Straight to the point | The inconsistency of Bay du Nord

This decision will mark liberal rule over the environment – ​​and not in a good way.

Two days after the Secretary General of the United Nations called any increase in fossil fuel production “madness”, the federal government approves Newfoundland’s Bay du Nord oil project. True, this project is much less polluting than those of the oil sands of Western Canada.

True, too, that it will do a lot of good for Newfoundlanders, whose province is in debt. Except that by approving a new oil project, Minister Steven Guilbeault is doing the exact opposite of what science commands.

He now promises us that Bay du Nord will be “carbon neutral” by 2050. First of all, we can’t wait to see how.

Carbon-neutral oil projects don’t exist yet, and the federal government is making quite a bet by moving forward in this way. Then, we must put a big damper on the term “carbon neutral”.

Because by 2050, the operation of Bay du Nord will indeed emit carbon.

And no matter how it is extracted, oil pollutes when burned. For Steven Guilbeault, the burden of proof is now immense.

He must show us that this increase in oil capacity is compatible with the massive reductions in emissions from the sector promised in his recent green plan.

Let’s say we wait to see it to believe it.