Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek is a 'climate emergency' hypocrite, just like the rest

• By Adam Soos

PETITION: No Climate Emergency

The city of Calgary declared a climate emergency in hopes of adjusting the city's emissions to net-zero by 2050. Please sign the petition on this page to stop the climate hysteria.

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Leonardo DiCaprio, who thought that Chinook winds were occurring as a result of climate change, owns at least six palatial homes and frequently charters mega-yachts, not to mention his ongoing helicopter and private jet trips. Leo probably emits more carbon in a year through his luxurious lifestyle than we will in a lifetime — and yet he preaches to us about driving more efficient cars.

I am more than well-aware that people can be rich and concerned about poverty; people can be well-fed and concerned about hunger — but there is a special sort of hypocrisy in being a massive carbon-emitter who is directly contributing to alleged climate change while asking everyone else to reduce their emissions. Worse still, while Leo lives a life of immense wealth, we are seeing our basic needs like heating costs and transportation skyrocket to untenable levels. He is very much today’s Marie Antoinette, declaring, “let them eat vegan cakes and drive electric cars,” from atop one of his mansions.

You have no doubt heard this emissions-hypocrisy talking point before, but I seriously wonder if these celebrities have somehow been shielded from it. It is as though they aren’t aware of the irony of taking a private jet trip to Alberta and then hopping in a helicopter before going for a tour over the oil sands in an effort to highlight how bad fossil fuels are. Does Jane Fonda, who did more or less exactly that, not understand that jets, helicopters and just about every functional mode of conveyance currently in existence runs on fossil fuels? Even their beloved electric cars are mostly powered by coal.

These celebrities are not climate experts — they aren’t even walking the walk when it comes to what they are preaching. What they are is professional line-regurgitators. Should it come as any surprise that actors are the ones echoing talking points as part of an elaborate act?

Even setting aside for a moment the fact that Canadian energy is a leading employer of members of indigenous communities and is taking struggling communities from poverty to wealth while Indigenous Services Canada is sitting on their hands, there is still no denying that Canadian energy is also among the cleanest and most ethical in the world.

Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek has known this for a long time. We have the footage of her advocating for Canadian energy to prove it. And now suddenly we are in a "climate emergency" and we are meant to believe that conventional energy sectors are no bueno, according to Gondek and City council — so what changed? Did Jyoti have a sudden come-to-Greta moment, or is it more likely that she is just playing the same game as Leo and Jane?

Let’s judge the tree by its fruits. I would imagine that anyone who believed there was a critical climate crisis unfolding would endeavour to reduce their carbon footprint. They surely wouldn’t fly in a big fuel-sucking jet to the World Petroleum Congress in Texas, would they? Well Jyoti would, and she did. She defended the move by highlighting that the focus of the conference is “future technologies and low-carbon strategies.” Those are buzzwords in energy sectors for "we want to keep drilling, but we don’t want to get in trouble with the climate gang."

I understand that Jyoti is trying to bring businesses back to Calgary, and that saying eco-nonsense is en vogue right now, but that is only the case because we have submitted to the narrative that Canadian oil and gas are bad. Stop declaring emergencies to placate an agenda we should never have adopted in the first place. We don’t need to garner celebrities’ approval to know that our energy is ethical — we have science and common sense for that. Jyoti, call off the climate emergency, and let ethical Canadian companies know that Calgary is open for business.

If you support Canadian energy and believe that hypocritical celebrities and politicians are out of line, sign our petition and send an email to Jyoti at NoClimateEmergency.com.