The leader of B.C.'s Conservatives says there needs to be a conversation about nuclear power's role in the province's energy future and a review of educational materials he says are designed for "indoctrination" of children.
John Rustad, speaking on an episode of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson's podcast released Monday, says he also wants to get rid of the carbon levy, which he calls "a vain attempt to change the weather."
In the episode, which runs just over an hour and 45 minutes, Rustad and Peterson discuss a variety of topics including his revival of the B.C. Conservative Party as an election contender, energy and education policy, and what they call "cancel culture."
Rustad says B.C.'s education system is "teaching kids what to think" rather than how to think critically, and some materials in the system are "designed for more of an indoctrination" than teaching kids important skills.
The party leader also says it was "crazy" for the former B.C. Liberal party to have banned nuclear power, saying the province needs to have "a conversation" about reconsidering its position, tying high energy costs to lower living standards.
Rustad said the ban was "because of politics" and a means of chasing votes, and that B.C. will eventually need more power and be open to nuclear technologies such as small modular reactors.
Rustad was a member of the B.C. Liberals, now known as BC United, until he was thrown out of the party caucus for downplaying the role of humans in climate change.
The B.C. Conservative Party's slate of candidates remains in flux after BC United leader Kevin Falcon last week pulled the party out of the race, urging people to support Rustad to defeat David Eby's NDP in the provincial election in October.
Rustad, who spoke to Peterson before the BC United withdrawal, says B.C. needs to learn its energy lessons from places such as Germany, where he says the decommissioning of nuclear plants meant a heavier reliance on fossil fuels that drove up costs and affected people's quality of life.
He also takes aim at renewable energy technology such as solar panels, wind generators and heat pumps, saying that such devices are not reliable enough to support base load electricity demand or consumption.
"Wind and solar have their place, but they are additives to our energy mix," Rustad says. "They're not base load. They can't be base load.
"Where you can drive down the cost is higher-density energy … When you look at uranium, the amount of energy you can generate out of uranium is phenomenally better from an amount of material you need as opposed to the other products," Rustad says.
Rustad also calls the BC Liberals' previous decision to ban nuclear power in the province was an example of politicians who "chase where they think the vote is as opposed to standing on the principles … that are needed to create a good society and quality of life."
"Often, it's not necessarily politics of the right or the left," he says. "It's just politics that is willing to actually stand up and say these are the values that we stand for … and ask people to support that, make the case as opposed to trying to pander to the various political positionings."
Rustad says the current B.C. power grid is almost completely green "if you consider hydro power green," but the province doesn't have enough and is already a net-importer of electricity with no plans to build additional dams.
"And this is where we actually have to start having that conversation about nuclear, whether it's small modular reactors or other types of nuclear technology," he says. "We're going to need that power in British Columbia."
On the carbon levy, Rustad says "it makes no sense whatsoever" to be "taxing people into poverty."
He adds that such a charge adds costs to goods from B.C. and Canada that make exports less competitive globally, further cutting into Canadians' capacity to generate wealth.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2024.
Comments
Oh god he is such a douchebag. Well, you can tell that just from the fact that his idea of campaigning is to do a thing with Jordan Peterson. But he's clearly a massive lying hypocrite, because all his whining about indoctrination amounts to is bitching that he doesn't get to indoctrinate kids into right wing Christian dogma and prevent them from finding out that gays and anyone else he doesn't like are real people.
Just so that Mr. Rustad knows, the BC education system spent a long time teaching children how to think, not what to think. Unfortunately, BC's adults have screwed up the kids' future so badly that kids now need to learn what to think: Life is good, extinction is bad. Learning to grow your own food in a changing climate is vital, ignoring the changing climate is bad. Climate change is dangerous, working to mitigate it is good. People who scream "indoctrination" are quite likely projecting. (And I agree, that his campaign included an interview with JP tells us everything. we. need. to. know. about Mr. Rustad.) Now, to get out the vote for sanity and climate action.
BC Conservatives say review education as present curriculum is indoctrination of our children!
As if the Conservative views in Canada and about the world are not indoctrination or brain washing or gaslighting as I call it.
Say anything enough times and it becomes normal. Say any ridiculous false made up thing on the internet and it becomes Conservative policy.
Eg. Vaccines
Eg. A Conservative MP here in Canada posts on X that families are so cash strapped they are trafficking their children and this is being repeated! Are they nuts? Thus is who gets elected at the federal level?
Eg. Your individual freedom is more important than that of of total society? As if?
Eg. The free capitalist market is the most important thing in our lives. It must be unregulated and will solve any and all your problems! Oh yeah? Well folks if you agree with PP and Canada is broken, don't forget we have been using that free unregulated market for 40 years and u know what? It has failed us. Got us right up to today! Reaganomics and Thatcherism are not the solution. Look up neoliberalism on Investopedia.com and note the whole objective of our political and economic system is profit and dividends? How much profit and dividends do u receive?
Simply put make wealthy more wealthy and the rest can make do. 90% of the increase in the Canadian economy over the last 40 years has gone to the 10% of the population who are already wealthy. The 90% of Canadians get that 10%. Spread over 39 million of us I might add.
These BC Conservative comments are gaslighting extraordinaire, vote getting.
As far as nuclear, it has been discussed, studied, dismissed now thought of as a world saviour! Except when building a large nuclear power generation plant, the costs usually triple. And no one seems to have mastered Small Model Reactors except the Russians and we are not speaking to them. And Canada couldn't get a reactor built in 25 years no matter how hard they tried.
Nuclear is not affordable, and that now includes SMRs. They take longer to build than most other power sources. Renewables are increasingly cheaper than both nuclear and fossil fuels and today's grid scale batteries make them stable and reliable. If solar and wind are not "base load" then why are they generating 70% of the power in parts of Victoria, Australia? Renewables comprise 50% of the power generation today in Germany and China, with the UK and other parts of the EU catching up.
This politico, like his conservative colleagues on other provinces, just isn't good with basic research and facts.
If there is an alternative energy source that should be getting priority attention, it is ultra-deep geothermal power. The potential is truly huge and it is not being talked about nearly enough. Nuclear is so yesterday! And it's lifetime costs are much greater than proponents would have you believe.