The nutbar’s report

Vincent J. Curtis

1 Sept 22

RE: Canadian banks not meeting UN-back goals: Greenpeace.  A story by CP.  Published in the Hamilton Spectator 1 Sept 22.

OMG! If Canadian banks don’t pull up their socks, they’ll get kicked out of a climate PC club they joined.  So says Greenpeace, who issued a (gulp!) *report*!!

Greenpeace is a group founded in the 1960s by famous Canadian ecologist Dr. Patrick Moore.  He left Greenpeace after they got taken over by unserious nutbars who simply wanted to destroy, without consideration of the practical consequences.  This is the group that wants Canadian banks to stop funding the Canadian oil and gas business.  The banks, for their part, agreed to join some group or other for the sake of the good PR, but Greenpeace is trying to hold the banks to the letter of what they said they agreed to.

Greenpeace may be attacking the banks, but they’re really attacking you.  What are you going to do without fossil fuels?  The Europeans are finding out the hard way: it means poverty, and the likelihood of freezing this winter.  Never mind that Canadian banks have a responsibility to all Canadians and to all legitimate businesses, of which Greenpeace is neither.  Who knows what violence is implicit in Greenpeace’s “report.”

(By responsibility, I mean not only must they be open for business, but they have to make a profit for their own shareholders, and have a fiduciary responsibility for pensions and saving accounts they hold.  That means they have to make shrewd investments.  And that can mean investing in Canadian oil and gas and pipelines.  So-call “ethical” investment funds are notorious for not performing well, and, of course, what’s one man’s ethics is another man’s sin.  Forget the PR, it would be a violation of their fiduciary responsibility for Canadian banks to avoid financing of Canada’s fossil fuel related businesses to satisfy Greenpeace, the UN, or any other non-Canadian authority.)

I say the banks should use the tactic of shunning against Greenpeace that Greenpeace wants against Canada’s fossil fuel sector, which employs hundreds of thousands of Canadians.  Cut Greenpeace off banking services.  Shutter their accounts.  See how they like it.

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