Copeland says feds should learn about carbon capture, slams Bill C-59

Mayor Craig Copeland slammed Bill C-59 and says oil companies should’ve taken the federal government on instead of pulling information off their websites.

Oil producers took down much of their online information in response to the federal legislation, including the proposed carbon capture outfit Pathways Alliance, calling it vague.

Bill C-59 has portions that look to tackle “greenwashing”, when companies use false information when boasting about their environmental record or make false claims as to how they are reducing emissions.

“We live in a crazy world,” said Copeland on The Morning After.

“The resource sector in Canada gets treated so roughly, we just don’t respect them enough. Canada has an opportunity to be the nation around the world, wealthy nation, and we are just squandering it. And it’s unfortunate. I’m not happy that this happened because right now there’s successful carbon projects in Alberta.

“Pathways’ public information session, here in Cold Lake, was probably one of the best information sessions I’ve ever been to by any group. And then I went to the carbon capture in Edmonton, the conference. There was always smart people there, and me, and 400 people there that are brainiacs and all talking about carbon.

“The environmentalists and the people that are from the feds, they need to come, go to these conferences and learn. Learn what they’re doing. The cement industry and all these other industries that are trying to deal with carbon — who’d have known that cement was a big carbon producer, right? And they’ve got strategies to take that carbon out, but we don’t want to talk about that kind of stuff.”