Common Sense is Dressed in Working Clothes

When an office worker arrived at his desk at 11:00, his angry boss confronted him. “You should have been here at 9:00!” said the boss.

The employee responded, “Why, what happened? What did I miss?”

If you missed watching the news, you may have missed seeing media cameras capturing the protesters who gathered outside the Tech Resources office in Calgary, even though the group of supporters a block away out numbered the protesters three to one. The project is expected to employ several thousand Albertans and generate roughly $70 billion in government revenue during the project’s lifetime. Nevertheless, the media chose to show their audience the beating drums of the protesters, while ignoring the workers who showed up in support of jobs and the economy.

Tim Cameron, a Drayton Valley businessman in the energy sector and educated in environmental studies, said, “The green movement has become the new topic. It feels good to be on board shouting ‘Climate Emergency!’, but what is the responding action?”

“This is a consumer based issue. We’re all tied together.” he said, and described his interaction with the Indigenous community. “They’re impacted, and by and large are completely on board. In the work we do I don’t run into opposition; it hasn’t happened.”

“We need to get past the rhetoric we hear on
the media. Now it’s 99 percent green movement conversation. There are interests on our side (energy sector) to have a conversation, to demonstrate what  we’re doing. Why should we get off the cleanest, most efficiently produced energy?” he asked. “Our industry became a world leader because we are innovators. We’ve always been on the leading edge of carbon reduction. We are world leaders in environmental regulations. Greenhouse gas emissions won’t fall if oil production is given to other countries.” he observed.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) note that when comparing the top ten exporters of crude oil in the world, Canada is a clear leader in environmental performance, social progress and regulatory quality.

The Government of Canada’s 2019 National Inventory Report verifies Tim Cameron’s observation as it reports Canada’s oil sands per barrel greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 32 percent since 1990.

But that’s not the only thing that’s falling … CBC’s viewers are falling away as well. Why? Perhaps viewers are shaking their heads at reports such as a report of a CBC journalist who will be moderating an event at Dalhouse University, where the keynote speaker will be convicted criminal Omar Khadr . This is the same man who was awarded $10 million by the Canadian government. The report says, “Mr. Khadr will highlight his experiences in conflict and why he is passionate about the protection of children.”

While Khadr is hailed as a guest of honor, Tim Cameron is taking advantage of every opportunity to speak about environmental solutions. Meanwhile, others such as teenaged Greta Thunberg, urging teens and children to panic and participate in school strikes, receive monumental coverage, and is flaunted as Person of the Year on the cover of Time magazine.

“We need to facilitate information inside our community and outside,” Tim Cameron said. “We have lots of time to explore these issues when we can’t work.”

Those people who are practically working out solutions every day are deserving of far more media coverage than protesters, angry teens and convicted criminals. I’ve heard common sense defined as genius dressed in its working clothes. Makes sense to me. How about you?