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I had intended, with my latest article in the Common Sense Canadian, to end commentary on the May 9 election but Premier Clark, Hall of Fame fibber and hypocrite, has outdone herself with her proposed $70-a-tonne carbon levy on exports of thermal coal from British Columbian ports, a move that will devastate producers in both the United States and Alberta.

Her reason (here one clutches the heart): “I think in the fight against climate change, we all have a responsibility,” Ms. Clark said Tuesday during campaigning for the May 9 provincial election.

But surely this line calls for a massive barf from one end of the province to another. For this is the same premier who’s staked her all and pledged our money towards creating LNG plants by the score and has flown the world trying to flog what we don’t produce to countries who are not buying, at prices that are too high if we had the stuff and they wanted it.

Here I ask you to carefully follow the bouncing ball.

Premier Christy Clark is nothing if not clear that LNG from BC will replace China’s coal use and thus will reduce Greenhouse Gases and save thousands of Chinese people from dying of air pollution. Before, with tears of gratitude running down your cheeks, you dash out to vote for her, you might want to know that this is 100% Christy Clark bullshit overlaid with her classic hypocrisy.

David Suzuki, pointing out that this is nonsense, tells our premier to “get serious.”

DESMOG points out “In the ultimate hypocrisy, B.C. isn’t allowed to burn that gas at home to create electricity because it’s too dirty.” Bit of a head scratcher, right?

Pembina Insitute’s Joshua McNab gives the full story: “Looking at the overall energy mix does not give an accurate picture of what is happening in China’s energy system,” MacNab writes. “Last year, while total electricity generation in China increased, coal-fired generation decreased by three per cent. Meanwhile, zero-emitting generation rose by 9 per cent, driven by large increases in solar and wind power. (Grid-connected wind capacity grew by 34 per cent, while grid-connected solar capacity rose by 74 per cent.) As such, all incremental power was provided by low- and zero-emitting sources of energy. This trend is expected to continue.

“As a new source of power, LNG from B.C. would most likely compete with other new sources of power.

“This is especially true in China, where electricity demand is still growing, and the legacy coal fleet is still relatively young. China is unlikely to shut down coal plants that are already built and have operating life remaining,” MacNab writes. “Given recent energy developments in China, the claim that B.C. LNG will only displace coal is unfounded. Rather, the opposite scenario — that LNG from B.C. will displace low- and zero-emitting power sources — is more likely.”

Because LNG does displace renewables, Pacific NorthWest LNG could increase global carbon pollution by 70 MT per year (more than all of B.C.’s current total emissions), Pembina found.

So there you have it: Clark’s claims about LNG reducing global greenhouse gas emissions are flatout false.

Earth scientist David Hughes of the Post Carbon Institute has researched the energy sector for four decades, including 32 years with the Geological Survey of Canada. He states in the Squamish Chief: “On a full-cycle emissions basis, the planet would be better off if China built state-of-the-art coal plants rather than burning B.C. LNG for at least the next 50 years”

I close with this – every British Columbian is entitled to set her/his own standards of morality for people representing our province and for me, the morals of this premier are on the same level of an alley cat.

My pride in this province and its standard of truthfulness is such that I can’t contemplate her speaking for BC any longer on anything. In this ancient British Columbian’s heartfelt opinion, firing Christy Clark as premier of British Columbia would be good riddance indeed.

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