Letters to the Editor - Tuesday, Dec. 7
Re: “Liberals and NDP harden opposition to oil and gas” opinion column by local MP Garnett Genuis in The News’ Nov. 28 edition Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan MP Garnett Genuis’ recent column demonstrates just how bankrupt the Conservatives are when it comes to the climate emergency. He’d rather attack the messenger (Federal Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault) than engage with the crisis facing all Canadians, whether we live in Alberta or not. This is not a case of Alberta against the rest of the country, as he pretends. No, all of us are sitting on the tracks as the train careens towards us. MP Genuis has nothing to offer on how we should avert the inevitable consequences of doing nothing. He’d be on firm ground if he were to accuse the Liberals of doing too little to avert the coming climate catastrophe, but that would require him to propose an alternative strategy to address the consequences of producing and burning more fossil fuel. He is silent on that front. I’m afraid he and his party have nothing constructive to contribute regarding the current emergency. He talks of Alberta’s “energy industry” as if it consisted of oil and gas alone, ignoring the fact that Alberta has some of the country’s richest renewable energy resources — solar, wind and geothermal — not to mention the skilled workforce to go with them. He can’t see the fabulous opportunities offered by developing those resources. Such blindness in this hour of need is unforgiveable. Instead, our MP dismisses as “anti-energy protesters” those of us who seek a way to avoid a global cataclysm by securing a sustainable, renewable energy future. To make matters worse, he aligns himself with Premier Jason Kenney’s disastrous and discredited environmental witch hunt report. Albertans deserve better than such shallow treatment of the enormous challenge we face as a province and as a country. We will only win this battle by collaborating with other Canadians to achieve the required transition, no matter their political stripe or region. Time is of the essence. We cannot afford to lose. Peter Puxley, Sherwood Park What if politicians were bound by an ethical code and duty to serve by a regulatory body, the same way physicians, nurses, educators, therapists, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and trades professionals are? What if they were liable for the shortfalls in public safety from their policy decisions during a pandemic that led to COVID case rates higher than every other province?
