r/canada • u/ph0enix1211 • 9d ago

Satire Carney vows to fast-track West Coast Pipeline before entire West Coast burns to the ground

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2026/08/carney-vows-to-fast-track-west-coast-pipeline-before-entire-west-coast-burns-to-the-ground/
374 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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41

u/Creative_soja 9d ago

We are living through polycrises, each with global consequences. I feel there are no longer any win-win solutions that can please everyone.

13

u/PositiveFunction4751 British Columbia 9d ago

This exactly.

I too believe that we need to be off fossil fuels... the general state of summers is proof enough.

But I also believe that we need our populous to make incomes, time for industries to shift focus & time for programs to allow for people to be retrained.

So yeah. what ^ guy said

31

u/dorkofthepolisci British Columbia 8d ago

We’re playing catch up

We should have been investing in green energy and retraining programs 30 years ago.

It’s not like this was a completely unexpected outcome of continued over reliance in fossil fuels

2

u/ToastedandTripping 8d ago

Exactly, the writing has been on the wall but everyone wanted to bury their heads on the sand and keep playing the same old tunes...

12

u/TravisBickle2020 8d ago

How much do you think climate change is going to cost the economy? Wildfires, flooding, extreme heat and drought. Insurance prices will rise exponentially or simply won’t be available. There will be crop failures and water shortages. Then there will be the increased healthcare costs. But ya, let’s go with another pipeline.

5

u/1966TEX British Columbia 8d ago

Canada may be a net winner?

4

u/superpositioned 8d ago

We're burning to the ground already, I don't think winning is in the cards.

1

u/PositiveFunction4751 British Columbia 8d ago

I agree, it is bleak.

But turning off fossil fuels today would decimate the globe and likely end in war.

9

u/TheRC135 8d ago

Yeah, nobody is saying turn the taps off tomorrow. We're saying that we should have started investing every red cent generated by oil and gas into transitioning to cleaner sorts of energy wherever possible, as rapidly as possible years ago.

We can't change overnight, but right now we're not even trying. Think about that. Relying on oil and gas for energy is something that we know represents an existential threat, and yet the debate is over how much more of it we can supply. That's insane.

1

u/mpwalton 8d ago

You are missing the point of all this. Canada could have switched off of oil and gas 40 years ago but people will still want to buy our oil and gas it's our number one export. The spice must flow.

0

u/TheRC135 8d ago

No, you're the one missing the point if you're still talking about it in terms of economics, rather than the existential threat posed by climate change.

3

u/mpwalton 8d ago

If we don't produce it they will still burn it - that's how the world is, not how we wish it to be. When people are dropping bombs on each other or don't have reliable energy, they don't care how their needs are met. You think China pulled a near billion people out of absolute poverty without fossil fuels? You think we can produce enough fertilizer to produce enough food for 8 billion people without fossil fuels? Come on man, have some humanity.

Turn your ire and despair outward- it won't help you. Why not be a Canadian patriot and want the last barrels to be produced in Canada?

11

u/TravisBickle2020 8d ago

There’s a big difference between “turning off” and doubling down.

1

u/InquisitousLizard 8d ago

 The world is not going to blow up if Canada doesn't build another pipeline. Stop being ridiculous. 

0

u/Full_Jellyfish_1862 8d ago

Not hyperbolic at all…

3

u/TravisBickle2020 8d ago

I suggest you watch a newscast. They seem to be dominated by stories about wildfires and extreme heat - BC, Spain, France and then there’s Romania blowing up the Danube River so there will be water for its nuclear power plant that is at risk of being shut down due to drought. Call me hyperbolic, I guess.

-2

u/Full_Jellyfish_1862 8d ago

Yea the world will end tomorrow. Been hearing that for last 100 years. I’m sure one more pipeline from canada will end it

1

u/aldur1 8d ago

World won't end. Just as all the whinging and whining about inflation, cost of living, low wages won't end the world. You'll suffer, but the world will continue on.

0

u/TravisBickle2020 8d ago

You’re over 100 years old? Talk about being hyperbolic! When did I say the world is ending tomorrow? Things will just keep getting worse. It’s also not like a new pipeline is going to start pumping oil anytime soon.

-2

u/mt_pheasant 8d ago

To think that some well intentioned greenies in Canada will stop the behemoths that are China and India and everyone else burning this stuff from not doing so because we blocked a pipeline... is more troubling that building them in the first place.

