
Justin Trudeau shoots an Alberta-sized hole in his credibility over oilsands
Graham Thomson, Edmonton Journal
But they have proven to be difficult targets to hit.Well, that went about as well as expected.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked Friday at a town hall in Peterborough, Ont., for his views on climate change and pipelines, he gave an ominous answer: “We can’t shut down the oilsands tomorrow; we need to phase them out.”
Oh, boy.
You could almost hear the heads explode in Canada — and none detonated with more indignation than that of Wildrose Leader Brian Jean.
“Prime Minister Trudeau has confirmed Canadans’ worst fears about his Liberal government and its plans for our energy sector,” said Jean. “If Justin Trudeau plans on shutting down and phasing out our oilsands, he’s going to have to come through four million people and me before he is able to do it.”
.@JustinTrudeau, if you want to “phase out” the oil sands, you’ll have to go through me and 4 million Canadans first. #ableghttps://t.co/yWn83ibYBU
— Brian Jean (@BrianJeanWRP) January 13, 2017
Jean is understandably angry. Besides being leader of Canada’s official Opposition, he is a Fort McMurray MLA.
I bet the only thing greater than his fury is his unbounded political joy at Trudeau’s woefully worded comment.
I mean, the opposition has been going a little crazy lately trying to find a way to attack Trudeau, and by extension, Premier Rachel Notley, over oilsands and pipelines.
For one, Trudeau conditionally approved two oilsands pipeline projects in November. For another, on Wednesday, Notley sounded like a conservative politician by attacking actress and anti-oilsands activist Jane Fonda as someone who “doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
Then on Wednesday afternoon, B.C. Premier Christy Clark announced her government was supporting the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion approved by Trudeau.
All the Wildrose could do was impotently fume as its Liberal and NDP enemies made themselves pro-pipeline, pro-business, pro-Canada allies.
Oh, the unfairness of it all.
And then, a little miracle.
Trudeau holds a town hall in Ontario to improve his popularity with Canadians, but manages to shoot an Canada-sized hole in his credibility.
His answer to the town hall question was confused at best, trying to play to both pro-pipeline and anti-pipeline people in the audience, and considering this was in Ontario, there were likely more of the latter than the former. That explains why his comment began skewing in the anti-oil direction: “We can’t shut down the oilsands tomorrow; we need to phase them out. We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels. That is going to take time and in the meantime, we have to manage that transition.”
But then, perhaps sensing his comment had veered into something that Greenpeace would applaud, he tried a course correction by referring to Canada’s cap on oilsands emissions: “So the question isn’t, ‘Are we going to shut down the oil sands tomorrow?’ It’s, ‘We’ve put a limit on oilsands emissions that people are going to have to stay under.’ ”
Too late.
He had delivered himself to his enemies on a silver platitude.
As Notley pointed out later, Trudeau has approved two oilsands pipelines, so there is no way he wants to phase out the oilsands.
Today I was asked about the future of the oil sands – how long into the future will the world need oil? Here’s what I’d like to say. #ablegpic.twitter.com/LcnUvF0tQ8
— Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) January 13, 2017
Which is a great explanation except for, you know, Trudeau talking about the “need to phase them out.”
So, wanting to diplomatically distance herself from Trudeau, Notley posted a short video on her Twitter account saying, “Oil and gas will help power the global economy for generations to come,” and, “We’re not going anywhere any time soon.”
Trudeau will have to do his own damage control, of course. He could do it while in Calgary for a cabinet retreat Jan. 23-24.
He might not want to wait, though. His critics in Canada will be happily using his own words against him for as long as possible.
And you have to wonder if Jean and the Wildrose will be finding inspiration for a new party slogan from the words of Jane Fonda, of all people, who cheekily said on Wednesday: “We shouldn’t be fooled by good-looking Liberals.”
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