The Agenda is now the "Woke" Agenda

Panels don't discuss issues, they preach to the choir of leftist ideologues

I used to like watching The Agenda with Steve Paikin who is a terrific host and the panels used to comprise experts with differing (and sometimes opposing views) of social and political issues, making the discussion a worthwhile and educational experience. Those days seem gone.

Today’s episode “Will New Rules Put an End to 'Greenwashing' in Canada?” two things - first, as evident throughout the discussion, the presumption that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are a primary cause of climate change or are otherwise harmful and second, that claims that do not promote that narrative are misleading and should be dealt with by legislation.

The panel comprised four very bright and well-educated Canadians including Keldon Bestor, who holds a Harvard Master’s Degree in Public Policy; Julien Beaulieu, a lawyer; Phil De Luna, holding a PhD degree in Material Science from University of Toronto; and, Tanya Jemec, who holds a PhD degree in Law from University of Ottawa. It is hard to imagine a better educated panel.

What these young Canadians, and apparently Steve Paikin, have in common is the deluded belief that CO2 emissions are harmful and cause climate change and that there is value in laws that order corporations to disclose emissions despite the added costs of that disclosure and enforce penalties against companies that claim to be environmentally responsible but don’t buy the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) theory nor think it necessary to pretend it has merit.

Paikin gave these panelist oxygen to promote their AGW beliefs with no opposing voices. Instead, the discussion centered only on how to compel corporations to line up with this specious narrative.

The reality that CO2 emissions are virtually irrelevant to global temperatures is readily demonstrated through application of the laws of physics and thermodynamics. Of the panelist, Only De Luna seems to have an educational background that should have led him to the conclusion that CO2 emissions are harmless, but he seemed the most evangelical about stamping out “greenwashing”, at least to me.

While I do not hold a PhD in any discipline, my career and education have some items in common with these panelists. I have Master’s Degrees in Business and in Securities Law, a graduate diploma from Western University in Mining Law, Finance and Sustainability, and an undergraduate foundation that includes post secondary courses in mathematics and physics.

The reality that CO2 is incapable of causing any material atmospheric warming is set out below with footnotes pointing to the fact base and my contribution limited to arithmetic. These panelists and Paikin can likely handle the arithmetic.

We live in a world where the Trudeau government, many regulatory bodies like the Combines Branch and the various Securities Commissions share a left wing ideology and promote “woke” climate alarmist nonsense, and it now seems The Agenda has added its voice to the cacaphony of misinformation now being spread throughout society.

I expect more from well-educated young Canadians. They can do better.