It must be driving Justin, Jagmeet and our Environmental Extremist Minister nuts that Tesla increased their prices in Canada, again. Last year was the cost of the vehicle. In April it was announced customers had to pay for their charging pack and their street charging rates were going up.  On the same day Statistics Canada announced oil, natural gas, coal, and refined petroleum exports totaled a record C$150 billion over the past 12 months. While this is due in large part to higher commodity prices, volumes have increased.  They could climb higher if the Liberals allowed for it, but they won’t because of climate change. The three must be cringing that the demand for our resources is growing. It will continue to grow now that Russian oil is banned in many countries.

A cure for climate change is supposedly the EV.  We believe this is not feasible. How can it be when the price of manufacturing is climbing with the price of lithium and other metals (the price of lithium is up 400% from a year ago)?   This technology makes up roughly 3% of the automobile market, is growing at a snail’s pace and is already disrupting the commodity market. Imagine what will happen if there is a switch from the ICE. Ottawa is already subsidizing EV purchases to the tune of $5,000.  This will have to increase to around $15,000 to support demand if prices continue to climb. This cannot last. I am certain that money would serve ALL Canadians better invested in healthcare.    

Another hit for all purchasers will be taxes.  Governments rely on gas taxes.  If Ottawa finally succeeds in ending fossil fuels, they will have to find another source for the lost revenue.  This will come from electricity. Like the EV subsidy which only benefits those who can afford cars and neglects those who cannot, a tax on electricity is also unfair because it will also tax those who do not have a car. These pending taxes will make the EV and Canada even less competitive.

Gas and diesel make up a large chunk of the oil industry’s revenues. If demand for these two get decimated, the price of everything will have to increase because oil by-products will always be needed for our everyday life.  Things such as plastics, jet fuel, tires, medicine, asphalt, and carbon fibre for EV’s and wind turbines, to name a few, all are made from oil. The list is endless. It is the price of these products that will absorb the lost revenue from gas and diesel. Without doing so will leave the industry bankrupt.  I am certain that in an EV world we will learn that gas and diesel helped limit inflation.  The whole system is flawed.   

Not one Green knows what level of Co2 we are striving for or why the gas is bad.  We know it is consumed by plants which then creates oxygen.  How is oxygen bad? Growing up, we were taught the climate changed indefinitely. It was also taught that Co2 was necessary for life.  Today, people are acting as if the world only started warming with the invention of the automobile and Co2 is a villain. This is not correct. The earth has been warming for 10,000 years, since the peak of the last ice age, and the world benefits from higher Co2. At 150ppm of Co2, life on earth begins to die. In a greenhouse filled with 1000ppm, plant life flourishes and those inside do not become ill. Today we are at 440ppm and it took thousands of years to get here. We have a long way to go before Co2 becomes an issue. If it ever will.  

Greens love to use any change in weather as the beginning of the end. They blame the flooding of flood plains on climate change even though it is natural. They love to say the wildfires across the globe, which tend to occur in between every glacial period, are due to climate change. Clearly a warming climate increases the risk of fires, but the problem is most fires we hear of are near civilization and are the fault of humans. All it takes is a cigarette or a piece of glass with the sun hitting it perfectly to start a fire. Climate scare aside, you will never hear a climate alarmist say that a wildfire is a necessary and natural process that helps replenish our forests.

Based on Justin’s train of thought, the biggest threat to our environment should be China.  When completed by the end of this decade, the country will have 4,705 coal fired power plants running.  This means Canada will receive their pollution via the Tradewinds for the next 50 years, at least. There is not one Green who criticizes China for their increasing use of coal.  Soon, China, Russia, and India will be responsible for roughly 65% of the world’s emissions, yet the Greens will continue to state Canada is the worst, at 1.5%.  

Our current rulers will never understand that the most effective way to make environmental improvements is to allow industry to be profitable and place reasonable restrictions that allow them to research and finance environmental efficiencies themselves. Canada’s oil companies have lowered their carbon footprint annually for decades and will be able to hit “net-zero” far faster than similar companies in other nations and most Canadians. But I am sure that Trudeau will classify all of this as either dis-or-misinformation if he gets Bill C-11 passed.