Since the pandemic began, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been under pressure to either abandon measures to fight climate change or double-down on efforts to move to a post-carbon economy. His Friday policy announcement split the difference.
“Just because we’re in a health crisis doesn’t mean we can neglect the environmental crisis,” Justin Trudeau said on Friday morning.
You could read that statement as a painful reminder of the fact that even once we’ve made it through the anxiety, stress and sacrifice of a global pandemic, there will still be the monumental task of confronting and combating climate change.
But the prime minister more likely meant it as a statement of intent and a message of reassurance for those voters worried that the fate of the planet might fade from view in the scramble to buttress the economy against the spread of a deadly virus.
Trudeau actually made that declaration in the middle of announcing a series of measures to support the oil and gas industry and those who work in it. Some of those measures had a complimentary goal of addressing serious environmental concerns.
The ultimate future of the oil and gas industry will remain a significant question for this country, just as it was before the pandemic’s arrival. But Trudeau might have hoped that Friday’s package would appease both those who want to see short-term assistance for an important domestic industry and those who would prefer to keep the focus on the long-term problem of global warming.
Temporary allies in a trying time
As it turned out, Tzeporah Berman, one of Canada’s most vocal environmentalists, and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (two people who probably like to imagine that they have nothing in common) both found something in Trudeau’s announcement to applaud.
Granted, their interpretations of Friday’s announcement differed substantially. Berman seemed to think the federal measures were in line with her goal of winding down the oil and gas industry — but for a prime minister who likes to say that the environment and the economy must go “hand in hand,” success probably looks like both sides coming away with something to be happy about.
On top of the global economic freeze precipitated by COVID-19, Canadian oil producers have suffered a collapse in global markets brought on by a clash between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
So anticipation of new supports for the oil and gas industry has been building for weeks — p