Albertan government sacrifices science at the altar of partisan ideology

The contents of this ministerial briefing note won’t be news to anyone who reads this blog. Through a freedom of information request, the CBC has come up with a ministerial briefing note previously labeled “secret” which casts doubt on the basket into which the Albertan government has placed all of it’s climate-change-fighting-eggs. From the brief:

Only a small percentage of emitted CO2 is 'capturable' since most emissions aren't pure enough. (H/T AGRDT)

To boil the issue down: The technology upon which the majority of Alberta’s current climate change strategy depends is largely ineffective at dealing with the province’s largest source of green house gasses.

While the policy in and of itself is problematic, there is a larger concern here: the Albertan Government under Ed Stelmach ignored it’s own briefing notes on the issue of carbon capture in favour of formulating policy based on ideological principles, rather than empirical evidence.

When creating public policy, above all else, governments should seek to do two things: look outwards at what other jurisdictions are doing, and base decisions on empirical data. The Albertan government has done neither, and in fact has done the exact opposite. The Stelmach government takes a perverse pride in ignoring the steps other provinces/states/countries have taken to address issues on a number of fronts, and in this case, they have ignored the own data.

This is beyond Liberal vs. Tory. Beyond left vs. right.
This is reason vs. blind ideology.
Ed Stelmach’s government as chosen the later at the expense of the former.

In an article in today’s Toronto Star entitled “Alberta’s engine drives Canada (h/t daveberta.ca), Premier Stelmach stated:

A reliable, stable supply of energy will help moderate the cost of living and the cost of doing business during this difficult time. In fact, no North American economic recovery is possible without it.

As I’ve stated countless times before, petroleum is neither a reliable, nor a stable source of energy. As Alberta’s government (and Canadian drivers) have become painfully aware, it’s price is quite volatile. What’s even worse for my home province, is that it is finite. One day the oil will run out.

On that day, as Alberta endevours to clean up the mess that is the tar ponds without her usual source of income, with no oil companies throwing cash at a government who views "planning" as a four letter word, Alberta will no longer be the economic engine of Canada.

We will be the economic anchor.