To the editor,
Re: Canada should transition away from fossil fuels, Letters, Feb. 10.
You would be stunned by how much our government/taxpayers subsidize the oil industry yearly.
It’s time for public voices to engage in better strategies to set the path or plans for the oil industry’s transformation to renewable energy sources. Our voices must be heard loud and clear by politicians (it’s OK to e-mail your local MLA or MP, you have a voice for clean air).
Carbon taxes? Does it just fill a huge money pit? Why not more solid, faster-implemented policies to oil industry that they have a five-year window before all subsidizes cease for any combustible fuel products?
Subsidies could transfer at a planned percentage per year from the dirty side of the fence to the clean side. Renewable energies only. It’s not like the subsidies would be taken away, industry would just need to follow the subsidy carrot for a transfer movement urgently required away from carbon emission.
If a five-year time period sounds quick, consider other countries with bold plans to eliminate combustion engine vehicle sales in five to eight years. The question is why the North American industry is allowed till 2030 to transform.
Kirk M. Campsall, Nanaimo
READ ALSO: ‘Keystone is dead,’ says former senior Obama adviser
To the editor,
Instead of a climate champion as leader, we have a fossil fuel enabler who thinks it can be business as usual. It’s time to wake up, pull our heads out of the tar sands and work together for a greener and just future. First Nations and environmental scientists have been pointing the way for some years and it’s well past time to listen and act on their recommendations.
Canadian politicians should look forward and deliver a better vision for the future. The Keystone XL cancellation signals that the fossil fuel era is ending. Trudeau could mark this moment by delivering on the Just Transition Act he promised in 2019. Workers need government action to support them through the transition to a green economy. Let’s get to work on making it happen.
Sue Anderson, Ladysmith
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Canada should transition away from fossil fuels
To the editor,
Re: Canada should transition away from fossil fuels, Letters, Feb. 10.
This letter starts with a smear of former president Trump and by extension, his 75 million supporters.
Canada is primarily a resource country. We need our oil and gas to support our GDP and jobs.
Climate change hysteria is a relatively new zeitgeist. We have had a global cooling scare and an overpopulation scare. Now global warming and weaponizing of the weather. When will Canadians engage in critical thinking and do their own research? It is snowing here today on Vancouver Island. How does that support your thesis?
Environmentalists and Marxists should come up with a solution besides jobs at fast-food restaurants. We are waiting.
How are you going to run your car? With a windmill on the trunk? How are you going to replace our jobs and GDP? No answer. You are all lectures and no solutions. Wood burning for heat is discouraged now. No nuclear. Where are your solutions? Nowhere.
I think the first thing that we should do is cancel the ferries to and from Gabriola Island. You want to live without oil and gas, do it. Pay for your own ferry. Put solar panels on it. We are waiting.
L.D. Keays, Nanaimo
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