If you needed any more proof that Alberta is run by a group of petulant children, look no further than finance minister Nate Horner’s appearance on Power & Politics yesterday. While in the midst of grousing that during the (virtual) meeting with Chrystia Freeland earlier in the day on the subject of Alberta’s threats to pull out of the CPP (threats which are fairly transparently a pressure tactic to try and get out of other environmental obligations), and that Freeland was not entertaining any other carbon price exemptions, Horner said that he was going to launch a programme to subsidise anyone who wants to convert to heating oil in order to get the same break on carbon prices.
Nate Horner wants to subsidize Albertans to convert from natural gas to home heating oil, who would then end up paying 4x more to heat their homes.#ableg #abpoli https://t.co/IjeXw6wML4 pic.twitter.com/KVw9RJrtxs
— disordered (@disorderedyyc) November 4, 2023
Heating oil generally costs about three-to-four times the price of natural gas for the same output. That’s the whole reason the “pause” was put into place as a stopgap to get more people switched over to heat pumps, along with a bunch of incentives to do so. If Horner actually thinks that people will pay more for heat in order to avoid paying the carbon price, and coming out at a net loss, for the simple thrill of “owning the libs,” well, that’s pretty much him telling on himself. And it’s so stupid because as the government has belatedly explained, there are actually more people who use heating oil outside of the Atlantic provinces than inside (mostly in northern communities), and they too get the “pause” in order to facilitate the switch over to heat pumps. The problem there, however, is that most of those provinces haven’t come to an agreement with the federal government in order to give the heat pumps for free to low-income households. So that may yet come, but right now, they’re still in full-on tantrum territory.
This is the stupidest thing anyone in Alberta's inner circle has said about energy in at least…actually, let's just not finish that thought.
— Andrew Leach (@andrew_leach) November 4, 2023
*gestures vaguely at #cdnpoli* https://t.co/MkKyhqY887
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) November 3, 2023
Ukraine Dispatch:
Russians launched a new wave of overnight attacks across ten of Ukraine’s regions, and the Ukrainian air defences were able to intercept 24 of 38 drones plus a cruise missile. Here is a snapshot of the counter-offensive on various fronts, while Ukrainian troops battle exhaustion as winter approaches.
Russia fired about forty "Shahed" drones at quiet Ukrainian towns and cities during the course of the night.
Our aircraft, air defense, and mobile fire groups worked hard in ten regions of Ukraine, from east and south to the west.
I thank our warriors for every kill! More… pic.twitter.com/XK0Ismogqy— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 3, 2023
https://twitter.com/defensiemin/status/1720176662942253228