The federal government is about to make a decision that will tell us a lot about the seriousness and consistency of its commitment to the climate crisis. If he approves the Bay du Nord oil drilling project off Newfoundland and Labrador, it will show that he has learned nothing from the acquisition of the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018.
Posted at 1:00 p.m.
The offshore drilling project would produce approximately 300 million to 1 billion barrels of oil over a 30-year horizon. This would lead to the emission of at least 430 million tonnes of CO2 eq., which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of eight coal-fired power plants or adding 7 to 10 million cars to our roads.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault is due to provide an update on the oil project on Friday, March 4. According to the echoes that reach us from Ottawa, even if it is the latter who will bear the burden of the final decision, Justin Trudeau’s cabinet would be very divided about the Bay du Nord project.
Between potential economic benefits and the real climatic consequences, the firm hesitates.
Inconsistency and blindness
In the wake of the release of the new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report earlier this week, saying yes to Bay du Nord seems more like laxity and blindness that would lock Canada into the exploitation of oil for decades to come, while putting local communities and marine flora and fauna at risk from a spill or other accident.
While this same government has just rejected LNG Québec’s fossil gas export project because of the negative effects it would have had on the climate and marine biodiversity, how can we not apply the same logic to the Bay du Nord project? just a few weeks later?
It is this kind of incongruity that has undermined this government’s credibility as a pseudo climate leader since it came to power in 2015. Despite many good decisions and concrete advances, the most incoherent decisions still weigh heavily in the balance.
With Bay du Nord’s approval, the federal government’s green claims would become even harder to defend against the provinces that are making gestures to advance the energy transition, such as Quebec, which is preparing to end exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons.
To put an end to ultimatums
So how can we collectively get out of this psychodrama that is played out around each project of its kind?
We must stop presenting fossil fuel projects, such as the Bay du Nord project, as the only solution to save a local economy in difficulty.
Newfoundland and Labrador is precisely faced with this difficult economic situation, partly because governments have bet too much on oil in recent decades. It was thus exposed to the vagaries of this market.
Building an economy resolutely oriented towards the future and freeing itself from dependence on the economy of fossil fuels should be a priority.
The federal government has the power and the duty to facilitate this transformation of the economy so that it is less polluting. It must not only refuse the Bay du Nord project, but above all quickly present a credible, fair and ambitious transition plan for the workers and their community. This type of funding would not be refused in the next budget. An example ? The fund of the future for diversification promised in the election campaign must imperatively see the light of day.
The population of Newfoundland and Labrador, a large proportion of whom support a green and just transition, must be able to count on the financial resources and the support necessary to develop sustainable economic projects that are promising and compatible with a safe and healthy environment.
* Co-signers: Charles Bonhommepublic affairs specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation; Alice-Anne SimardExecutive Director of Nature Québec; Eric Pineaultpresident of the scientific committee of the Institute of Environmental Sciences, UQAM; Angela CarterAssociate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo; Patricia Clermontcoordinator of the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment (AQME); Jean-Philippe Sapinskiprofessor of environmental studies at the Université de Moncton; Simon Guiroycoordinator/spokesperson of the Student Climate Action Front-FÉDAC; Conor Curtisdigital communications coordinator at the Sierra Club Canada Foundation and climate change policy researcher from Newfoundland and Labrador; Carol Dupuisspokesperson for the UNEplanète eco-citizen movement; Gabrielle Spenard-Berniercoordinator of the Mothers at the Front movement; Rebecca PetrinManaging Director of Eau Secours; Yves MailhotResponsible Citizens Committee of Bécancour