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At every turn, nimble activists have outmanoeuvred the allegedly all-powerful oil companies, who have appeared both sluggish and defensive. Part of the ENGO success comes from framing themselves as David vs. the industrial Goliath (despite that big money lurking in the background). But, as Finance Minister Joe Oliver – who, as Minister of Natural Resources, was a stout champion of the oil sands – implied on Monday at the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal, this particular David is not the champion any sensible person should be rooting for, at least not if they are concerned about the Canadian economic growth necessary to support both jobs and the country’s hefty social safety net.

In fact, little David is a front for a power-seeking agenda which is supported by those global bureaucracies, such as the International Energy Agency and the International Monetary Fund.

For anybody who suggests that this represents some paranoid view of a global conspiracy, no conspiracy is necessary. It springs simply and inevitably from the support from bureaucracy for any scheme that requires bigger and more elaborate bureaucracy. Bureaucrats do not need literally to conspire, that is, plot, any more than a pack of hunting animals needs to sit down and discuss tactics before descending on its prey.

Typical of this attitude was support by IMF head Christine Lagarde – at the Montreal conference – for “pricing” carbon so as to reflect its cost. A wonderful idea except she has no idea what its cost is. Indeed, carbon emissions are entirely attached not to costs but to economic benefits. “Free markets yes,” Ms. Selfregarde intoned, “but at the right price.” But since the whole purpose of markets is to set prices, bureaucrats setting the “right” price opens the door to infinite mischief. Somehow the monstrous errors of previous attempts to set the “right” price, from wage and price controls to the manipulation of interest rates, never seems to lead to any general bias against artificial pricing.