In my previous blog post I started to lay out the various economy-killing legislation and policies that Trudeau and his green cabal have in store for Canadians in 2023.  These include the Carbon Tax, which is set to increase on April 1, 2023, and the Clean Fuel Standard (or the Second Carbon Tax), which will come into force July 1, 2023. I’d like to touch on yet another piece of legislation that the Trudeau government is set to table in 2023. 

“Just Transition”

In early January, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced that the Trudeau Liberal government is moving ahead with a major “initiative” in 2023 known as “Just Transition” legislation.  I’ve been sounding the alarm for years about what “Just Transition” means (you can read my past blogs, here, here, and here, oh and here). While in this context Wilkinson talks about “Just Transition” as a plan to help shift workers away from “carbon intensive” jobs in the oil and gas sector into “green energy” jobs, in effect “Just Transition” is the goal of the green lobby to “transition” our economy away from fossil fuels altogether and shut down the oil and gas industry. That’s right – this is a Trudeau Liberal plan to “transition” away the industry that literally fuels the Canadian economy and is the bedrock of the Alberta economy, the very industry that provides over 500,000 of jobs to Canadians.  

In his announcement, Wilkinson attempted to make this legislation more palatable by saying things such as this: “I said it many times publicly that I do not believe that the challenge we are going to face is that there are workers who are displaced that will not find other good-paying jobs. ” He added: “I am actually quite worried that there are so many opportunities … we will not have enough workers to fill the jobs."

I hate to say it, but I think Wilkinson actually believes his own anti-jobs, anti-industry rhetoric. If he means this nonsense, he is a fool. If he doesn’t mean it, he is a liar. 

As has been pointed out, ‘green jobs’ are not as well-paying as oil and gas jobs and are often temporary. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has made it clear that Alberta has no intention of following this “just transition” plan to transition workers out of the industry.  

There’s much more to be said about this and I will write more in the coming weeks.  Ultimately though this is another deliberate act from the Trudeau government to stifle economic growth and harm the industry that drives our economy. 

And I have not even touched on the Emissions Cap, a commitment from this government to cap and cut emissions from the oil and gas sector. Consultations are underway for this new way to destroy the energy industry. 

So next time you’re in the grocery store and you wonder how a pack of chicken breasts can cost $37, or are filling up your gas tank at $2/litre this year (which I predict will be the normal price by this summer), or you receive your staggering energy bill, remember these measures. And remember that this was the doing of Justin Trudeau, and Gerald Butts, and the entire Green Lobby who are so ideologically driven they don’t care about how these policies affect affordability for everyday Canadians. 

Happy 2023 everyone.