COP 28 - Premier's Dubai trip all about selling the business

[Oscar]

COP 28 - Premier's Dubai trip all about selling the business of Saskatchewan

[ https://leaderpost.com/opinion/columnis ... skatchewan ]

Moe proudly unveiled the 55 companies represented at the COP28 Saskatchewan pavilion; nearly half of them are not Saskatchewan-based.

Murray Mandryk - Published Dec 05, 2023

To the frustration of some, there seems little doubt that Premier Scott Moe’s record-costing trip to COP28 has very little to do with the environment and everything to do with trade opportunities.

The Premier and his Saskatchewan Party government seem good with this. Quite likely, so is a sizeable swath of the provincial electorate … even in the face of condemnation from the federal Opposition leader for anyone now at COP28.

On his social media feed last week, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre reposted a National Post article by Raymond J. de Souza entitled the “The climate farce in the air-conditioned desert.”

Both the article and Poilievre blasted COP28 delegates: “70,000 high-carbon, high-flying hypocrites jet to a gigantic air conditioned conference in the desert with the goal of saving the world from pick-up trucks.”

Naturally, this had some wondering whether Poilievre’s condemnation also applied to Moe and Saskatchewan, shelling out $765,000 for a Saskatchewan pavilion even before it pays for a flight, hotel room or meal in Dubai.

But nobody in the Sask. Party government seems all that fazed by Poilievre’s criticism.

In fact, about the same time Poilievre was slamming “climate hypocrites,” Moe was proudly unveiling the 55 companies represented at the Saskatchewan pavilion, even though nearly half of them are not Saskatchewan-based.

Included on that list were the governments of Alberta and Newfoundland, the Ontario Power Association, RBC Wealth Management, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and legal firms from Ontario and Alberta with officials from Japan, Norway, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Colombia also utilizing Saskatchewan-taxpayer-funded meeting space.

“We have some of the cleanest and greenest products on earth, and we’re there to share the how,” Moe said at the press conference.

“We’re there, not only as the province of Saskatchewan, but as a province within the nation of Canada.”

But doesn’t that still make Moe and whomever accompanies him to COP28 part of the “70,000 high-carbon, high-flying hypocrites” Poilievre evidently loathes?

Well, evidently not. According to Moe and others, it’s neither hypocritical nor inappropriate to fly to Dubai to the world environmental conference — especially if you are going for environmental reasons rather than economic ones.

Moe has even doubled down on the trade element of the trip, boldly announcing that presentations on trade opportunities by Saskatchewan’s International India and Japan trade offices will be among the highlights at Saskatchewan’s controversial pavilion.

While Trade and Investment Minister Jeremy Harrison and others have sold this expensive trip as attending the world United Nations environmental conference, make no mistake that COP28 is little more than a trade opportunity for Moe and the Sask. Party government. Many are good with this approach.

“The big thing for us is to be around our customers, our consumers globally, and to really share what we are doing,” said Moosomin farmer Kristjan Hebert of Grain Ventures, who explained at Moe’s press conference last Thursday that he was going to COP28 to “differentiate from our competitors” on the international stage.

Moe and others associated with the Saskatchewan pavilion are there for the “Green Zone” that’s all about the business side of things and not the more-restricted “Blue Zone” where governments are discussing ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“High-flying hypocrites?” Well, evidently not, if the primary reason for going to Dubai is to pursue economic opportunity rather than commit to reducing GHGs.

Of course, this is a massive frustration to the environmental purists who argue that Saskatchewan remains one of the highest emitting GHG jurisdictions on the planet. (Remember Moe telling the Chamber of Conference in Prince Albert last year “I don’t care” about having the highest per capita GHG emissions in the country?)

But as much as prioritizing economic opportunities over the environmental ones has angered environmentalists and others, it doesn’t seem to be hurting Moe too much at home.

Upon his departure, the Saskatchewan premier was given another favourable Angus Reid poll showing his popularity has hardly waned.

High-flying hypocrite? Well, not if you’re flying high to defend the economy.

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Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.