"No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil and just leave it in the ground,"

that may have been true fifty years ago, but what this comment exposes is a type of backwards thinking that is very much in line with the views of stephen harper. as much as trudeau would like to pretend that he's looking forward, he's much very stuck in twentieth century style thinking.

there was a time when coal was widely used, but today we are actively phasing coal out permanently, despite there existing ample reserves for a long time. likewise, uranium has no future, despite the existence of centuries of reserves in the ground. oil - like uranium and coal - is a dirty product, and must be eliminated altogether.

canada has billions of dollars of remaining reserves of asbestos, which are now being left in the ground.

technology changes. the choice we have is to move with technology, or be overcome by it. one does not survive in the 21st century by using 20th century logic. and, we will face certain collapse if we insist on building an economy around a product that the world is cutting demand for.

reality check: that oil is going to have to stay in the ground, and canadians are going to have to force the prime minister to understand it, or remove him if he won't.

the country needs political leadership that looks forwards towards economic diversification, not backwards towards the dirty oil of the twentieth century.

he's not harper-lite. he's harper on steroids.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-houston-harper-pierre-ceraweek-1.4018746