New documentary could shed some light on climate policy in the runup to October’s federal election
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on August 17, 2019.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade With the federal election just two months away, the timing of the ethics commissioner’s report about the SNC-Lavalin affair could not have been worse for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion said Trudeau violated the Conflict of Interest Act by improperly pressuring then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to halt the criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin. Eschewing an apology, Trudeau decided instead to reiterate that his actions were in the interests of saving jobs for Canadians. There are many Albertans who wonder why Trudeau did not stand up for jobs in Alberta and get a pipeline built. There appears to be a double standard and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was instead about votes in an election. Will this hurt the Liberals in the federal election? It remains to be seen. Wilson-Raybould is running as an independent candidate in a Vancouver riding, because she was tossed out of the Liberal party. There is likely to be national coverage of her progress during the election. There are reports that the Liberals will focus on the environment and climate change to win votes in the election. This is not a new focus and it is one they believe young people in particular are passionate about. They will go head-to-head with the Green Party on this. Could it be that the film backed by Michael Moore will be out during the election campaign? The low budget documentary – Planet of the Humans – poses a question: What if alternative energy is not all that it has been cracked up to be? It is predicted to be a “bitter pill to swallow”. You will remember previous films by Moore, such as Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9-11 and Sicko, as thorough and enlightening documentaries that are not afraid of confronting truth. According to an Associated Press story, the director of this latest film is Jeff Gibbs who has worked with Moore for a long time. They started examining why we are still “addicted to fossil fuels” and investigated electric cars, solar panels, windmills, biomass and biofuel. They talked to leading environmental groups and grassroots climate change movements. It has been reported they were shocked to discover how inextricably entangled alternative energy is with coal and natural gas. “It turned out the wakeup call was about our own side,” said Gibbs in the wire story. “It was kind of crushing to discover that the things I believed in weren’t real, first of all, and then to discover not only are the solar panels and wind turbines not going to save us … but (also) that there is this whole dark side of the corporate money … It dawned on me that these technologies were just another profit centre.” Gibbs tried for year to get environmental groups on board with the film to help with costs but they were not interested. The film is still in the process of arranging distribution. Perhaps some of the carbon tax money collected in Canada could help with this. We should be interested in truth and facts even if it means we have to change our thinking. (Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to https://www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions, email her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or call her at 403-528-8635) 26-25
