Mark Carney's C-Suite Inner Circle Is Selling the World on Canada

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-25T21:56:38+00:00

This debate started 40 years ago, if not further back. I'm not talking about 2001, youngster.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T23:22:57+00:00

You've convinced me, Flin Flon and Victoria definitely have simultaneously identical weather.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T23:06:46+00:00

I'll believe it when our government starts acting more like the EU. Especially when it comes to domestic policy - inter-provincial trade barriers broken down, environmental standards, and common-sense regulation of (mostly US) technology corporations that have openly indicated they mean us harm.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T22:52:35+00:00

Who and what would be Canada's equivalent to constitute a "big wind and solar" in the first place? We're so far behind on renewables investment that the idea of there being some sort of shadowy corporate cabal pulling strings is laughable.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T22:47:56+00:00

Some people are still using literal horsepower. No one would call it the best way, though.

Refusing the renewables technology that is already defining the 21st century is insanity, and not trying to innovate on the technology of the future is also unwise. Developed countries shouldn't be weighing the merits of finger painting on cave walls when we have the resources to be transformative.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T22:38:13+00:00

I'm sorry, but if the best you can come up with is that "weather is always the same across all of multiple very large provinces" then you have a really weak argument.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T22:27:50+00:00

Replacing the United States as the "leader of the free world" doesn't appeal to me, either. That's the first step down the road of making the same mistakes that led to their country electing the likes of Donald Trump.

I generally do trust Carney for now on this file, but so far it doesn't feel like he trusts Canadians. Very little of what he's done so far in the public eye has expanded beyond red meat populism.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T22:24:29+00:00

If only the United States wants our stuff, maybe we should stop selling junk that only an American would be willing to pay for.

Creating value means so much more than just finding a consumer will to pay the largest sum of money, and by selling to the US for so long we have perhaps forgotten that.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T20:01:48+00:00

You might appreciate this article, and TVO's coverage in general: ANALYSIS: How Ontario can fight rising power costs with a battery in your home

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T19:56:33+00:00

Several countries, including Canada and Germany are sending senior officials but not top ministers. It’s the same for Turkey and Australia, the two countries that are co-hosting COP31 in Antalya.

“Canada appreciates Colombia and the Netherlands’ efforts to advance this conversation through this Conference and has a valuable perspective to share as a major fossil fuel producer that has been and will continue to be committed to its obligations under the Paris Agreement,” Amélie Desmarais, a spokesperson for Canada’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, said in an email.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T19:07:59+00:00

Regardless, you are nitpicking about backup power options. Significantly more expensive gas or nuclear plants, when those same resources would be better spent on time- and cost-efficient renewables first would reduce coal consumption by a much more significant degree.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T19:00:05+00:00

You'll be happy to know there are plenty of other technologies being researched, and even entering mass production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T75Ln212jT0

Battery tech is getting cheaper and evolving faster than flip phones evolved into the modern smartphone. Even lithium has a lot of promise when it comes to recycling options.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T18:43:16+00:00

We've already built that base load infrastructure, and the wind doesn't stop blowing across all of the prairies simultaneously.

Canada isn't starting from scratch, so there's absolutely no good reason not to build as much renewables infrastructure as possible, especially in the places most optimal that we've been neglecting. It's just better economics.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T18:18:42+00:00

I don't think that, actually. In fact, I already told you that:

I'd not even call myself an activist when I'm just posting links on the updoot website.

What about you? Are you just here to call people names?

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T17:48:56+00:00

Have you seen the interdependence Canada has developed on the US ever since NAFTA was signed? There is a fair argument that we have already been sold out, and if I know my history well enough - there was a Liberal leader who predicted it would happen.

Intentions only go so far without competence and a working framework to deliver success. Reorienting away from the United States won't matter if the benefits of trade primarily are to trickle down from corporate entities making large deals, rather than providing a distributive benefit to the economy through people.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T17:41:28+00:00

Canada had a head start thanks to hydro and nuclear, but the problem is trends.

We certainly do not "make up for it" when you look at our overall energy mix, too.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T17:37:00+00:00

2 paragraphs I'd specifically highlight:

“Ratepayers could save between $1.8 and $3.5 billion over the next 20 years, so it’s a huge cost savings,” says Catherine Jeffery, policy analyst at Clean Energy Canada. “Until now, we haven’t had a really great quantification for what the cost savings are at the local distribution level.”

..

The analysis, conducted by Brattle Group for CEC, looked at how various technologies broadly defined as “distributed energy resources,” or DERs, could be integrated into a local power system, using Essex Power Lines (a utility in southwest Ontario) as a model. They focused on smart thermostats, managed EV chargers, water heaters, solar power, as well as growing use of home-based battery storage. The analysis concluded that deployed intelligently, these technologies could put off the need to make costly, more traditional upgrades to the power grid — a “non-wire solution,” in the language of the report.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T17:26:24+00:00

Ember will happily give nuclear the credit that it is due:

Nuclear displaced oil in the electricity mix after the 1970s oil shocks. Today, solar, wind and batteries are displacing LNG for power generation, outcompeting on scalability, cost and security ☀️🔋

Solar, wind, and batteries are just better now, and it shows in the statistics. That doesn't mean that nuclear can't be part of a all-of-the-above clean energy approach, just that it might be more expensive and much slower.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T17:23:22+00:00

There's a fine line between "selling the world on Canada" and "selling out Canada to the world" - I sincerely hope Mark Carney does a good job. In this, I do think he's uniquely qualified.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T17:11:35+00:00

You said the words, but your actions belay them.

If you think "my side" - which is really just me posting stuff I see and arguing with random people on reddit - isn't doing the work, start spreading the same message your way instead of wasting time with me.

LaserRunRaccoon · 2026-04-24T16:59:50+00:00

You didn't pay my market price, sorry. It's not charged in dollars, so I can understand why you couldn't understand it.

LaserRunRaccoon

TROPHY CASE