Canada has become a petrocacy

Opinion

Since the federal election in April, it has become increasingly obvious that Canada has more or less abandoned conventional liberal democracy for a different form of government.

The Petrocacy.

Under a petrocacy, all key economic and environmental policy must appease the fossil fuel industry. Prime Minister Mark Carney is more familiar than most with the dangers of climate change. But since taking office — like a scene from the Invasion of the Body Snatchers — he’s been spouting gibberish about carbon capture, decarbonized oil, “conventional” energy and has passed legislation to fast-track new pipelines.

Provincial premiers have also been bodysnatched by Big Oil & Gas. We expect that from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, but Premier Wab Kinew? He’s cut gas taxes and pushed part-time pipelines to Hudson Bay that make zero economic sense. The pace of demand-destruction for gas and oil is accelerating so by the time the pipelines open and the fleet of icebreakers ($3-$4 billion each) and ice-ready tankers are built, there’ll be little demand for their products. Expensive infrastructure will be instantly stranded assets, sitting as rusting monuments to the gullibility of our current politicians.

How can you tell a politician has been bodysnatched by the fossil fuel industry?

The language.

First it was “oil” sands replacing “tar” sands. Now dirty energy — coal, oil and methane — becomes “conventional” energy. Clean renewables — wind, solar, hydro, geothermal — become ‘unconventional’ energy. Perhaps the worst greenwashing is “decarbonized” oil. There’s no such thing. Oil is carbon. Burning it produces carbon dioxide that burns the planet.

Fossil fuel stooges live in a fantasy world of lollipops, unicorns and carbon capture that works at scale. They dream of new pipelines and oil and gas production rising forever, without having to clean up of their foul mess of abandoned wells, mines, and tailings ponds. And they pretend they’re ethical and clean, not like those other guys.

They are obscenely profitable but still demand enormous subsidies from the public purse, estimated at $30 billion in 2024 alone. Canadian taxpayers subsidize burning the planet.

The fossil fuel industry demanded repeal of the environmental regulations that limit their damage. Did it work? Check out Bill C-5 that pretty much guts environmental oversight and tramples on Indigenous rights.

From their enormous profits they pay lobbying firms to manipulate public opinion using deceptive advertising campaigns. They’ve hired the same PR firms as Big Tobacco and use exactly the same tactics. First, deny the science. Cigarettes don’t cause cancer: greenhouse gases don’t cause global heating.

Second, when the weight of scientific evidence is too great to ignore, cast doubts about the science. Finally, resort to disinformation: “Canada is too frigid for electric vehicles; heat pumps don’t work in cold climates. Methane (natural gas) is a transitional fuel. We can’t possibly meet zero-emissions-vehicle targets for 2035.”

They use the same gameplan used by Big Oil in America. Jane Mayer’s brilliant 2016 book Dark Money reveals how the Koch brothers used their petrowealth to create a massive, shadowy network of shell companies, phony grassroots (astroturf) organizations, quasi-charitable foundations and right-wing lobby groups to influence public opinion, all while hiding the funding sources. They aimed to eliminate industry regulations and taxes for the rich. And boy were they successful, especially under Trump. Now Canada follows.

The public face of the fossil fuel sector in Canada is the Pathways Alliance lobby group, funded by industry giants including Canadian Natural, Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips Canada, Imperial, MEG Energy, and Suncor. Pathways leads the effort to loot the public purse to subsidize carbon capture.

They are capably assisted by other, shadowy, pro-fossil fuel lobby groups like the Fraser Institute and Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Who funds them and who do they speak for? They won’t tell us. Until they do, media should ignore them.

Investigative journalists dug deep into the devious methods of the fossil fuel lobby. One tactic is for lobbyists to arrange “accidental” encounters in social situations to befriend politicians to exert backchannel influence. This includes lower-level, overworked staffers: the lobbyists volunteer to help them out by writing industry-friendly policy briefs that staffers can present to their ministers.

Senior levels of government and brain-trusts of political parties across the spectrum are a revolving door of oil and gas lobbyists occupying positions of influence. Paid lobbyists engage in a full court press of governments in office. And of course, the fossil fuel industry uses their deep pockets to fund political parties. You can guess why.

Fighting the powerful fossil fuel lobby is a formidable challenge. The first step is to cast sunlight on what happens in the shadows. The sun not only provides cheap, clean energy. It serves as the best political disinfectant.

Scott Forbes is an ecologist at the University of Winnipeg. The opinions above are his own.