Alberta's Environment Minister condemns Ottawa's undemocratic 'gag order' on Canadian energy
In February, NDP MP Charlie Angus’s Bill C-372, entitled “An Act respecting fossil fuel advertising”, made it to first reading and wasn’t taken very seriously all; in fact, many derided it as absurd. The unhinged bill included fines and jail time for members of the oil and gas industry if they dared to suggest they are responsible environmental stewards or to advocate for Canadian oil and gas as an ethical environmental alternative.
Unfortunately, Bill C-372 was in many ways the progenitor of Bill C-59. It's a bill which is now the law of the land in Canada and serves as a gag order on Canada’s energy sector, threatening immense fines and legal headaches for companies, individuals and governments who dare assert that our oil and gas are part of the global solution when it comes to environmental concerns — not part of the problem.
Ethical Canadian energy producers could find themselves caught up in legal battles with environmental activists, having to prove they aren’t “greenwashing” their industries with phony rhetoric. Ironic, given the federal Liberals haven’t met a single emissions target they have set and virtually every piece of legislation they pass is empty virtue signalling and textbook greenwashing.
"The Big Tobacco moment has finally arrived for Big Oil," he says, introducing a bill that would make it illegal to "falsely promote the burning of fossil fuels as a benefit to the public." - NDP MP Charlie Angus.https://t.co/PHR7jF0lJM pic.twitter.com/pPs24x7Kyn
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 7, 2024
For those unfamiliar with the term, “greenwashing” means to mislead the public to believe something is more environmentally friend than it is.
The bill could also see our ethical energy sector, both environmentally and in terms of human rights, bending the knee to international bodies for approval and affirmation, bodies often comprised of or influenced by mass polluters and human rights violators like China.
This is a clear ideologically driven attack by Trudeau and company on Western Canada, and, like most green initiatives coming out of Ottawa, it does nothing to help the environment. What is does accomplish, is a great deal of harm to a job-creating industry that has been leading the world in emissions reductions — all while creating wealth and paying other provinces' bills for decades via equalization payments.
To breakdown just how concerning this bill is for Canada at large, those working in oil and gas, and especially for Alberta’s energy industries, I was fortunate to be joined by Rebecca Schulz, Alberta’s minister of environment and protected areas.