Quick pic: Earth Day on Ice
Sorry, my furry friend, it's just not the crisis du jour...
It might be Earth Day, but don’t worry—it's nowhere to be found on the Canadian election agenda. With all the news stateside, it’s no surprise, but still, the lack of green is sad at this time of year. You’d think the crisis just went away. The poor Green Party couldn’t even make the debate. 😒
But what’s truly baffling, and to avoid a bunch of sad earth facts, is the complete absence of vision when it comes to how clean tech and environmental policy could actually fuel productivity and innovation. Instead, we keep talking about fast-tracking projects that ensure Canada stays firmly planted as a low-value-add, dig-it-up-and-ship-it economy. How’s that for a new strategy?!
Here’s what we probably should be asking:
Why aren’t we global leaders in solar, batteries, wind, geothermal, hydro, energy efficiency, or charging infrastructure? When was the last time we sold a CANDU reactor? We have the know-how and experience—we just seem to be missing the memo, unlike China or South Korea.
Why don’t we have more business models where Indigenous communities aren’t just consulted but actually get huge benefits from resource or real estate development? These folks basically still own the land and know more about it than we ever will.
Why does “nation-building” still mean paving roads (pick your fav new one) instead of funding tech, education, or retraining? Do we simply love the smell of heated asphalt in the summer?
On that note, why does our urban planning continue to champion sprawl instead of density and livable communities? Sorry, it’s kind of hard to blame bike lanes for the highway parking lot!
We’ve had decades to sort this out—through liberal and conservative governments at all levels—yet the go-to campaign pitch is decidedly retro: cut taxes, build big stuff, and slash red tape to get it done.
We say we want to be more like the U.S.—despite the fact that all that impressive GDP growth seems to have thrown it right into the zombie apocalypse stage. In this stage, we have ‘jump scare’ levels of social and economic strife, and cancellation of projects already approved! Meanwhile, we wring our hands about low productivity, while some of those supposedly “too socialist” countries are quietly lapping us in innovation.
So please—spare me the heartfelt “business leader” letters backing whichever candidate promises the past as a form of "change." Unless that change includes, you know, actual change. Not pitching critical metals projects while fighting the energy transition that would use them or LNG projects for imaginary customers in India or Africa.
“More than 4 billion people live below modern standards of living, and 8.3 million die annually due to inadequate access to clean heating and indoor air pollution,” the letter states. “Canada has the resources to responsibly meet this demand as one of the top five global oil producers.”
Our resource wealth hasn’t done enough to improve conditions for marginalized communities at home—but somehow, we think pitching uneconomic energy options to faraway, at-risk communities is our moment to shine?
Call it maple-flavoured altruism. But let’s be clear—feel-good fairy tales aren’t the same thing as vision. Especially when they come wrapped in PR and funded by tax dollars.
We can do better. And frankly, we should be a little embarrassed that we’re not.