Canada signed a climate deal with France on April 16, 2018, but who does it really benefit? Canada France trade is important at about $10 billion a year; but trade with the US, according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, is about $628 billion a year. France has threatened the US with no EU trade deals unless the US gets back into the Paris Agreement, which President Donald Trump has abandoned. The Canada-France climate partnership engages Canada to push the Paris Agreement and carbon markets worldwide, but these policies are devastating to Canadian oil, gas, coal, mining and forestry sectors. Meanwhile, France runs on nuclear energy domestically (no-carbon footprint) and imports all the oil for its refineries, mostly from despot nations who are very unlikely to participate in any Paris GHG reduction targets or climate policies. Greenpeace specifically targeted French investments in the oil sands in their Tar Sands Campaign, and TOTAL SA pulled out many investments here and invested in natural gas in Iran. Iran is reportedly engaging in a campaign of colonialism across the Middle East. So, who benefits from this deal? France is the cornerstone of “La francophonie” – a large UN voting block with considerable influence. How can Canada fight to get our ‘ethical oil’ to market when we are in a climate deal like this? Since about 1,000 scientists of the CLINTEL group have declared that there is no climate emergency and, as Dr Judith Curry testified to the US Senate in 2014, carbon dioxide is not the control knob on climate, there’s no need for Canada to fall for climate coercion of the Paris Agreement and no need for anyone to demarket Alberta oil. More details in the links below:
Canada-France climate partnership:
Canada US trade facts: