NDP bill bans saying nice things about fossil fuels

NDP private member's bill in the Commons would prescribe jail time for saying nice things about fossil fuels.

NDP bill would prescribe jail terms for speaking well of fossil fuels | National Post | Tristin Hopper: 

February 7, 2024 - "An NDP bill is seeking to criminalize the 'promotion' of fossil fuels, and prescribe jail time even for Canadians who say scientifically true things such as how burning natural gas is cleaner than burning coal. C-372, also known as the Fossil Fuel Advertising Act, was tabled Monday as a private member’s bill by Charlie Angus, the MP for Timmins-James Bay and a longtime member of the NDP caucus.

"'Today, I am proud to rise and introduce a bill that would make illegal false advertising by the oil and gas industry,' Angus announced in the House of Commons. He added that the oil and gas sector was trafficking in 'disinformation' and 'killing people'.... But C-372 goes well beyond merely banning advertising by oil and gas companies. "As ... written, the act would technically apply to any Canadian who is found to be speaking well of the oil industry, or of oil generally.

"'It is prohibited for a person to promote a fossil fuel, a fossil fuel-related brand element or the production of a fossil fuel,' reads the act. Violate this as a regular citizen, and the act prescribes summary conviction and a fine of up to $500,000. Violate it as an oil company, and the punishment could be as strict as two years in jail or a fine of $1,000,000.

"Angus defines 'promotion\ so broadly that it could technically apply to something as simple as a Facebook post or even an 'I Love Canadian Oil and Gas' bumper sticker. Promotion, according to Bill C-372, means '‍a representation about a product or service by any means … that is likely to influence and shape attitudes, beliefs and behaviours about the product or service.‍' The act also criminalizes a laundry list of common pro-oil and gas arguments, even ones that have a reliable basis in fact. 

"Section 8 of the act makes it a crime for 'a person' to argue that a fossil fuel is 'less harmful than other fossil fuels.' Natural gas, for instance, generates energy with far fewer emissions or pollutants than diesel, coal, bunker fuel or any number of 'dirtier' fuels..... Nevertheless, according to C-372, anybody making such an argument should face a jail term of up to two years or a 'fine not exceeding $500,000.'

"Section 8 also criminalizes any 'promotion' which argues that fossil fuels are beneficial to 'the health of Canadians, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples or the Canadian or global economy.' As such, the section could conceivably prescribe jail terms for anybody arguing that the oil and gas sector is a key funder of the Canadian health-care system, or even that oil and gas is needed to operate ambulances and MedEvac flights. Similarly, Canadians would face sanction for saying that the extraction and selling of oil is a net contributor to the country’s economy — a claim that is actually made quite often by the federal government itself. 'Oil and gas extraction is an important contributor to the Canadian economy,' reads a recent report by Statistics Canada.

"The bill would also bring the hammer down on the ability of Canadian gas stations to hold contests or issue loyalty cards. Bill C-372 would make it illegal for a retailer to 'provide or offer to provide any consideration for the purchase of a fossil fuel.' Any contest offering “free gas” would also be criminalized, under the bill’s prohibition on offers to 'furnish or offer to furnish a fossil fuel without monetary consideration'....

"Angus allows that movies, plays and musical performances would be allowed to 'use or depict fossil fuels' or even show 'the production of fossil fuels' — provided that the creator can prove that they have no links to an entity that 'has as one of its purposes to promote fossil fuels.' Canadians would also be allowed to express an 'opinion, commentary or report in respect of fossil fuels' if similar guidelines are followed.|

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/ndp-bill-jail-terms-fossil-fuels

NDP MP Charlie Angus discusses his bill on fossil fuel advertising | cpac | February 6, 2024:

"Justin Transition" will have huge economic impact

Premier Smith 'sickened' by staggering disruption planned with Trudeau's Just Transition | Edmonton Journal - David Staples: 

January 16, 2023 - "The staggering scope of change that Justin Trudeau’s Liberals intend to impose on Canadians with their Just Transition program is made clear in a newly-released government document. The document — first reported by the online new[s] agency Blacklock’s Reporter and now obtained by Postmedia — are department speaking notes from June 1, 2022, for Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.

