Posturing toward Paris with good hair – by Peter Foster (National Post – November 25, 2015)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

On Tuesday, Premier Kathleen Wynne declared that Ontario’s plans to combat climate change were “optimistic and entirely realistic.” Optimistic for sure. Realistic certainly not. The Green Energy Act has been a bummer, and closing down the entire province wouldn’t register as a blip on global climate.

Wynne confirmed the now almost universal objective of reducing emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, when Ontario pork will be flying direct to our plates.

Details of a five-year “action plan,” including Ontario’s cap and trade scheme, won’t be released until the new year, confirming that the vast Canadian delegation is going to Paris with nothing but good hair and a crazy quilt of dumb policies.

Ontario Environment Minister Glen Murray made some bizarre suggestions on Tuesday, including that the rising cost of groceries was driven by climate change. Nobody appears to have briefed Mr. Murray on the fact that CO2 is plant food, and that greater concentrations boost agricultural production. What has certainly boosted food prices is climate change policies such as subsidizing biofuels.

Meanwhile we know two things for sure about Ontario climate policy. Just like that announced by Alberta Premier Rachel Notley on Sunday, it will be a tax grab, and it will cost (more) jobs.

Ontario’s announcement followed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s climate group hug with the Premiers on Monday, where he promised a unified front in “battling” climate change, even if every province wants to dig its own trench.

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