Had a good conversation this morning with @TheCurrentCBC @maxfawcett on the future of the oil and gas industry, climate change and the Federal governments recent decision to focus oil and gas industry bailout on orphan well clean up. Airs across the country at 10:05 am #cdnpoli

We shouldn't have to pay to clean up mess oil companies have left behind especially given they made billions in profits. That said the thousands of orphan wells are leaking and a health risk. Cleaning them up will create jobs. 1.7B should be tied to new regulations to fix this

As @maxfawcett pointed out other jurisdictions have limits on how long a well can inactive before its cleaned up and bond payments to make sure companies can't walk away. We need those regulations

The government should also be making sure that the money for methane clean up is tied to ensuring the strongest possible regulations and in this case that means the Federal regulations not what Alberta has been proposing

We need to support oil & gas workers & their families & plan for future. Yes we have all benefited from the industry but some more than others. Since downturn in 2014 companies have increased orphan wells, increased production but decreased jobs yet increased top execs bonuses

Since 2014 the 5 largest companies have paid out 31.76B in dividends to shareholders. Most of that money has left the country ( @standearth investigative report on this coming soon)

We have been handing Billions to the oil and gas industry in subsidies for years. Federal government has pledged over 10B to build TMX expansion even though this is an industry that to meet our climate goals we all know will have to dramatically reduce production.

We don't get to netzero by 2050 by increasing production. Oil and gas production is now the fastest growing source of emissions in Canada and the largest source of emissions. Post-COVID recovery in Canada needs to focus on economic diversification, job training & clean economy