Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau Exposing the Flaws and Lack of Due Diligence in “Springing Canada Forward – Climate-Literate Stimulus” by 50 Sustainability Scholars

July 06, 2020

Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau Exposing the Flaws and Lack of Due Diligence in “Springing Canada Forward – Climate-Literate Stimulus” by 50 Sustainability Scholars

Prime Minister,

On May 7, 2020, in the National Observer, and May 13, 2020, in La Presse, a group of 50 sustainability scholars made proposals for “Springing Canada Forward – Climate-Literate Stimulus/ Notre plan de relance d’un Canada vert” for post-COVID19 recovery.

Some of these scholars previously issued the “Acting on Climate Change” report of 2015. We have reissued our rebuttal to that report, entitled “Reality vs. Climate Change Uncertainties” as it provides substantial evidence refuting the claims and proposals of the present “Springing Canada Forward/Notre plan de relance d’un Canada vert”. Their proposals are all about spending money we do not have. Instead, we should focus on restoring investor confidence. Canada has lost more than $100 billion in “Prosperity Foregone” due to a variety of influences related to environmental activism and unwarranted climate alarmism.

The authors of “Springing Forward/Notre plan” claim there is a climate crisis, and if we review the original “Acting on Climate Change” report, we find that on page 18, there are two ‘scenarios’ referred to from the Representative Concentration Pathways of van Vuuren et al (2011). However, as recently revealed by Roger Pielke, Jr., these scenarios are not predictive and were not meant to be used in this way. Indeed the ‘catastrophic’ scenario, RCP 8.5, has been promoted by ‘green billionaires’ Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer in their “Risky Business” report as if ‘business-as-usual’ when most climate scientists see RCP 8.5 as needless catastrophizing.

Indeed, recent books by two mainstream environmentalists – Bjorn Lomborg’s “False Alarm” and Michael Schellenberger’s “Apocalypse Never” – show that even those who accept the theory of potentially catastrophic human caused global warming through carbon dioxide emissions, have realized that humans are adaptive, that renewable/low carbon ‘solutions’ are costly green crony capitalist projects that impoverish the poor and destabilize the grid. They realize there is no imminent catastrophe and no climate emergency, a view supported by many mainstream scientists whose comments are simply not reported by headline-seeking media.

In the “Springing Canada Forward/Notre plan de relance d’un Canada vert” we find there is a lack of due diligence regarding the proposals.
a) Claim: Small-truck delivery fleets well-suited to electrification. Reality: Canada does not have sufficient power generation capacity as it is to meet the EV goals of 2040. Small delivery vehicles which must stop and start frequently are very unlikely to be able to withstand Canada’s temperature extremes and offer reliable performance.
b) Claim: Recovery a great time to fund wide streets and bike lanes. Reality: Canada is a cold country for more than half the year when biking is limited. In a constrained economy post-COVID-19, investing in resilient health care systems makes much more sense than bike lanes.
c) Claim: “No regrets – Climate lens of Infrastructure Program. As shown above, there is no climate emergency, therefore viewing infrastructure development through a ‘climate lens’ means skewing investments based on ideology, not making the most practical, effective use of funds. Reality: No ‘climate lens’ required and the goals of investing in a ‘clean, green, low-carbon’ economy are not supported by the evidence. Michael Moore’s “Planet of the Humans” reveals that low-carbon energy generation offerings like biomass, wind and solar are not clean or green and are a world of regret. Robert Lyman is a former public servant of 27 years and diplomat of 10 years, and his trilogy of reports – “Broken Promises”, “Empty Wallets”, and “Empty Pockets” – explain why renewables offer no resilient recovery. Renewables offer only broken promises in performance and cost, they do not stop climate change and are destructive to the environment, clean tech is not a growth industry in Canada, and job losses increase the more one tries to ‘green’ the grid. There must be a “Transition to Reality”. There is no such thing as green infrastructure offering a ‘climate-proof’ watershed or coast against flooding, nor will heatwaves be stopped by such measures. Extreme weather events are integral to climate, as explained by Dr. Madhav Khandekar, a 40-year veteran research scientist of Environment Canada, past IPCC expert reviewer, former WMO regional expert.
d) Claim: “National program of whole house energy retrofits will reduce energy demand…” Reality: As explained by Robert Lyman, referring to a cost-benefit analysis of a similar program considered in the UK: “If the cost of major housing retrofit here were the same as in the U.K., the cost to halve GHG emissions would be $3.6 trillion.” Clearly in a time of economic constraint post COVID-19 this would be a terrible waste of money, and certainly Canada’s Infrastructure Bank should avoid unicorn investments such as this like … the plague.
e) Claim: “…climate-literate construction workforce should be a key point of Canada’s recovery investments…” Reality: A far more important push would be for energy literacy amongst all Canadians. For the work-force, we need to jump start Canada’s energy economy of oil, natural gas, coal, oil sands and mineral development, as all of these are essential goods that are in demand worldwide, and required for the creation of any renewable devices. Scholars and academics must stop “Biting the Hand that Feeds You”.

In a time of post-COVID19 recovery, we should be selling our resources on world markets to reduce the debt and make a comfortable future possible for our children and all Canadians, including Indigenous people. Many Indigenous people, like the National Coalition of Chiefs, see resource partnerships and development as an inclusive means of defeating on-reserve poverty.- Let’s give all Canadians a rewarding future with opportunity; let’s not leave anyone behind, burdened by debt and lost in energy illiteracy.

There is no ‘climate justice’ or ‘gender equity’ in making people poor and burdening them with unreliable, unaffordable ‘green’ energy projects and carbon taxes that make rich people richer, destroy the middle class, and tempt the poorest people with ‘carbon rebates’, the ultimate social Ponzi scheme.

Canada already has some 600 greenhouse gas regulations and incentive programs through federal, provincial and municipal governments. Fuel taxes are already more than $192/t carbon tax equivalent. Climate change policy is destroying Canada, exacerbating regional differences, and making the country uncompetitive on world markets. Climate prophecy has failed for >30 years. To save Canada, we must quit the deeply flawed Paris Agreement, cancel the carbon tax, build pipelines and LNG ports to reach out to world markets.

Friends of Science Society has been doing critical review of climate science and related energy policy implications since 2002. We are a small, member-funded volunteer-run non-profit. We are not funded by industry or government and have no lobbyists.
Sincerely,

FRIENDS OF SCIENCE SOCIETY
P.O. Box 23167, Mission P.O.
Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2S 3B1
Toll-free Telephone: 1-888-789-9597
Web: friendsofscience.org
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Web: climatechange101.ca

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Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens who are celebrating its 18th year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2). This view is shared by CLINTEL – the international climate intelligence organization of >900 scientists, scholars and professionals.