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The western economy is not what the current prime minister or his activist environment minister misrepresent it as, writes Warren Steinley.

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Justin Trudeaus handpicked environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, has spent his whole life campaigning against Canadian energy. His ideological opposition to energy workers in the Prairies ignores the fact that it is these Canadians that develop the best carbon reduction practices and technology that benefits Canada, and the world.

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Those of us who actually live, work and raise our families on the Prairies know better. Despite the technological innovation, sustainable development, and carbon neutral projects that come out of our resource-rich Western provinces, the Trudeau government and Minister Guilbeault refuse to acknowledge the potential of our Canadian prairies. The economic challenges we face, made worse by the Liberal governments policies and messaging, is an inaccurate perception that energy from the Prairies cannot be sustainable and ethical.

The facts speak contrary to Justin Trudeaus beliefs, which are made clear by their anti-energy and anti-resource messaging. Our prairie industries are setting the tone as highly motivated innovators in the world of sustainable development.

Whitecap Resources carbon sequestration units in Joffre and Weyburn serve as world class examples of using captured and sequestered carbon to produce oil from deep earth reserves. The Mcilvenna Bay copper mine in northeast Saskatchewan will be the worlds first carbon neutral copper development project. Prairie Lithium has developed technology to extract solid lithium from the brine found in mature oil wells across southeastern Saskatchewan.

These are just a few examples of sustainable market solutions creating a competitive advantage for prairie industries and for Canada to compete in greening global markets. Our resource and agricultural economies continue to innovate and evolve for the better, and instead of championing these developments at every turn, our government refuses to recognize them or include them as credible examples in the conversation about Canadas future.

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As industries on the Prairies and all of Canada adjust to new environmental expectations, fair attention must be paid when new or innovative steps are taken to meet these expectations. Canadas government should be supporting and promoting these innovations and technological developments at home and abroad. Instead, the Liberal government continues to demonize Canadas resource and agriculture sectors and excludes them from important discussions around meeting climate goals.

The western economy is not what the current prime minister or his activist environment minister misrepresent it as. The Prairies have progressive-minded businesses that are aware of their environmental footprint and are actively seeking ways to minimize it. What it would take to encourage other businesses and sectors to seize advantage of and invest in these technologies when developing our untapped potential, would be an admission from the Trudeau government that developments made in these sectors are part of the solution, not the problem, to the countrys environmental concerns.

Justin Trudeau could choose to be a champion for cutting-edge, world-class resource development and technology that sustains hundreds of thousands of Canadian jobs. But something tells me the newly minted environment minister and his boss are content in their own misconceptions and that is bad for Canada.

Warren Steinley is the MP for ReginaLewvan and Conservative shadow minister for prairie economic development and interprovincial trade.

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Opinion: Liberals need to recognize potential of prairie industry in carbon fight - Regina Leader-Post