The idea of oil and gas industry subsidies is a “repeated lie,” said Michelle Stirling, communications manager at Friends of Science Society (FoS)..FoS is a non-profit organization that offers insights on climate science and related energy policies for the public and policymakers, according to its website..Stirlings spoke to the Western Standard after NDP leader Jagmeet Singh called out the Trudeau government for handing out $14 billion in subsidies to the oil and gas industry annually..Following the release of the federal government’s Emissions Reduction Plan on Tuesday, Singh shared a petition in a tweet calling on Canadians to join him in pushing Trudeau to end fossil fuel subsidies by the end of 2022 and move towards subsidizing renewable energy..“These environmental groups claim these subsidies exist, but it’s simply untrue,” said Stirling and pointed to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) paper published in 2019..The IMP paper concludes governments around the world were subsidizing fossil fuels by $5.2 trillion USD annually..“These groups continually refer to this report, but we have released a review of that report called Deception vs. Reality: The Misleading Debate About Energy ‘Subsidies’ that talks about the failed logic behind those IMF claims,” said Stirling..“There are no subsidies for the oil and gas sector in Canada. It is just a repeated lie.”.Stirling also referenced the 2021, 2022 edition of the federal government’s Energy Fact Bookand the claim by the government that “Energy is not a major contributor to Canada’s income, especially outside Alberta.”.“While the energy sector GDP in Alberta in 2020 was the highest in Canada at $59.6 billion, it was significant in all provinces, including notably Ontario ($15.6 billion), Quebec ($12.0 billion), British Columbia ($11.8 billion) and Saskatchewan $10.5 billion),” said a summary of claims from the Energy Fact Book on the FoS website..FoS extracted several claims from the fact book, but debunked many with cited facts, including the claim that “renewable energy accounts for a large share of Canada’s primary energy production.”.“Of Canada’s primary energy consumption in 2019, crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids accounted for 71% of the total, uranium 16%, coal 5%, hydro 5%, and other renewables (biomass, wind and solar) 3%,” said the summary..“Excluding uranium, fossil fuels accounted for 76% of Canada’s total primary energy supply in 2019, biofuels and waste 4%, and wind and solar 1%.”.Stirling said environmental groups often call export and development loans given to oil and gas sector companies subsidies, “but they aren’t,” she said..“They are loans that are paid back with interest. They also try to roll in some deferred cost issues within the tax act and classify that as a subsidy, but those deferred costs are included in the same structure for all other companies. They pay tax on any profits under this structure like all other corporations.”.Stirling said the Emissions Reduction Plan “isn’t really a plan.”.“This ‘plan’ doesn’t explain how these amazing reductions are going to be made and how we are going to rebuild equal infrastructure and income from other sources outside oil and gas,” said Stirling..“There are big ideas, big goals, and big targets that are legally binding, yet, there is no talk of the unicorns and magical thinking we’ll need to make this happen. It’s, in fact, a dangerous plan that is not grounded in reality.”.Stirling also called attention to the federal government welcoming more than 400,000 immigrants into Canada in 2021..“Every person brings a carbon footprint,” said Stirling..“The idea of meeting these emission targets and inviting nearly half a million new people into the country are two competing and contrary goals. It’s just impossible.”.Stirling also pointed to a 2019 interview between TVOntario reporter Steve Paikin and Chris Ragan, the inaugural director of McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, where he also teaches core macroeconomic and microeconomic policy courses..Ragan was also the Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at Finance Canada from 2009 – 2010 and has worked with the government in other roles as an advisor on economic policies and environmental pricing reform..When asked about subsidies on fossil fuels, Ragan said, after he was labelled as “Canada’s expert on the fossil fuel subsidy issue” during the G20 discussions, “…one of the things that I learned at Finance Canada is that, in fact, we as a country do not have explicit fossil fuel subsidies.”.“What we did have were a set of tax preferences, and most of them, by the time I came along in 2009, had been eliminated.”.The federal government released its Emissions Reduction Plan Tuesday in the House of Commons which would cap oil and gas sector emissions to achieve net-zero by 2050. The plan would also see a 75% reduction in oil and gas methane emissions by 2030..Singh said the plan “doesn’t meet the urgency of the moment” and said his party will use “its power to deliver stronger climate action.”.Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
