The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that well-intentioned people have come to think that before you can proceed with a project, you need permission from the Social Licence Bureau. Guest columnist Ross McKitrick writes this is one of the costliest fool's errands of modern times.
Alberta's NDP government found itself goaded into an international snipe hunt for a social licence to operate its oil industry and get the product to market. Bear in mind that the industry complies with all available social, economic and environmental regulations, and that its product is desired by consumers across Canada and around the world. Yet Premier Notley became convinced that Alberta's oil still lacked legitimacy because it was missing a so-called social licence.
Unfortunately, the same folks who convinced Ms. Notley of this -- climate activists -- also set themselves up as the arbiters of who gets a licence and who does not. Ms. Notley played along, and now Albertans face higher energy costs. The Premier has, one hopes, learned the hard way that if she wants to promote her province's interests, she cannot hope to do so by currying favour with irrational forces that openly seek the ruin of Alberta.
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