Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau came to Vancouver last week to unveil his environmental platform for the Oct. 19 federal election.
Trudeau promised an overhaul of the National Energy Board and a vaguely defined intention to work with provinces to impose a B次元官网网址減riceB次元官网网址� on carbon dioxide emissions across the country.
TrudeauB次元官网网址檚 media tour took him to the Burnaby facilities of General Fusion, where, like Premier Christy Clark a few weeks before, he stood at his podium before a prototype fusion reactor. This massive octopus of pistons and wires is an attempt to capture the nuclear reaction that powers the Sun and other stars, containing its fury within steel walls and magnetic fields.
The old joke about controlled fusion is that every 20 years, scientists tell us itB次元官网网址檚 just 20 years away. If it ever is developed, such a process could quickly put an end to our hand-wringing about fossil fuels, largely replacing them with endless, emission-free energy.
This is the type of technological revolution that Prime Minister Stephen HarperB次元官网网址檚 officials indicated would be needed, after Canada announced a pledge with other G7 leaders to make their economies carbon-free by 2100. ThatB次元官网网址檚 right, some time within the next 85 years.
Clark visited General Fusion to announce her new climate action advisory panel, which has to give her a plan to take to Paris next December. ThatB次元官网网址檚 the next big United Nations climate summit, where Trudeau hopes to lead a delegation of premiers to stop the flow of B次元官网网址渇ossil awardsB次元官网网址� given to Canada by people in polar bear suits.
Asked about the fusion reactor she had just toured, Clark laughed off the question, comparing it to the B次元官网网址渇lux capacitorB次元官网网址� used for time travel in the Michael J. Fox movie Back to the Future.
Trudeau recently told university students that we need to change our concepts of time and space, and he didnB次元官网网址檛 seem to be kidding.
The point here for voters is that all these leaders B次元官网网址� Harper, Trudeau, Clark and many others B次元官网网址� are talking down to you. You arenB次元官网网址檛 sophisticated enough to understand this climate business.
The Pope has weighed in, assuring us that carbon trading systems are not going to cut it. This is a rebuke to California, Quebec and the European Union, where effective carbon trading is, like controlled fusion, just around the corner.
Pope Francis warned that our B次元官网网址渢hrowaway cultureB次元官网网址� views nature B次元官网网址渟olely as a source of profit and gainB次元官网网址� and so people wonB次元官网网址檛 voluntarily do the right thing. (The results of the Metro Vancouver transit plebiscite could be interpreted this way, if you ignore the bumbling, waste and political posturing that really did it in.)
The Pope concludes that there is B次元官网网址渁n urgent needB次元官网网址� for a B次元官网网址渢rue world political authorityB次元官网网址� to impose order on the greedy capitalist humans that infest our beautiful planet. Presumably this would be run by the UN, so my advice is to start hoarding candles and cat food now.
B.C.B次元官网网址檚 frozen carbon tax has ceased to have much effect, with gasoline consumption back up over 2008 levels amid the usual volatility of prices. Gasoline is going for around $1.30 a litre, despite the prolonged slump in crude oil prices, and people have basically forgotten about this tax on top of all the other gas taxes.
Perhaps B.C. can brag in Paris about the Pacific Carbon Trust, which limps along as a government department after its near-death experience in 2013.
The program continues to divert tax dollars from B.C. government operations to purported carbon-saving activities, including paying coastal First Nations not to log the portions of forests that they demanded be preserved.
Tom Fletcher is legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Twitter: @tomfletcherbc
