As with most stable-minded Canadians, I was horrified but not terribly surprised when Justin Trudeau announced that he planned to raise the economically crushing carbon tax to an insane $170 per tonne. Trudeau is a trust fund baby who is ideologically driven. He has no concept or ability to understand economics and in being dependent upon the socialist NDP in order to maintain his grasp on power, it wasn’t shocking to see him propose a massive tax increase.
I deluded myself though into thinking that perhaps now, our leaders in the energy industry would finally speak up and push back against this latest federal assault. I hoped they would go on the offensive. I expected to see true industry experts on TV and on the radio explaining what this tax would do to their businesses along with all the people dependent on them. I anticipated that they would be outraged but reasonable as they were finally inspired to defend their livelihoods.
I was to be disappointed.
What I did see was an utterly repugnant op-ed from a self-styled energy expert in a national newspaper explaining how the carbon tax was actually going to be good for Canada’s oil and gas sector. He felt that we should be grateful and that taking on this massive new expense would actually benefit us all. From that garbage piece, he then appeared on the radio to expand on the utter pap that he had written virtually unchallenged.
There are a number of these so-called energy “experts” out there. It is the same handful of names showing up in the papers and on panels who claim to speak for the industry yet have never actually taken part in it.
These clowns have never been in the field and wouldn’t know a wellhead from a pipeline riser if their faces were smacked into one. They know nothing of exploration, marketing or even production accounting. They only know how to talk and they do it at length.
So why are these guys always front and center when energy issues arise?
To be blunt, it’s because they are easy to find and they make themselves available.
Much of the media is lazy. They don’t want to spend half a day tracking down guests for shows and if an editor has a quick, cut-rate op-ed submitted to touch on the issue they will grab it and move on.
Most of the true oil and gas experts are introverts. They just want to work within their field and have no interest in speaking out publicly on issues. They prefer to keep their head down and let others speak on their behalf even if those others are the twits we are hearing from out there today. The true experts just can’t afford to hide anymore.
Industry leaders need to speak up.
Contact media outlets.
Let them know you are available to speak on these issues.
Counter the BS which is going around out there. Don’t wait for the UCP energy “war room” to do it. They are as inept as the other “experts” speaking for you. Your very future depends on this.
The industry has let the narrative go and it needs to take it back. If we don’t we can look forward to more assaults on our industry going utterly unchecked as central Canadians are told by “experts” that our industry actually wants it this way.