Prime Minister Mark Carney used to call climate change an existential threat. He used to warn investors that fossil fuels could turn into stranded assets. Now, his plan is to fire-hose subsidies at oil and gas. His plan is a state-owned pipeline that will cost at least $35 billion.  Even with token private funding, taxpayers will almost certainly cover tens of billions. That’s enough to pay thousands of doctors for their entire careers. It’s enough to fund hyper-modern transit or massive social housing or cheaper tuition. And there isn’t even a business case. Renewables are getting so good, so fast, that a pipeline finished in the 2030s will likely become the kind of stranded asset Carney used to warn of.

Some people excused all this by hinting that Carney was lying. The subtext is that he was just heading off Albertan secession. But subsidizing pipelines wasn’t needed to keep Alberta. Secession was always wildly unpopular. To prevent it, Carney just needed not to completely alienate Albertans. He doesn’t need to starve transit and schools and hospitals to build a pipeline that wouldn’t even be profitable without subsidies.

That isn’t what Liberals voted for. During the leadership race, there was no reason to expect this from Carney, who’d warned investors about fossil fuels. That’s why committed climate hawks like Steven Guilbeault, Canada’s former environment minister, endorsed him. And Carney’s betrayal is why Guilbeault........

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