We must have the courage to know the difference. And in Canada right now, we are barking up the wrong trees on a lot of fronts. We're fighting carbon at the cost of the environment. We are in an economic circumstance that qualifies as a national emergency. Canada has always prided itself on being a peace-promoting nation, and we are joining with the Europeans, fanning the flames of conflict. In the face of this conflict that we're contributing to, which could escalate into a world war, we remain unprepared. Perhaps most importantly, we sit on the precipice of unprecedented technological change; the people most informed about the issue are unable to predict its outcome with any degree of certainty, and the Canadian government, as evidenced by their spending, places no importance on it. I'm unsure how we've gotten so off course; it's critical that we pull ourselves back on course.
When you’re standing on a sidewalk and a truck veers toward
you, the smart thing to do is stop putting money in the parking meter and get
out of the way. There are matters facing Canada that are imminent and
potentially catastrophic. To fail to prioritize matters of public safety in the
face of probable and catastrophic events is an abrogation of the most
fundamental duty as a human being—by extension, a failure of leadership.
Pipeline Folly - No Courage, No Plan and a Cost-Plus Reaction.
The manner in which carbon policy has usurped environmental
policy is a prime example of misplaced priority. There are hundreds of
organizations, public and private, that have made accurate projections of
fossil fuel use out to 2050. They have factored in the use of “renewables”;
they have factored in all eventualities. There are going to be carbon
emissions. It is inevitable. So rather than fritter away $158 billion on failed
net-zero policy, let’s focus on hardening our environment. Carbon policy has people
calling hydroelectric power generation clean. Under this false pretense, our
federal government is advocating the addition of a new hydroelectric plant
added to the Churchill Falls project, which flooded 6,500 sq. km, and when this
project is completed, there will be 6,600 sq. km flooded—taken in totality, this
project is an environmental disaster—environmental degradation that is
completely unnecessary. We should be expanding nuclear power capacity that
expands the use of small generation systems and cellularizes the grid. We
should be building migration corridors over and around transportation
facilities and cities. We should be building habitat, improving spawning
facilities. One spawning facility on the Fraser River cost $2.6 million to
build and increased the salmon return from 15% to 75%—imagine what $5 billion
could do for the Fraser River and the salmon. When you thin and limb and manage
the forest, it is an investment, rather than a cost; it generates a 5% to 7%
return in the form of timber volume—imagine what $50 billion could do here. If
we harden our environment, whether the climate changes or some other natural
disaster comes, we are in a more resilient position.
We are years into an economic emergency, and we’ve been
unable to do a single thing to address it. Should we accrue a little debt as a
short-term measure, perhaps? Priority one is that the country needs revenue to
finance our transition to a more diversified economy generally and more
diversified trade. In the two years since we knew we were going to have the
tariff squeeze, we’ve yet to complete a single income-generating project. There
should be an oil and gas pipeline from the prairies to Prince Rupert built by
now—if Germany can build a massive natural gas reception facility in 180 days,
we can build a natural gas processing facility as quickly. We have an
emergency, and our government is failing to govern; the TMX pipeline project is
foolhardy in the extreme for a multitude of reasons. The primary reason for
inaction on the part of our federal government to Prince Rupert: they are
afraid of opposition. This is a time for courage, for leadership.
Canada has prided itself on stopping war rather than
contributing to it. The Russian / Ukraine war should never have started and
should be stopped. This conflict’s continuance has been effected by an agenda
that is reckless in the extreme. Canada has joined in on the course that
demonizes Russia and exalts Ukraine. Our government has contributed to a
cut-and-dried narrative in respect to this war. Ukraine’s utilization by people
bent on Russia’s reduction has been a humanitarian affront—the Ukrainian people
have paid the price for others’ adventurism. There are no saints on either side
of any conflict; truth is the first casualty of war, and war is awful. If you
accept that proposition, then the absence of engagement by Canada with Russian
leadership is an obscene departure from the Pearson tradition. We should be
brokering peace. There is an imperative for us to show leadership; the
potential for this to conflate into a worldwide conflict is a matter that must
be considered in earnest.
One finds it ironic that we have poked our strongest and
longest-standing ally in the eye, joined in on inflammatory rhetoric in
relation to the Ukraine / Russian war, committed millions of dollars to the
continuance of the Ukraine / Russian war and contributed to the destabilization
of the Five Eyes and NATO regimes, entered into agreements in relation to trade
and security with a “nonmarket” economy, and yet have made no real progress
toward our domestic defence. Finland can put 600,000 people to the task of
defence—civilians trained. We’ve yet to implement a civilian component to
Canada’s defence—no one has even put out a call for volunteers. Sweden has a
program to prepare its citizens for a war; it includes instructions on how to
deal with a nuclear event—we are underperforming here. We’ve talked about
military expansion, and having talked about it, we are dawdling at convention.
In the face of the threat we are facing and our brazen disregard for our
traditional military arrangements, we should have an underground automated
drone manufacturing facility, hundreds of autonomous submarines patrolling our
coasts by now. These things are doable if you commit to leadership—Ukraine is
building 10 million drones per year, and they have generated this capacity while
at war—we have no excuse.
The AI revolution is upon us. Every person of prominence
related to this industry has stated AI will be running the world within the
decade, and they are unable to predict how that will take shape or whether the
superintelligence will be benevolent. Elon Musk said in one interview, “there
is a 20 to 25% chance” it could be detrimental. This looms over us. The
contemplation of managing a positive outcome is difficult, requiring a complete
paradigm shift in the area of occupation and income. The negative outcome
potential is terrifying—even under human control, its potential as a tool of
tyranny is frightening—we’ve seen its present iteration used in authoritarian
regimes to totally control the population. This is the most pressing event in
our history; the government has committed $4 billion to it. They will fritter
away $158 billion on something that has no effect on the well-being of
Canadians, and yet imminent threats like war and technological dominance go by the
wayside. There is no greater threat to our sovereignty than AI. To have our
sovereignty survive this technology, we must engage the challenge with massive
effort on the intellectual side, and on the physical side we must build compute
capacity—that was the imperative five years ago; it's an emergency now.
We have no need for the Liberal Party, we have no need for
the Conservative Party—we have need for people to stop politicking, stop muddling
around, stop walking around with a finger in the air to see which way the wind
is blowing. We need to clear our heads of obstruction and find a way forward.
In the Parliament of Canada, there was virtually no opposition to a pipeline to
Prince Rupert, yet we’ve yet to build one. Truthfully, I am unable to
understand why every leg of our governance complex is failing so badly at
identifying the challenges and building consensus around solutions. We have the
resources to prevail and prosper; it's our governance complex – government and
the press that is allowing us to be enveloped by the tower of babble. Unless leadership
grabs hold of the priorities and sets aside the false imperatives, our sovereignty
will be gone. When I say sovereignty, I mean it at the deepest level, where sovereignty
begins: in your mind.
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