Wait - Why Aren't We Energy-Independent Again?

Not that anyone cares what Justin thinks:

Canada will send at least 100 anti-tank weapons and 2,000 rockets to Ukraine to help bolster their defence against increasingly aggressive Russian military advances, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. ...

(Sidebar: all of which will arrive late and prove of little use.) 

The prime minister announced that Canada would also ban the import of Russian crude oil going forward, although none has entered the country since 2019. He did not say that the ban would extend to Russian refined petroleum.

 

Yes, about that:

Did you know that Eastern Canada buys over $550 million of Russian oil each year? https://t.co/q2kwcntjXw pic.twitter.com/2ScicoSmhZ

— Martin Pelletier (@MPelletierCIO) February 22, 2022

I'll just leave these right here:

Canadians are wary of cabinet’s climate change plan to ban the sale of gas and diesel-fueled cars, pickups and SUVs in the name of “personal choice and freedom,” says in-house Privy Council Office research. Cabinet is mandating that all sales be electric by 2035: “There was anxiety with many believing costs for consumers would go up.”

**

Prior to the shakedown of the NEB, few Canadians had heard of the National Observer or its sister publication, The Vancouver Observer. Both are on-line reporting projects of the Observer Media Group. Launched in 2015 with crowd-funded seed capital, the National Observer calls itself “independent” and says that it exists “thanks to reader subscriptions and donations.”

One of those donors, according to U.S. tax returns, is The Tides Foundation in San Francisco. Tides has funded Observer Media via Earth Ways, a charitable foundation in Malibu Beach, Calif. Tides and Earth Ways have a long history and are funded by some of the same donors.

In 2015, Tides paid US$21,000 to Earth Ways for re-granting to Observer Media, US$20,000 for “media reporting” and US$1,000 “in honour of Linda Solomon.” Solomon is the founder and editor-in-chief of the National Observer and CEO of The Observer Group. She’s also the sister of Joel Solomon, a former employee and chairman of The Tides Foundation.

Linda Solomon did not reply to an email seeking further information about her publication’s connection to Tides. De Souza responded to a request for comment, but did not answer questions about funding from Tides.

Given that the National Observer is partially funded by Tides, it bears mention that Tides is by no means an impartial bystander in the campaign against Alberta oil. In fact, Tides is the funding and co-ordination juggernaut behind anti-pipeline activism. Totaling US$35 million, Tides made more than 400 payments (2009 to 2015) to nearly 100 anti-pipeline groups. Without all that Tides money, pipeline projects would not be facing well-organized opposition.

If Tides funded activists to act as honest brokers, that would be fair. But that’s not what Tides does. Tides funds The Tar Sands Campaign, an international effort that aims to embarrass Canada, deter investment and stigmatize Alberta oil as the poster child of dirty fuel. The goal of this campaign is nothing short of stopping the export of Alberta oil by pipeline, rail and tanker.

** 

One of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s star Liberal candidates — prominent Quebec environmental activist Steven Guilbeault — says it’s unlikely Canada will ever build another pipeline under legislation passed by Trudeau’s government.

In acknowledging this to the National Post’s Jesse Snyder, Guilbeault — recruited to run by senior Trudeau strategist and fellow environmental activist Gerald Butts — committed a classic political gaffe.

That is, Guilbeault, who has history of engaging in civil disobedience at climate change protests, accidentally told the truth.

Trudeau’s official position is that his Bill C-69, which expands and complicates the already Byzantine process for reviewing and approving pipelines in Canada, won’t interfere with the construction of new pipelines.

At least beyond the one pipeline Trudeau bought — Trans Mountain — in a bid to get that long-delayed project, which is still stalled, moving again.

 

Guilbeault confirmed the concerns of Canada’s oil and gas industry, which dubbed Bill C-69 the “no more pipelines bill,” along with Bill C-48 banning oil tankers from docking in northern British Columbia.