Andrew Miall

Consider the following headline stories from recent media articles regarding Canada’s energy supply: Andrew Miall, President of the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada asks, what is one to conclude from these contradictory ideas? He suggests the following:
 * Public worried about climate change but continues to want cheap gas
 * There are more and more uses for less and less oil
 * Federal government urges cutbacks in oil consumption, AND continues to promote the oil industry
 * Ontario government, General Motors and Canadian Auto Workers Union celebrated introduction of the “new” Camaro and is pouring billions of dollars to support bankrupt GM
 * Governments are concerned about oil-industry damage to the environment, except when they aren’t
 * Development disconnect: Immigration, energy and the environment: how to rush off in all directions at once· Environmental activism: anything big is bad·
 * Anti-nuclear activism: it’s all bad, but only if we notice·
 * Wind energy is all wind. While committing to ‘significant’ GHG emissions reductions in its Official Plan, for instance, the City of Ottawa is proposing an 18-month study of wind technology to ensure there are no “health hazards” rather than allowing local farmers to use their land to generate wind power to sell onto the grid.

Firstly: there is little if any coordination between federal and provincial levels of government in the area of energy and environmental development.

Secondly: environmental activist organizations are no help at all in assisting society to come to rational decision about energy matters.

Read more from his article “The Canadian Energy Scene: Confusion, Contradiction, And Its Consequences” in the March edition of Optimum Online.