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There is no scientific definition of "Net Zero" - "It's hocus pocus, pixie dust," Dan McTeague told Taxi News. Image: Disney
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Net Zero a “nebulous term, hocus-pocus, pixie dust” McTeague says

There is no scientific definition of “Net Zero”

“’Net Zero’ is a nebulous term; it means nothing,” says Dan McTeague.

“It’s a marketing term. There is no scientific definition of ‘Net Zero.’ It is a scam, a marketing scam. ‘Net Zero’ means whatever the people using it want it to mean, whatever helps them push their new idea to frustrate consumers.”

The whole idea of any jurisdiction achieving Net Zero is “based on someone’s pure fantasy. It’s hocus-pocus. It’s pixie dust,” he laughs.

Some Canadians know Dan McTeague as the Liberal Member of Parliament who served Pickering-Scarborough East from 1993 to 2011. He gained fame and tons of affection from ordinary citizens and taxpayers for his weekly radio spots “Gas Price Watch” during which explained where the price gas at the pump would be going, and why. Later he founded “Gas Price Buddy” and most recently, he launched “Canadians for Affordable Energy” (CFAE). CFAE is an advocacy organization promoting and advocating for policies and initiatives aimed at ensuring affordable and reliable energy for Canadian consumers.

Dan McTeague, President, Canadians for Affordable Energy Photo: CFAE

Although he is technically retired from politics, McTeague says he is “putting his MP pension to good use,” using it to fund continued activities in researching, promoting and advocating for sensible energy policies designed to help Canadians instead of punishing them.

“Canadian bureaucrats are determined to frustrate Canadian taxpayers and citizens, because they have the power to. They have no idea what they are doing, actually, whether their policies will help or hurt people, but they are on a mission to achieve ‘Net Zero.’ At the end of all of this, there will still be the reality. Canadians need to heat their homes in winter, and travel. The drive to Net Zero is making home heat and transportation so expensive, it’s driving people into poverty.”

McTeague was warning politicians, media and citizens about the concept of “Affordability” years before Pierre Poilievre made it a key message. His organization’s website, Canadians for Affordable Energy, is a reliable source of common sense and fact-based information spouting none of the “Net Zero” or “Green Energy” prose commonly used.

“Carbon is not pollution, to begin with,” McTeague states plainly. “Carbon is not pollution. And even still, Canada is responsible for .04 per cent of the world’s carbon. What impact could we possibly have on any global measurement?”

McTeague is dismayed to see the City of Toronto’s “Net Zero” policy will mean nothing but electric vehicles in the downtown core beginning in 2030. Taxis will be one of the industries required to go all-electric, despite the fact that vehicle cost, insurance availability, maintenance, battery replacement and repair costs are all giant mysteries which might be achievable or might kill the industry completely. No one knows.

What does “Net Zero” mean in Toronto?

The official definition provided by Toronto staff is:

“Net zero emissions means the state whereby the Corporation has: (i) exhausted all feasible opportunities to reduce its emissions and achieve absolute zero emissions, and (ii) fully balanced any residual emissions with offset credits for carbon removal, or internal carbon removal activities, where this balancing is like-for-like in terms of warming impact and timescale, as determined by Global Warming Potentials, and storage durability.”

In fact, if the Corporation cannot eliminate all emissions it is permitted to purchase offset credits sufficient to allow it to state that it is Net Zero.

This is much like sinners being able to purchase “Indulgences” from the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages to offset their sinful deeds (this is also why Martin Luther needed to launch an entire Reformation to bring human beings back to their senses).  Actually, it’s EXACTLY like purchasing Indulgences from the Church, especially in that people who can afford the offsets will be allowed to spew carbon. Those poor suckers who cannot afford offsets will need to park their cars.

“The City of Toronto, the left-leaning people living there, are dictating policies for all of Canada as we kill off our God-given energy industry and chase after Net Zero fantasies,” McTeague warns.

“It would be funny to watch those people freezing in the dark after they accomplish this. But it’s not fair to the rest of Canada.”