Opinion: The Liberals have destroyed Albertan families and their livelihoods

When the Trudeau government took government, the Liberals committed to decimating the Canadian oil and gas industry, and they were up front about it. From the start, the Liberals argued that the future of Canada had to be a de-carbonized economy. They promised to achieve their goal with sensible policy changes, and no hardnosed policies meant to shock the economy out of its “addiction” to oil. Carbon taxes and other innovative policies would ‘disincentivize’ carbon emissions, they said. Since then, the Liberals have levied their carbon taxes, but they have also done everything they could to prevent energy projects here in Canada. Bill after bill imposing environmental restrictions and creating red tape nightmares, with nothing to show but to slow down or stop all significant development.

Trudeau’s plan seems to hinge on destroying Canadian jobs. His policies have intentionally impaired Alberta’s ability to develop its resources. The construction of critical infrastructure has been stopped-- or paused so long it makes no difference. When the government should have been promoting industry and creating jobs at a time of growth, Trudeau actively slowed down the Albertan economy. Now we are facing a global economic downturn, and we are less able to weather the storm.

Despite the government’s best wishes, Canada has not reduced its consumption of oil and gas products; we’ve imported over 90 billion dollars worth of oil since 2015. Team Trudeau has shown no real interest in technology that will mitigate many of their concerns regarding resource extraction; they want to shutter the Canadian Oil Industry. The clear message is that the Canadian government does not want to use less oil or reduce the environmental cost of the oil we produce. Our government wants Canada to produce less.

There is no decarbonization on the short or medium-term horizon, and they know that. The hydrocarbon is the only method, currently known, to provide the massive amount of energy any first-world economy needs to function. It seems the Liberals have a plan. They want to import oil the Canadian economy requires to function. Import from jurisdictions where we cannot control the environmental costs.

The Liberal government understands their policies will put many western Canadians out of work, which will create a dependency on oil and gas from countries who have a dismal record on protecting the environment and human rights. From coast to coast, Canadians have benefited from natural resource development, and many easterners support our resource sector while many of their elected politicians demonize our oil and gas. In years of plenty, these are the same politicians who had their greedy little hands out for western resource cash.

In seeking to appease the environmentalists and foreign anti-Canadian Oil groups, the Trudeau government is willing to sacrifice the lively hoods of millions of Canadians. The Liberals are stripping Alberta’s economy of jobs to show their friends in the international environmentalist community that they are good and virtuous, at the expense of the livelihoods and families they destroy in the process.