Locked down rail transportation is just the latest blow to a Canadian economy that seems to be moving backward.
Put all that corporate rubbish aside because nothing matters in today’s economy except the associated carbon emissions. Having counted the carbon, the report fails to tabulate the cost of the green energy extravaganza that accompanied the shut down of Ontario’s coal plants. A new blog post from Parker Gallant, a retired banker who now monitors the tangled intestines of the province’s electricity system, recently tabulated the rough cost of Ontario’s green energy at about $23.7 billion.
The estimated cost of the pipeline — nationalized last year by the federal government — has soared from $7.4 billion to $12.6 billion. Trans Mountain CEO Ian Anderson said, “The cost increase has really come about through two primary drivers, one being the starting and stopping of construction, the cost of delays, the carrying cost, the additional regulatory and legal processes.”
In green economics, dollars and sense are off the table. It’s all about the carbon. At 4.1 million tonnes a year, the output would not prevent Alberta from meeting its self-imposed annual 100-million-tonne carbon emissions target. But the added emissions could prevent Ottawa from meeting its so-called net zero carbon emission targets. To make its case, Teck Frontier has concocted a net-zero-emissions plan. Whether the mine would be profitable or not is rarely part of the discussion.