Gregory Tobin is the National Content Manager for the Canada Strong & Proud network of pages.
This past week, federal Liberal environment minister Steven Guilbeault, after multiple delays and much political posturing, finally announced the Trudeau Government’s approval for the Bay du Nord oil project located off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
This was no doubt the right decision.
This project will produce about 300 million barrels of oil, which can be used to help wean the world off of using foreign oil produced by authoritarian regimes like Russia and Saudi Arabia. It is expected to create thousands of jobs for Canadians and generate $3.5 billion in government revenue.
Further, thanks to using the latest in Carbon Tech, it will be one of the lowest carbon intensive oil developments in the entire country.
However, despite these clear and obvious benefits, the Bay du Nord project faced multiple delays in receiving approval from Guilbeault and the Trudeau Government, which has done nothing but destroy investor confidence in Canada’s best-in-the-world resource industries and caused stress and headaches for unemployed and underemployed Newfoundlanders and other Canadians who would benefit from this project.
Minister Guilbeault has been described as a radical, and worked for many years for the questionably-motivated environmentalist group Greenpeace. Back then, Minister Guilbeault was involved in illegal stunts like scaling Toronto’s CN Tower to unfurl a giant sign accusing Canada of being a “climate killer” – which later led to his arrest – and another which saw him trespass onto the property of then-Alberta premier Ralph Klein’s home to install solar panels.
Since then, Guibeault has said, “in many ways… I’m still this guy who climbed the CN Tower.”
We should believe him when he says that.
So there is no doubt that approving the project has caused some issues for Guilbeault, including active criticism from his eco-radical NGO friends and strained relationships with his new-found partners in Jagmeet Singh and the NDP.
After all, this decision comes just shortly after it was revealed the Liberals and the NDP had entered into a secret agreement in which the NDP have agreed to prop up the Trudeau Liberal government until 2025. Sounds like trouble in paradise.
This is the same NDP that for many years now were steadfastly opposed to any Canadian resource projects, including the Bay du Nord project, along with any and all new oil and gas developments.
While Newfoundlanders and Canadians should breathe a sigh of relief that the Bay du Nord project has been finally approved, we may want to hesitate before giving too much credit to Guilbeault and his Liberal counterparts, as – thanks to this new deal with the NDP – it may be the last development of its kind being approved anytime soon.