"The document predicts 'significant disruption' for workers in key Canadian employment sectors in order to meet federal emissions reduction targets. 'The transition to a low-carbon economy will have an uneven impact across sectors, occupations and regions, and create significant labour market disruptions.'

"Included in the 'large-scale' transformation will be jobs in the following sectors — 1.4 million building trades workers, 642,000 transportation workers, 292,000 agriculture workers, 202,000 energy workers and 193,000 workers in manufacturing. In total, 13.5 per cent of Canadian workers in many of the highest-playing blue-collar sectors will face major disruptions.

"The document notes, 'Some regions, particularly in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, where communities are more reliant on carbon intensive industries, will likely be disproportionally affected'.... Whether or not your blood is boiling about now will likely come down to which part of Canada you reside.

"If you’re from Quebec or British Columbia, provinces where hydro is king and where drastic action on climate change is seen as the ultimate moral good, such major disruption might well seem reasonable. Yes, a few eggs might well get broken to make the omelette of a greener world. Yes, some men and women who are earning high wages in a polluting industry might have to take lesser-paying jobs. But climate change is the most alarming existential issue of our times, right?... 

"But if you’re from Alberta, Saskatchewan or Newfoundland and Labrador, this plan might well strike you as madness, as a federal government that has lost all humility and common sense....

"Canada might contort itself and slash oil and gas production to lower emissions, but that will have no impact on worldwide emissions. Whatever the country does, the world’s several billion poor people will rightly continue to embrace burning fossil fuels so they can avoid starvation. If they don’t buy oil and gas from Canada, they’ll buy it from Russia, the Middle East or Venezuela. And, yes, we can all buy in to Trudeau’s plan for top-down federal government management of the economy, but we’ll be putting our faith in a government that has run up unprecedented debt, embraced energy scarcity policies that are already ratcheting up inflation, and grossly overspends even as it designs a phone app for incoming travellers that barely works.

"For my part, I note the vast differences of opinion between people in different regions of the country and I applaud the framers of the Canadian Constitution, including Peter Lougheed, for putting in place constitutional measures that can keep Canada united despite such differences, at least if the Constitution is respected... The framers, such as Lougheed, made sure that Alberta and other provinces have exclusive constitutional right to develop their natural resources. 

"This latest Trudeau scheme is so out-of-bounds, such a grotesque and misguided example of federal over-reach, that it’s evident either Trudeau has never read the Constitution, or he has no respect for it, nor for Alberta.

Read more: https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/david-staples-premier-smith-sickened-by-staggering-disruption-planned-with-trudeaus-just-transition

Justin Transition: Trudeau government plans to phase out Canada's oil & gas industry

The so-called “just transition” will leave Canadians cold and in the dark | True North - Gregory Tobin:

January 7, 2023 - "So what is the 'just transition'? At its most basic level, it is a plan to phase out Canada’s best in the world oil and gas industry. Leaving us with only unreliable and intermittent wind turbines and solar panels for our energy sources. And any fuels we do use [would be] imported from countries like Saudi Arabia and the United States. It also means replacing all oil and gas jobs in Canada – some of the highest paying jobs in the country and frankly the world – with jobs like solar panel installer.

"It’s unrealistic, but the Trudeau government is full steam ahead on it. Natural Resources Minister Johnathan Wilkinson, made a new year’s announcement that 2023 will see new legislation on the matter brought forward. They’ve even brought on board NDP MP Charlie Angus to help draft the legislation – another unfortunate sign that the Liberals have gone quite far left in their agenda.

"And with every passing item on their agenda, our allies outperform us.... In 2015 the United States exported zero LNG. But in 2022, America became the world’s largest exporter of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). It is simply ridiculous that Canada isn’t at the top of that list. We have the best product, made to the best standard, made by the best workers in the field, with extremely low emissions. The only thing stopping us from getting the product to market is government willpower.

"America is also becoming a leader in Carbon Tech – which is using technology to reduce emissions, or even remove CO2 emissions from the air and re-use it as an ingredient in all kinds of things like concrete, alcohol, carbon nanotubing and much more. Again, something Canada ... should be the world leader in.

