Environmental hypocrites

Dear editor: There’s always some level of hypocrisy and virtue signalling in politics, but as we’ve seen with Justin and the Trudashians, it all becomes counterproductive after a while.

There’s been a spate of righteous declarations in these pages defending us against pipelines and climate change and advocating measures to deal with these imminent perils. Deeds not words. Let’s vet how environmentally virtuous people really are, and just how credible they might be on this issue.

How many self-appointed protectors of the environment have given up jet travel and pared their vehicles down to one per household? How many own RVs and power boats? How many drink bottled water or slug the landfills with disposable diapers? How many have removed their air conditioning and shut off their gas furnaces? What about consuming foods and products transported by fossil fueled vehicles?

Do the anti-pipeline crusaders admit that petroleum is our biggest export commodity? It’s slightly more than 20 per cent of our total exports. What realistic alternatives do they offer to support employment and keep the economy going?

They don’t have any because it’s no pipelines and damn all else. Our manufacturing sector is noncompetitive because of high corporate taxes, high energy, labour and plant costs and carbon taxes, so that’s no offset to lost oil wealth. It’s hard to take people seriously who don’t practice what they preach, kind of like bordello workers crusading for chastity.

Don’t look for environmental righteousness among the politicians who are playing in this bun fight. It’s all about power. Weaver is wrong-headed. He’s the only one is somewhat true to his beliefs, but he rolled over quickly on the Site C hydro project and put himself at considerable political risk with the environmentalists.

B.C. Premier John Horgan is so desperate to maintain power that he’s welded his destiny to Andrew Weaver and his Green tar-babies. He’s made pipelines his political hill to die on.

Then there’s feisty Rachel Notley, accidental Premier of Alberta, former anti-oil crusader, and carbon tax devotee who, in an ironic twist, is fighting desperately for a pipeline to save her political backside.

But, Justin Trudeau is the ultimate environmental hypocrite and political opportunist. Trudeau painted himself into a corner with his foolish prognostications about the end of oil, his obfuscations on pipeline approvals and his lies and hollow promises to the natives and environmentalists. Now, it’s showtime so he does a chameleon act and claims to be the pipeline champion. People who say they stand for everything really stand for nothing, except themselves.

Trudeau needs to make another foreign visit, this time to Venezuela. He could show up dressed like a destitute peasant and observe how another socialist government has mismanaged its country’s vast oil wealth to the point of economic ruin. John Thompson

Kaleden