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I could also stand to learn a thing or two about bargaining

It’s very important to grasp here that governments across Canada and the industrialized world intend to destroy the oil industry within your lifetime. Their stated goal of reducing human emissions of CO2 and “equivalents” by 80 per cent by 2050 means no heating, cooking or transport with fossil fuels. And hence, dawk, no pipelines in which not to transport them.

If the alarmist science is right, this response is clearly necessary no matter how difficult or painful. But if not, it would be insane, because without fossil fuels we really do risk freezing and starving in the dark. And certainly without them the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers will be the Canadian Association of Petroleum Non-producers and you can kiss all those jobs, profits and products goodbye.

If they really think they’re destroying the planet, they should quit at once. If not, they should stand up for themselves without delay or equivocation. So I followed up with CAPP VP Communications Jeff Gaulin asking whether I had somehow misunderstood his Manning Conference remarks. He went into the dance of the seven vagues, then ducked out with “Climate change is real. All human activity has an impact on our environment and climate. We all have an obligation to address this global issue.”

If the alarmist science is right, this response is clearly necessary no matter how difficult or painful

The plain meaning of these words is … they haven’t got one. Possibly by focus-grouped design, avoiding alarm by avoiding content.

Of course climate change is real. Earth’s climate has been changing, often dramatically, for the last half-billion years, before which it was even worse, going from lava hell to frozen snowball. And of course all human activity has an impact. The question is how much and in what direction. So I asked directly, “Do you and CAPP believe humans burning fossil fuels is the main cause of disastrous changes in the Earth’s climate some of whose effects are already being felt?”

He never answered. But it is the key question because, based on an affirmative answer, our federal and provincial governments openly plan to shut down the oil industry. It’s a life or death issue for petroleum producers. And apparently the producers’ cunning plan is to choose death.

Only in the wacky world of climate change.

National Post