Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

JOHN FELDSTED -- The federal government pretense that Canada’s contributions to C02 emissions, will help or hurt the rate and extent of climate change, is unsupported by fact


There has been a good deal of publicity surrounding the Ontario Appeal Court decision on federal carbon pricing. Politicians and the media contend that the OAC decision is a confirmation of federal government powers under the peace, order and good government provision of the constitution.

The issues underlying federal carbon pricing legislation run far deeper than that. The Ontario Court and now the Ontario Appeal Court have held that we have a matter of national concern merely because the government of the day declares that it is so.

The OAC decision was not unanimous and the dissenting opinion has not received due attention. Justice Grant Huscroft wrote the dissenting opinion. I suggest you give the writeup on his opinion in the National Post a read. It is enlightening.

Many would argue our vast forests
make Canada carbon neutral
The Ontario (and Saskatchewan) rulings on the federal carbon pricing law violate the spirit of constitutional division of powers between the federal and provincial governments. Provinces generally have power over all local affairs, that is, all matters within their boundaries including the development, regulation and taxation of natural resources. The powers of the federal government are different from, but not superior to the powers of the provinces.

Environmental issues do not confer special powers on the federal government. Subjects like the environment have to be considered in the context of which aspects are local and which, if any, are federal.

Climate change is not isolated to Canada; it is a worldwide phenomenon. The federal government pretense that Canada’s contributions to carbon dioxide emissions will help or hurt the rate and extent of climate change is unsupported by fact. Climate change can have profound effects on our environment. Our government has it backward, believing that regulating the environment can control climate change.   

The world reduction in carbon dioxide emissions are well short of meeting targets set at the 2015 Paris climate change conference. There are only 57 nations who have or are expected to have peaked CO2 emission by 2020 and they represent only 40% of major emitting nations. See World Energy System Not On Track to Meet Paris Agreement Goals Page 7.

The danger within the federal carbon price law is that it overrides provincial jurisdiction without adequate justification. This government cannot show that implementing its escalating prices on carbon-based energy sources will protect us from suffering future ill effects of climate change. It cannot show that the $ billions of income and investment resulting from our failure to develop petroleum and other resources are justified. Canadians are already paying heavily for government policies that inhibit resource development. 

The precedent set is onerous. If allowed to stand, the federal government acquires the power to write law and regulations on any issue by declaring it to be of national importance. That is a violation of democratic principles.

Our federal government has spent four years inundating us with and questionable propaganda to demonize fossil fuels and shame us into accepting that we are contributing to a climatic apocalypse. Rather than responding to public concerns, this government is creating public concerns. That is not what they were elected to do.

The origins of this passion lie in the large and expensive Canadian contingent sent to the Paris climate change conference in December 2015 when this government was barely in office. Justin Trudeau and compatriots were determined to make a major ‘Canada is back’ statement and take a lead role in combatting climate change. That fit his objective of securing a seat on the UN Security Council.

Canada never left the world stage. We were quiet, staid, but respected. That is no longer the case.


John Feldsted
Political Consultant & Strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Comments

  1. Where did John Feldsted get his science degree? Fair question.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seriously John? "Questionable propaganda demonizing fossil fuels." It won't make a difference if we reduce our emissions? Good grief. THIS could is propaganda. Reads like a press release from Big Oil. But I do agree that the carbon tax is ridiculous. We can't tax our way out of this one. We need strong and immediate legislation in our resource sector. If foreign companies won't comply, nationalize them. Let Canadians control their own destiny.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GORDON F. D. WILSON: When The Trick Masquerades as The Treat

Thirty-seven years ago, Halloween 1987, I became the leader of the BC Liberal Party.   British Columbia was badly polarized. Social Credit held one side and the NDP the other. It had been twelve years, 1975, since Liberal MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer, and Alan Williams had walked away from their party to join Social Credit, one year after the lone Progressive Conservative MLA Hugh Curtis had abandoned his party to sit with Bill Bennett, the son and heir apparent to long-serving BC Premier, WAC Bennett.   An unwritten agreement by the biggest Canadian political shareholders, the federal Liberals and Conservatives, decided that if British Columbia was to remain a lucrative franchise from a revenue perspective, they couldn’t risk splitting the electoral vote and electing the real enemy, the NDP, so no resources would be used to finance either a Liberal or Conservative party provincially.   “There are two sides to every street,” I was told by a very prominent Canadian businessman who cont

FORSETH: You Have To Be A Bit Crazy

  Ward and his wife Carleen celebrating his win on election night.   In March of this year, I took on the role of Campaign Manager for BC Conservative candidate Ward Stamer.  It’s the third time I’ve had the opportunity as I took on the role for Peter Sharp in 2013, and for Dennis Giesbrecht in 2020. Now let me tell you, in the past, a BC Conservative campaign team generally consisted of myself, the candidate and one or two helpers – and very little in the way of a campaign budget. Thankfully, a benefit of having spent 30+ years in the broadcast media afforded me the ability to do ad copy and write candidate speeches, and prep both Dennis and Peter to deal with the media – it’s also something I have always enjoyed. That was part of my duties this time around as well, however having a team of a dozen and a half volunteers meant that for the first time we had people available to ID our supporters, put together and install campaign signs, distribute campaign literature, and help out at ou

Rustad will support policy for 'everyday' people, otherwise work to bring down NDP

  Conservative Party of B.C. John Rustad Tuesday (Oct. 29) said his party would support government policies that support "average, everyday working" persons in B.C., but also repeated earlier promises to bring down the B.C. NDP government under Premier David Eby. "If there are things that are moved forward that will improve lives for those people, we would be looking at support it," Rustad said. "But if he's going to carry forward with the destructive policies that he has, then yes, we are going to look at every opportunity possible to bring him down as soon as possible."  CLICK HERE for the full story

Labels

Show more