Seeing energy policy only through the lens of climate change? That time is over: Heather Exner-Pirot and Charles Deland – MLI

July 3, 2024

If there was ever a time where Canadian energy policy could be determined looking only through a lens of climate change, that time is over.

This country needs to have a serious conversation. One that recognizes the challenges posed by a warming world – not least an increase in wildfires, drought and heat waves that have affected almost every Canadian – and grapples with the challenge inherent in matching our climate policy ambitions with taxpayers’ appetite to pay for them, government capacity to implement them, and society’s ability to transform its energy use.

Other countries can only dream of Canada’s enormous reserves of natural resources, and our standard of living depends greatly on exports of minerals, coal, hydroelectricity and especially, oil and gas. As with most human actions, extracting and using these resources often imposes negative environmental effects. But the response to this dilemma can’t be to punish and phase out our extractive sectors. There are substantial negative economic trade-offs and logistical constraints (such as constitutional challenges) to such a strategy.

So much of the debate is dominated by the loudest, most vested interests. But, what do the silent majority of Canadians – those who care more about paying their bills or picking their kids up from child care than what arguments were made about pipelines or heat pumps on the op-ed pages or on social media – think about these issues?

Read More: https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/seeing-energy-policy-only-through-the-lens-of-climate-change-that-time-is-over-heather-exner-pirot-and-charles-deland/