Lorne Gunter: Mark Carney contradicts himself on pipelines question

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Remember last week, liberal Mark Carney promised Calgary audience that his liberal administration would make Canada “the world’s leading energy superpower?”

First, I don’t know how many times we in Alberta have to hear some liberals coming to our province and promise to advance our energy industry before we immediately break into the laughter.

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There is no meaning of liberalism. They all want to take over our oil and gas industry or shut it down. Neither they have any benefit in Alberta or energy.

And, if you want to immediately prove Carney promised to follow this pattern with his “superpower”, consider what he said in an interview that aired on the Canadian Radio Show on Sunday, tout le monde en parle (the world is talking about), which is 60 minutes of French language.

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When asked about energy projects and pipelines, Carney said (in French): “We have to choose some projects, some large projects, not necessarily pipelines, but maybe pipelines. We’ll see.”

That is where his true heart is on the pipe. “We will see it.”

He didn’t say: “We’re going to build pipelines east and west to bring our oil and gas to new markets, so we don’t have to rely on Americans.”

No. His commitment to the pipeline is “we will see” and of course it is not a commitment at all.

You will remember that when he ran for Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader Carney said in English among the audience in Kelowna that he would use the federal emergency to drive major energy projects, and then a few days later, a few days later, he told Quebec reporters that he would not impose any such projects on the province.

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Since becoming prime minister, Carney has also promised a transportation corridor from coast to coast, but added that he will no longer cancel a ratification that requires First Nations, Quebec approval and gender balance, in any congress labor force.

Carney also put Trudeau’s radical environment minister Steven Guilbeault as senior minister in Quebec. And guess who will decide whether to approve any future pipeline in Quebec.

In other words, Carney made a huge commitment to turbocharge our energy sector while adhering to the Trudeau era “green” policy and Quebec preference.

In 2021, Carney formed Glasgow’s Net Zero Net Financial Alliance (GFANZ), whose main purpose is to pressure banks, insurance companies and investment companies not to invest in fossil fuels.

It doesn’t sound like someone who wants Canada to be an energy superpower, at least not in oil and gas.

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My guess is that Carney is just as hostile to our oil and gas as Trudeau, and Canada means “energy superpower”, a superpower of wind, solar and other “green” alternatives.

If his Liberal Party is re-elected on April 28, soon after, they will announce that Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy is so smooth that we don’t need more oil and gas. So we just don’t need to build more pipelines.

Carney will insist there is no way to claim that there is no commercial case for selling LNG to Germany, Japan and elsewhere, like Trudeau does.

On the day Carney was in Calgary (insert the wind here), his liberals released their energy platform, which called for the launch of a “clean energy supply chain” to obtain “clean energy projects quickly built across Canada” and build the “East-West grid.”

But there is no mention of pipelines.

Believe Mark Carney is another liberal – A man who intends to abandon the stupid “green” obsession of the past decade. But I won’t.

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lgunter@postmedia.com

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