Tough on
crime. Tough on people smugglers. Tough on prison pensions. The list of things
the federal government is getting tough on continues to grow-with a glaring
exception. If the intention is to project a "getting tough" image, we
need to be consistent and get tough on polluters.
Specifically,
why is the federal government standing weakly on the sidelines while the oil
sands industry makes a mockery of its national commitments to reduce global
warming pollution?
We released
a new report last week showing several areas in which federal laws need to be
better enforced to limit the worst impacts of oilsands activities. The
government itself recently acknowledged that it needs to get a better handle on
water pollution monitoring in the Athabasca River, which is a first step to
better enforcing the federal Fisheries Act.
But, it is
in the area of carbon pollution that the oilsands industry so clearly failing
to get with the program. Canada's current targets to reduce global warming fall
well short of what science says is needed-but even under those weak goals, the
government has said it will expect the oilsands to do its part, along with
other industries in the country, to help Canada meet an increasingly tight
budget for greenhouse gas emissions.
The problem
is that's not at all what the oilsands industry has planned.
Our report
shows that by 2020 the oilsands industry is projected to spend three and a
half times its proportional share of Canada's total budget for carbon
emissions. By 2050, it will blow its carbon budget by a whopping 40 times-or
more. These numbers are very generous, because they assume that carbon capture
and storage is fully implemented in the industry and is operating at its most
optimistic projections.
The
implication is that if Canada is going to hit its global warming targets-and
Environment Minister Jim Prentice confirmed last week the intention to do
so-then other sectors of the economy and society would have to make
substantially bigger cuts to their own carbon emissions to make up for the oil
industry's over-spending of its carbon budget. That kind of unfairness is
hardly an outcome that a tough manager of our federation could condone.
We join an
unlikely and growing chorus of voices saying that the federal government must
step up on the energy file. Both the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Council
of Canadians have called for a national energy strategy. We imagine their
visions would differ somewhat, but the fact remains that people across the
political spectrum are seeing a vacuum at the national level. A good indicator
of this is the growing number of think tanks now hosting conferences on this
issue. We are apparently ready to talk tough and at length about what needs to
be done-but we are missing action.
What is
stopping the federal government from actually moving ahead to get tough on
pollution? It's not the opposition parties, since each of them has called for
the government to do more. It's not the voters, since there is a hunger across
the country for Canada to regain lost ground on being a green leader
internationally. It's not even the Americans, our main energy customers, with
their ambassador on record saying more needs to be done to improve management
in the oilsands.
The
reluctance likely comes down to being unnerved by the saber rattling that the
Alberta government resorts to each time the prospect of federal action arises.
The ghosts of the long dead National Energy Program are trotted out every time
someone tries to remind the Alberta government that while it may have
jurisdiction over natural resources, it doesn't have sole jurisdiction or
accountability for addressing all of the social, environmental and economic
issues arising from their development. It would seem enough federal politicians
are still spooked by this ancient bogeyman.
Yet, we are
now in a dramatically different place than we were 30 years ago. The reality of
potential catastrophic climate change is staring us starkly in the face, and a
new industrial revolution is unfolding around the world, centered on
de-carbonizing our economy. Canada's allies and competitors understand this new
reality and are acting accordingly. Here at home, however, we are stuck,
endlessly debating the oilsands and thereby missing the opportunities to catch
up with those who are moving aggressively towards a clean energy economy.
These challenges
are not easy, and it will indeed take tough decisions to solve them. When we
look around, however, we see that most people are ready for these decisions and
want the federal government to get on with it. It's time that Ottawa better
enforced the environmental protection laws we have on the oilsands, and
charted a better pathway for Canada in a new world.
