Quebec's "tailpipe law" and Environment Minister fearmongering

"Oh my gosh, they are going to have more efficient vehicles, and that means using less oil!!"

    That is the real message the Jim Prentice was giving the oil people crowd in Calgary. He has no concern whatsoever about Quebecois paying more for vehicles when he said, and I now quote - "Quebec's new tailpipe standards for new vehicles would drive up prices by as much as $5,000". It was a completely disingenuous statement.

   I know that most of us Rabble readers realise what the sentiment behind the words of Jim Prentice, Canada's Environment Minister, and that the papers were also quoting the critics who accuse Prentice of "fearmongering". And, that everyone knows the CPC humps [Conservative Party of Canada] are basically AGW deniers.

    Still, I feel that it was made even more clear now that "Conservatives are going to go against each and every effort to reduce our use of oil and gasoline." It would not even matter if the action was going to SAVE people money, they will still go against it if it means using less oil.

    In fact, the main argument that  the oil people use for rejecting emissions reductions initiatives is allways "economic catastrophe", and that argument now becomes suspiciously disingenuous because, as Prentice showed in his speach, they would say anything.

    The "economic catastrophe" bit has been discredited in other ways too, as the few nations that have significantly reduced their use of fossil fuels have all seen an economic uptick. Sweden Plans on Being the First Country in the World to Be Free From Oil in 2020, and their economists see savings in energy costs from that. It is just not true that reducing our use of fossil fuels will result in economic catastophe.

   A world with abundant clean energy would certainly be a prosperous world. We will never have a world with abundant clean energy if our leaders continue to gaurd the fossil fuel industry from encroachment by renewables and by efficiency initiatives such as Quebec is mandating. It is a viable goal to have abundant clean energy, and it is also an essential, and inevitable goal if the human race is to be sustained.

   So, Jim Prentice, you have opened a door with your fearmongering. People can now clearly see that your arguments are all about protecting the fossil fools, and that those arguments have very little credibility.