Alberta premier Alison Redford has promised to take Al Gore to task at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday for “providing information to people that isn’t accurate” concerning the oil sands.

She claims, with good justification, that much of Gore’s activism against her province’s most important project is not based on sound science. Since the premier’s meeting with the former vice-president is private, Redford has said that she will report back on how the discussion goes.

Redford will probably ask Gore why he asserts that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the oil sands threatens global climate when only just over one one-thousandth of total worldwide emissions from human activities come from the project. She will likely also argue that oil sands emissions are inconsequential as long as China continues to bring more and more coal-fired electricity generating stations on line, stations that in total emit far more CO2 than the oil sands.

Gore will likely dispute the 1/1000th figure by pointing out how the oil is used in the U.S. He will probably also make the point that we need to start somewhere if we are to save the planet from climate catastrophe. Gore may observe that Redford’s argument about Chinese coal stations is ridiculous and is morally equivalent to arguing that it is fine for someone to frequently get drunk because a neighbour does so much more often.