Ideology, politics, energy a bad mix
Dear editor: Re: Transitioning to low-carbon future, Herald, Opinion, June 21
Our MP provided an interesting summary of the G20 Energy talks in Argentina, noting that the big thrust was towards a low carbon future which involves massive government spending.
Mr. Cannings should examine the energy fiasco in Ontario to see how politically driven energy schemes can go terribly wrong.
Ontario Premier Bob Rae appointed Maurice Strong, former head of the UN Environmental Program, to run Ontario Hydro. Strong then used Ontario as a guinea pig to indulge his theories on carbon emissions and climate change.
Ontario now has the highest sub-national debt in the world, $312 billion. The Ontario Hydro boondoggle is a big part of it. ìEnergy poverty,î where people are forced to make trade-offs between overpriced electricity and other essentials, is a reality for many.
Strong died in China after fleeing there in the aftermath of the UN Oil for Food scandal where he helped the Chinese manipulate the international carbon trading system to their favor. And Bob Rae remains an amiable lefty folk hero.
We shouldn’t trust much of anything the Chinese say. They do ornamental things to signal their internationalist virtue while continuing to asphyxiate thousands with gross carbon emissions.
Soaring electrical costs are an issue in the UK. Cheery messaging aside, the bulk of their electricity comes from gas and nuclear. Wind and solar only produce 14 per cent.
The Germans shouldn’t be too preachy either. Their electrical grid is wobbly and overburdened. It gobbles huge government subsidies and they’ve had to confront the reality that the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow enough in Germany. Fossil fuel backup for renewable sources is essential. Nuclear is non-carbon, but it’s verboten. German consumers pay the equivalent of $345 for electricity monthly. We’re fortunate to have abundant clean hydro and pay much less, but the greenies don’t like that either.
Wind and solar power require huge expenditures of taxpayers’ money to be anywhere near viable, and they still can’t satisfy demand. Politicians are drawn to energy issues like mosquitoes to a bug zapper. It always ends poorly for the taxpayer and consumer. Playing with electricity inevitably results in some nasty shocks unless you’re grounded in reality.
Mixing ideology, politics and energy just doesn’t work. Look at our situation where three doctrinaire Greens, two power-hungry premiers and one feckless prime minister will cost us nearly $20 billion for a pipeline which needn’t have cost a dime.
Canada, what we’re doing isn’t working. Our system is sick with soft Canadian laws. Life should be life, not eight to 10 years with the possibility of parole.
Better yet, a public hanging like the old days.