Check It Out: Wake up and smell the bacon

By Joan Janzen

It was bedtime, and a young mom was reading the story “Sleeping Beauty” to her daughter. The little girl interrupted her mom and asked, “Did they try frying bacon to get her to wake up?” Many Canadians would consider the aroma of bacon frying as a welcoming wake-up call; however, not all wake-up calls are quite so pleasant.

During the recent cold snap, the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) issued an alert for the province, saying extreme cold resulted in high power demand, placing the grid at a high risk of rotating power outages. Albertans were asked to immediately limit their electricity use to essential needs only, to turn off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances, minimize the use of space heaters, and delay the use of major power appliances. They were also instructed to delay plugging in block heaters and charging electric vehicles. AEMA issued two alerts within two days due to high demand and low imports.

The Epoch Times reported on the alerts, noting Albertans were asked to monitor their electricity usage during peak demand times from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. The online media source said the province was sourcing power from natural gas and some coal, and nearly every fossil-fired generating unit was running flat out. Meanwhile, wind power throughout the supper hour remained at 2 to 3 percent of installed capacity, and only eight out of 43 wind farms were producing any power at that time. Most were shut down because temperatures below -30 run the risk of components becoming brittle and shattering.

As this scenario was playing out, Alberta MP Michelle Rempel said in her newsletter this is a real-life example of what happens when a jurisdiction's electrical generation and distribution system cannot keep up with demand. It may be a wake-up call for Canadians as they listen to the government's plans to pull all gas-powered passenger vehicles off the road within ten years. Rempel pointed out that Canada currently has about 26 million passenger vehicles, a number which will grow as the population increases.

The Epoch Times reported that at the time of the alert, SaskPower was assisting, sending 153 megawatts, pretty much the maximum Saskatchewan ever supplied Alberta. Premier Moe wrote online, "SaskPower is providing 153 MW of electricity to Alberta this evening to assist them through this shortage. That power will be coming from natural gas and coal-fired plants, the ones the Trudeau government is telling us to shut down, which we won't." Fortunately, Alberta was able to end their alert five hours after it had been issued.

At the same time, the federal government keeps promoting the carbon tax as a solution for Canada. Franco Terrazzano and Joe Goldberg from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation addressed the topic of the carbon tax in a recent interview on Faytene TV.

Joe Goldberg used Nova Scotia as an example. This province had the lowest carbon tax in Canada until this past summer. "They were paying about two cents per litre in carbon tax. Yet it was one of the leading provinces in Canada at reducing emissions," he said. "So what does that tell you? Carbon taxes are not the answer to trying to help the environment."

"We're putting pressure on the government to scrap the carbon tax," Franco said. "It's making all necessities more expensive but does absolutely nothing for the environment or to reduce emissions in places like China, Russia and India. That's why Canadians are not buying this carbon tax scam."

Canadians are waking up, realizing the carbon tax is not a solution; instead, it's making necessities more unaffordable for Canadians. But the federal government has come up with a solution for that as well; it's called an unconditional basic income. David Krayden was a guest on the online show Redacted, where he spoke about this universal basic income.

David said two private members' bills were first introduced in October. There was a news conference, but mainstream media didn't report on it. "But two months later, everybody was talking about it as a solution to poverty," he said. "It's $2000 a month for doing nothing, but you can work on the side, and they'll subtract fifty cents on the dollar."

"How are we going to get people to work at all when they get $2000 for doing nothing?" David asked. "The worst part is, it's a tragic leap off of the fiscal cliff." And we can all still vividly recall how people were reluctant to give up their CERB payments and seek employment. "This is a colossal bribery scheme," David observed.

While all this is happening in our country, I have become truly grateful for organizations like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which are advocating for Canadians and helping keep us informed so we can reach out to our local representatives. And I hope Canadians are waking up and realizing the value of independent journalists whose goal is to provide information that the mainstream media refuses to touch. It's time to wake up and smell the bacon. We need Canadians who possess common sense to speak up.