Trudeau's 'phase out' oilsands comments spark outrage in Alberta

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked immediate anger among Alberta politicians on Friday by suggesting Canada should “phase out” the oilsands.

This should come as no surprise. Trudeau campaigned on moving away from oil and towards other energy sources. Large parts of the world are doing the same.

Here’s the full quote people are upset with:

You can’t make a choice between what’s good for the environment and what’s good for the economy. We can’t shut down the oilsands tomorrow. We need to phase them out. We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels. That is going to take time. And in the meantime, we have to manage that transition.

That seems, again, exactly what you would expect from the Liberal party. The disagreement here should simply be whether or not you think we eventually need to move away from oil. If you think we do, then we need to plan for it. If you don’t, then you need to support a different party.

Kudos to Rachael Notely for a reasonable response but the sensationalizing of the response from Brian Jean and Jason Kenney comes across as out of touch and insulting to the intelligence of their supporters.