Ottawa needs to ditch its ideological blinders and wake up to the real threats facing our country — and the world.
The question came after Greece signalled its interest in purchasing Canadian LNG, to supply not only its own needs, but those of the Balkans, eastern Europe and potentially Ukraine, as well. “Canada is a country with which we share so many values” and geopolitical interests, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told CTV.
At the time, his government was hard at work drafting its “Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies: Government of Canada Guidelines,” which were unveiled last summer. (Yes, that is the actual title of the policy, perhaps dreamed up by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault rereading Karl Marx by organic-candle light.)
And that policy remains a point of pride for the Liberals. “The government is opposed to using government money to fund inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. We’re the first country in the world to actually do that,” Wilkinson crowed to CTV.
And it’s not just politicians sounding the alarm. In a 2022 report, RBC concluded that funding the planned net-zero transition was a tall order, especially since, ironically, “natural gas continues to make a compelling economic and reliability argument.” The report concludes that natural gas needs to remain in the mix “at least through 2035.”
While I’m not a fan of government subsidies as a rule, the federal government should reverse course on its LNG stance for both economics and geopolitical reasons. Canadians can’t afford not to use natural gas, and our allies need our support against a belligerent Russia. Our government needs to ditch its ideological blinders and wake up to the real threats facing our country — and the world.
National Post