Most of us have heard about the many measures that have been put in place by the federal Liberal government to kneecap the oil and gas industry. Things such as the emissions cap that is really a production cap on the industry, the ban on tankers off the coast of B.C. when tankers on Canada’s east coast are just fine, the industrial carbon tax which punishes energy-producing businesses and the environmental impact assessment act. Yet something that most Canadians have not heard about are the regulations on methane emissions, which could be one of the most damaging laws of all.
The principal component of natural gas is methane. The Canadian legislation on methane notes that as methane is considered to be a greenhouse gas (GHG), it is a major contributor to climate change. The government estimated that in 2021, the oil and gas sector was responsible for about 28 per cent of Canada’s GHG emissions. The oil and gas sector was deemed to be the largest source of methane emissions at that time, and about 20 per cent of the oil and gas sector’s GHG emissions were methane.
Original measures designed to achieve a reduction of 40 to 45 per cent below 2012 methane levels by 2025 were considered insufficient to meet Canada’s subsequent commitment to support a global methane pledge to achieve a minimum of a 75 per cent reduction in oil and gas methane emissions by 2030, relative to levels in 2012.
The Alberta government was quick to respond to the federal Liberals’ proposed methane regulations. Alberta stated that these regulations were unconstitutional as they infringed upon provincial jurisdiction over natural resource development. The province also stated that its existing methane reduction measures were effective and were meeting emissions targets ahead of schedule. Alberta further appealed for collaboration with the federal government and better alignment of federal policies with the province’s approach to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Alberta also emphasized the job losses and economic downsides resulting from the proposed federal methane regulations.
The oil and gas industry is very concerned about the current methane regulations, considering them to be unrealistic, unachievable and very damaging to the industry for dubious if any gains. As absolutely none of the federal government’s climate goals have been achieved to date, proving them to be not only ambitious but unrealistic, the industry has a good case to make. Federal and provincial environment departments have admitted in recent months that goals set years ago by optimistic governments backed by little if any scientific proof have no chance of being achieved.
Canada’s long history of climate alarmism is finally coming into question. Even Bill Gates recently moved away from his previous alarmist position on climate change, stating that although climate change is an issue, it will not lead to humanity’s demise and that people will be able to live and thrive on Earth for the foreseeable future. More and more experts have weighed in on this issue, noting that the draconian policies Canada and other developed countries have implemented to supposedly counter climate change have not only failed abysmally but wasted an immense amount of money that could have been better used to help lower income populations around the world improve their lives. The many so-called environmental groups and climate change extremists that continue to preach disaster are fading away as their predictions fail to materialize.
In the Canadian context, the federal Liberal government and some provincial governments continue to pursue punitive policies based on zero evidence and zero science. The many laws that have been put in place to sabotage our oil and gas industry have cost Canada about a trillion dollars in lost economic opportunity and lowered our standard of living. Although the methane regulations are less well-known than some other punitive policies damaging the development of Canada’s most important value-added industry, all of these policies deserve to be scrapped on the basis that they had no sensible foundation to begin with.
It’s interesting that Prime Minister Mark Carney promoted Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, as a means of permitting him to override all of the laws currently in place which hamstring our valuable oil and gas sector. This is a tacit admission on his part that all of these laws are harmful to Canada. So why doesn’t Carney just repeal all of the damaging laws? The answer is because he wants total control over any projects that are approved.
This should concern all Canadians as government-driven industrial strategies are always a fiasco. Given Carney’s history, it is likely that so-called “green” projects will be approved, instead of ones that actually make economic sense. The end game of this policy bias can be seen in the implosion of the electric vehicle industry subsidies in recent months which have, as usual, ended up as just a massive waste of tax dollars.
It’s a welcome development that prominent figures such as Bill Gates are finally acknowledging reality and moving away from climate change alarmism and toward more sensible solutions. In Canada, we can only hope our governments smarten up too.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
