There is nothing as absurd as claims by former environment minister Steven Guilbeault and other green ideologues that Prime Minister Mark Carney has made it impossible to meet Canada’s greenhouse gas emission targets because of his energy policies.

It’s absurd because Canada was never going to meet the targets under former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

GOLDSTEIN: 'Fighting' climate change about expanding government power, not hitting emission targets Back to video

It’s true that under Carney, meeting Canada’s 2026, 2030, 2035 and 2050 targets is now an even more distant memory than it was under Trudeau – the same outcome as previous emission targets set by every federal government, Liberal or Conservative, since 1988.

That said, Carney’s energy policies so far have been more realistic than Trudeau’s, which is somewhat surprising given Carney’s previous life as the world’s leading corporate shill for higher carbon taxes.

New bitumen pipeline from Alberta to B.C. will increase emissions

True, the deal Carney signed Friday with Premier Danielle Smith on a new bitumen pipeline from Alberta to B.C., which will lower the federal industrial carbon price and extend the deadlines for implementing it, may fall apart for a dozen reasons.

And yes, it will increase emissions.

So will Carney delaying the emission targets under his national electricity strategy, which includes the use of natural gas – a fossil........

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