Conservatives: Avoiding Doing Anything

In their efforts to numb the public with their incessant lip-flapping about the "Green Plan", the Conservatives have tried to slip yet another exception under the radar.

Okay, I can accept the notion that you don't want to flatten industry by over-regulating it. I cannot, however, accept the notion that the oil sands industry is so fragile that it has to be exempted from making meaningful changes to the emissions it produces.

Rabid Alberta isolationists will argue that anything that inhibits the unfettered growth and activity of the oilsands will crush our economy in another NEP-like crash. The fact is that the real risk to Alberta's economy is the increasing shakiness showing in the US economy - where the housing bubble is continuing to collapse, leaving an increasing number of people with massive debt loads and no cash.

Alberta's economy is more endangered by the US economy's condition than it will ever be by reasonable environmental policy. Exempting entire industry segments is not good policy.