All of this is perfectly normal. However, what isn’t normal is how Trudeau turned around and flew across the country again to Vancouver, so he could spend part of the Easter weekend skiing in Whistler.
Given what he’s been saying across the country, I have to ask, ‘What was he thinking?’
This isn’t about Trudeau taking a vacation; everyone, including politicians, is entitled to downtime with family, even in the middle of a world crisis. It’s good for the soul, it’s reinvigorating, and leaves you recharged when you get back to work.
Massive carbon footprint
His flight from Montreal to Vancouver for his ski trip has a carbon footprint of about 2.07 tonnes, according to the calculator at carbonfootprint.com.
His return flight to Ottawa — whenever he’s done with the ski and apres ski activities — will add another two tonnes of carbon to his gigantic footprint.
That means that due to bad planning, his ski trip will add at least four extra tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere on top of the 4.18 tonnes for his government trip. So his total trip will be more than eight tonnes of CO2 when Our World in Data puts the average yearly emissions per Canadian at 14 tonnes.
Which likely means the true emissions count is higher.
“We know we need to cut emissions,” Trudeau said Monday in Victoria. “We know we need to reduce pollution, and one of the best ways of doing that is to get more clean cars on the road.”
Clean cars on the road, dirty planes for his ski trips in the sky.
Different rules for the climate hypocrite
It becomes difficult to believe Trudeau, to take him seriously when his words and actions are worlds apart. It’s almost like he believes there is one set of rules for people at the top like him and another for the rest of us.
As Kris Sims of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation wrote in a recent guest column for the Toronto Sun, the Liberals are proposing to expand their Green Levy on gas guzzlers to average vehicles. The most popular vehicle sold in Canada, the Ford F150, could see the price go up by $1,000 due to this tax.
Other popular trucks like the Ram 3500 or SUVs like the Explorer or Toyota Highlander would also go up in price.
Let’s not forget that Trudeau hiked the carbon tax on April 1, as well.
Of course, little people pay the carbon tax, for themselves and for Trudeau’s travels. He doesn’t pay and won’t notice any cost increase, it just gets passed on to us.
Trudeau can talk a good game about climate change and the environment, but then he stomps all over his words with that massive carbon footprint of his.
