalya, “but the impact of a spill would be catastrophic in the Arctic. That’s why the moratorium was there — because there is no way to clean up a spill in the Arctic. The technology doesn’t exist.

Former environment minister Steven Guilbeault echoes that concern:

“It’s an extremely fragile ecosystem, an ecosystem we’re still trying to understand on many levels,” he told the Star. “There are no known techniques to clean up an oil spill in ice conditions.” And, he noted, there’s a questionable business case.

He adds,

“You know, electricity in the world now is cheaper produced by solar and wind than anything else,” he added. “I am urging them to reconsider.”

And there is the specter of habitat loss. A six-member committee

representing the federal, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Inuvialuit governments published a report in 2024 as part of a review of the moratorium.

[It]ound that fish, marine mammals, polar bears and barren-ground caribou would experience habitat loss and face increased mortality risks under development scenarios. 

We live in a time when the terrible consequences of climate change are apparent on a daily basis. Whether it is atmospheric rivers, wildfires, floods, droughts or tornadoes, that the world is facing a drastic reckoning is undeniable. To continue ignoring these dark signs may, in fact be humanity's final, and fatal, folly.