"We’re already experiencing something called 'carbon leakage' – which occurs when Canada stops producing a given product, due to government efforts to reduce domestic emissions. But the demand for that product is still there, and so buyers end up going to places like China – who are happy to sell their coal and other products which are made with little to no environmental standards at all. And because of the government’s lagging behind, we’re also going to see 'job leakage' start to occur. Where workers who aren’t interested in being solar panel installers will go to the States or elsewhere to make big bucks in the Carbon Tech engineering world.

"But Trudeau does not seem to want to make Canada #1. And because of his attachment to an outdated eco-radical ideology, we have left it up to countries like Qatar and the United States to sell their LNG to the European nations begging for it. And they’ll make billions. Billions that could pay for hospitals, schools, roads, doctors, teachers, and good-paying jobs....

"Sadly, Trudeau fails to see the case for selling natural gas to a continent freezing to death. And also fails to see the case for capturing carbon while the world grapples with an emissions problem. It’s very frustrating. But so long as the prime minister can say he cut some domestic emissions somewhere, he is happy to do it, even if it leaves Canada behind. This 'just transition' off of oil and gas and nuclear is what has left Europe burning garbage to keep their kids warm. We cannot allow the same crisis to come to our shores. Canadians deserve better. 

"Let’s work towards an energy transformation – driven by innovation – that will allow us to continue using the energy and products we make here, to the best standards in the world, use Carbon Tech to make it all low emissions, and sell those products to a world that needs them. What we don’t need is more of the same old top-down bureaucratic ideas that don’t work, from a tired government, that leaves us and our allies cold and in the dark."

Read more: https://tnc.news/2023/01/07/tobin-just-transition/

Higher gas prices in 2020 thanks to UN regulation

Gas Prices Expected to Rise in 2020—Thanks to an Obscure UN Regulator - Foundation for Economic Education- Ross Marchand:

October 20, 2019 - "With gasoline prices in California eclipsing $4/gallon, Americans have taken to nervously glancing at their gas gauges. Oil prices appear to only be going in one direction (up), with dramatic disruptions such as a drone attack on Saudi refineries disrupting fuel supplies. But things may soon get far worse if the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a sub-agency of the United Nations, implements onerous worldwide restrictions on fuel content.

"Starting in 2020, the IMO will require the phasing out of sulfur from ship fuels despite documented difficulties in refiners’ ability to meet strict new standards. Unless the IMO changes course, consumers across America, and all around the world, will foot the bill for higher gasoline prices as the result of global fuel shortages. If America and her allies fail to act soon to stymie the efforts of this global bureaucracy, affordable gas will soon be a thing of the past.....

"Like many unaccountable international governmental organizations (IGOs), the IMO is hardly noticed by the media. But the agency’s 2016 decision to ratchet down sulfur content in shipping fuels from 3.5 percent to 0.5 percent has received plenty of press and attention from analysts around the world. Environmentalists have lauded the IMO’s decision and called for eliminating scrubbers used to wash out sulfur and comply with the new standards. But the IMO and cheerleader groups fail to properly acknowledge or address the fuel shortages that will likely result....

"In moving away from sulfur, shippers will likely switch en masse to alternatives such as gasoil or diesel. That’s not good news for refineries, which will face significant pressures to ramp up production of these stand-ins. Currently, there simply isn’t enough low-sulfur fuel to go around, and refineries will need to sharply increase capacity and operations in order to keep up....

"Worldwide regulations holding the industry back make it even more difficult for refineries to keep up.... In the US, federal fuel regulations have significantly contributed to the closure of 70 refineries since 1990. And since then, refineries have spent more than $100 billion complying with ultra-specific federal standards about which blends of fuel they are required to produce.... In Europe, refinery regulation is often even stricter than in the US....

"[A]sking everyone in the world to pay drastically higher fuel and shipping costs overnight hardly seems like a practical solution to environmental issues.... By working with shippers to achieve gradual, more attainable goals, the IMO could signal that it is serious about cleaning up the environment while keeping costs low. Consumers around the world deserve clean skies without having to gasp at their gas gauges, and taxpayers deserve an IGO that makes sound decisions."

Read more: https://fee.org/articles/gas-prices-expected-to-rise-in-2020-thanks-to-an-obscure-un-regulator/

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