Let's hope Andrew Scheer is right

The highly controversial (at least in Alberta and Saskatchewan) Bill C-69, which overhauls the federal environmental assessment process for major construction projects, has finally passed the Senate. The Conservatives are not amused. According to Andrew Scheer. "With the passage of Bill C-69, Justin Trudeau finally has his law that will phase out Canada's oil and gas industry. This has been Trudeau's objective all along."

We must hope he is right. If we are to deal with the looming threat of global warming, we must eventually phase out the burning of fossil fuels. It is most reassuring if our prime minister really intends to do just that.

But what about Mr. Scheer? By lamenting Mr. Trudeau's intention, he implies he doesn't think the oil and gas industry should be phased out. This in turn implies he simply doesn't understand the urgency of dealing with global warming. Indeed, it tends to reinforce the lack of appreciation of the seriousness of the threat indicated by his party's climate change "plan." He seems more in tune with his colleague Jason Kenney's notion of producing more and more oil indefinitely.

It wasn't easy convincing conservatives that anthropogenic global warming is real. It appears that convincing them how overwhelming a threat it poses will be just as arduous.