Lots of stupid stuff in Tuesday’s Throne Speech (Ronald Reagan? WTF) but I’ll focus on this interesting bit:
“My government believes in a strong Saskatchewan within a strong and united Canada. But it is troubling that today, there are some in this country who, given the opportunity, would shut down major parts of Saskatchewan’s economy and put thousands of hard-working Saskatchewan people out of work, all in the name of some misguided dogma that has no basis in reality. There are those who are not comfortable with and even oppose much of what we produce in Saskatchewan and how we produce it – oil and gas, coal and uranium, livestock and grains.
“They would prefer that those sectors did not exist and that the thousands of jobs in those sectors did not exist. They look at those jobs like they are somehow harming the country and the world. To those people, my government has a message. You are wrong. You could not be more wrong. Saskatchewan feeds Canada and the world. Saskatchewan supplies energy to Canada and to the world. What we do here makes Canada a better place. What we do here makes the world a better place. My government will take every occasion to stand up for this province, to defend those vital sectors and to stand up for every one of those jobs.”
Full dumb speech here. Thoughts:
1.) “…there are some in this country who, given the opportunity, would shut down major parts of Saskatchewan’s economy and put thousands of hard-working Saskatchewan people out of work…”
Very few if any environmentalists demand the immediate end of the oil economy. Environmentalists aren’t stupid people living in a fantasyland of rainbows and lilac-scented unicorn farts. Everyone realizes turning off the pipelines tomorrow is not feasible (everyone also realizes that plastics, which come from oil, are useful and fun). At the same time, climate change is real and scary as hell, and the world’s energy economy needs to change.
It’s not the fault of environmentalists that politicians and oil boosters spent the last 30 years doing “fuck” and “all” to address this real social and economic challenge, so maybe dial down the environmentalist bashing? Thanks!
2.) “…all in the name of some misguided dogma that has no basis in reality.”
What dogma, that climate change is real? Climate change IS real. Let’s go to John Oliver:
Case closed.
3.) “They would prefer that those sectors did not exist and that the thousands of jobs in those sectors did not exist. They look at those jobs like they are somehow harming the country and the world. To those people, my government has a message. You are wrong.”
Who’s wrong about what now? Reality is more nuanced than that brain-dead crap paragraph about make-believe environmentalist boogeymen suggests. But I guess when you’re a government overseeing a tanking, one-dimensional (resources) economy and rising unemployment, not to mention acting like you’ve got something to hide concerning a weird-looking series of land sales, you’ll take any boogeyman you can find.
UPDATE: I’m not the only person who’s annoyed. There’s a petition asking Brad Wall to stop being dumb.