Copenhagen brain squeeze: Day 1
Canada’s Environment Minister Jim Prentice keeps repeating the line that the federal government will not put jobs, the economy, investments, and the standard of living of Canadians at risk during negotiations in Copenhagen. It’s an obvious thing to say, regardless of what country you’re representing, but implicit in Prentice’s comments is the belief that reducing greenhouse gas emissions necessarily requires a sacrifice to jobs, a sacrifice to the economy, and a lower standard of living. Now, nobody is saying there won’t be some pain as we shift our provincial economies, but let’s get one thing straight: lowering greenhouse gas emissions, even in Alberta, can create jobs, can attract investment, can boost the economy. When Prentice talks, he’s specifically talking about the jobs of the fossil-fuel industry, the impact of this industry on Canada’s economy, and the standard of living of the people who profit from this industry. What he fails to mention is the jobs that can be created once investment is shifted to other clean-energy sectors, and the economic value this can bring. It’s not an all or nothing proposition, yet the Harper government continues to imply that it is, and in doing so is misleading the Canadian public by not accurately describing the opportunities that do exist, if we only choose to pursue them. This language is divisive, as it’s pitting Alberta against the rest of the country.
Interesting, Prentice — again, the environment minister — doesn’t mention the need to protect the environment or public health. But you will hear him talking about the federal government’s commitment to have 90 per cent of electricity in Canada emission-free by 2020. This is an interesting target, since the federal government has absolutely no control over electricity policy, which is provincial jurisdiction. But it sounds nice, right? Even if it does equate to taking credit for efforts in province’s such as Ontario and British Columbia.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Not to mention that it will be increasingly difficult to maintain a standard of living and an economy that is dealing with the ravages of climate change.
Their analysis of the costs to Alberta and the oil industry is based on the carbon cost added to an assumed price for oil that they estimate will stay at $45/barrel from 2010 to 2020 in 2003 dollars. With rising energy costs the industry will be able to absorb the cost of carbon offsets and still manage to post large profits…