Alberta’s massive carbon resource warehouse is ground zero for the political battle over the country’s future, says a new book by energy expert David Yager.
“Already devastated by the collapse in commodity prices and denied pipeline expansion capacity in all directions, Alberta’s future direction hinges upon which politicians comprise the next federal government,” said Yager, who has written the book From Miracle to Menace, which examines Alberta from the perspective of its dominant oil, gas and coal industries.
“Depending upon the outcome of the upcoming federal election, climate change may claim its first major casualty: the economy of Alberta. That’s because getting out of the oil business has become a major campaign issue. The stakes are huge, and not just environmental.”
In his book, Yager writes that the current debate about climate change and what mankind should do about it has deteriorated to the point of absurdity.
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He said a major focus of the book is past destructive energy policies that have divided the country.
“Thanks to climate politics, it is happening again. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals introduced policies that seriously damaged Alberta’s carbon resource industries. The Green Party and NDP promise that if elected, they accelerate moving away from fossil fuels and betting big on ‘clean tech’ to keep the country warm, moving and economically secure,” said Yager.
David Yager
“Canada’s political mission to save the world by itself will not arrest climate change. Global energy demand is forecast to grow by 30 per cent in the next 20 years. With no substitutes for plastics, petrochemicals and heavy transportation, oil consumption will increase no matter what Canada does.
“Canada only produces four per cent of the world’s oil, 1.6 per cent of total emissions and houses merely 0.5 per cent of its population. Canada could disappear entirely and there would be no material reduction in global emissions unless the rest of the world – specifically China, India and the U.S. – does the same thing.”
The book is available in a number of formats and has three sections:
- Carbon Development: Alberta helps Canada become the world’s fifth largest oil and gas producer;
- Carbon Politics: past policy disasters and how carbon dioxide became the world’s greatest threat;
- Carbon Future: the complex issues surrounding climate change and ways Alberta can help solve the problem without legislated economic devastation.
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