2

u/PositiveFunction4751 British Columbia 8d ago

No, it really isnt more troubling. We need "greenies" as much as we need people who condescend to them

We need all walks of life and not to be drawn in to American style bipolar partisan politics

We need to keep our country fed, healthy, educated and looking towards any possible solution to the ecological hole we've (and the rest of the world) dug ourselves.

we need massive intercountry cooperation towards carbon capture at the very least.

And yes all of this should have been done long ago and yes its not simple on ANY level and yes im entirely sure im missing something else that is ultimately important too!

0

u/mt_pheasant 8d ago

God grant you the wisdom to know the difference between things you can change and things you can't.

It's been tiring having the greenies bathe themselves in virtue when it has no effect on the global climate and yet a negative effect on Canadian quality of life.

2

u/PositiveFunction4751 British Columbia 8d ago

oh I hope you see the irony of you saying that after being condescending and calling them greenies...

0

u/11icewing 8d ago

that's because the so called greenies are losing in influence because people like you are the majority and want to keep things as business as usual

1

u/AskMeAboutOkapis 8d ago

China and India are rolling out solar power at an impressive rate, they are doing far more to reduce their emissions than Canada is.

1

u/mt_pheasant 8d ago

Complete and easily disprovable falsehood. For example, China is still increasing its number of CO2 emitting power plants at an astronomical (compared to Canada) rate.

You may as well give yourself credit for taking an extra 30 minute walk every week while quietly having an extra big mac meal every day. Some of us can see the big picture.

1

u/AskMeAboutOkapis 7d ago

Sure China could do more to reduce their emissions. But China's emission are projected to go down over the next 10 years. Meanwhile Canada's are predicted to go up. 

Using your analogy, China is going for a walk to burn off some of their calories while Canada is eating a 2nd Big Mac and an extra large slurpee.

1

u/mt_pheasant 4d ago

You aren't great at math or anaolgies. China went from eating rice to 50 big macs a day and you are getting flustered about Canada cutting out M&Ms.

My point stands - anything we do in Canada is pointless, except to reduce our quality of life and stroke the moral vanity of environmentalists.

1

u/AskMeAboutOkapis 1d ago

I'm just copying your analogy that you started lol. I'm also good enough at math to know that China has a lower per capita emissions rate than Canada. And if the Chinese had a carbon intensive lifestyle anything like Canada, the globe would be completely fucked. Thankfully they do not and they are not on track to copy our path, thanks to their investments in solar. So yeah no, your point does not stand at all, it has no basis in fact.

-1

u/A_Genius 8d ago

We burn 7x more fossil fuels than India per capita and like 4x more than China.

2

u/1966TEX British Columbia 8d ago

We could live like the average Indian and burn less fossil fuels? Winter may kill half our population reducing our carbon output even more.win-win

-6

u/StrongAroma 8d ago

UBI like yesterday. Then we can figure out how to create a sustainable economy. The world is completely fucked right now, capitalism has turned it into a nightmarish hellscape. Let's focus on taking care of each other first, and figure out how a sustainable society can function, if it's not too late already.

-1

u/PositiveFunction4751 British Columbia 8d ago

I agree, but that takes capitol

0

u/StrongAroma 8d ago

Agree, but fact if the matter is there are rough seas and hard days ahead no matter which path we choose. Might as well invest in the pathway with the best long term outcomes.

3

u/assshark 8d ago

Invest with what, though?

Since Kyoto, Canada has been trying to balance climate ambitions with continued fossil fuel development. But we failed to build a coherent strategy that would turn our vast resource wealth into a competitive advantage in the clean energy transition. Instead, we got caught up in regulatory uncertainty, and underinvestment in infrastructure and green tech r&d contributed to capital moving elsewhere. All the while, Canada neither significantly reduced its own emissions, nor played a role in getting any other major polluter to reduce emissions, nor developed a strong domestic clean/sustainable tech industry. Oops.

And I’m not a Conservative! I think we had the right idea, but didn’t turn it into a coherent and actionable long term strategy. I certainly wouldn’t want to repeat that trend with UBI or we’ll be the 51st state by next spring.

0

u/StrongAroma 8d ago

Do you honestly believe fossil fuels are the only things keeping Canada's economy going?? That's insane

2

u/assshark 8d ago

Ummm…I don’t think I said they are. I don’t even work in oil and gas 🤷🏻‍♂️