We are now close to the litmus test of the new Carney government as it approaches the bifurcation between the road to sensible fiscal and environmental policy and the road over the cliff into total war against the oil and gas industry and the piling on of taxes and higher gasoline and fuel costs in pursuit of a tokenistic reduction in Canada’s minimal contribution to world carbon use. So far, we have generally had inconclusive indications of attempts to straddle these irreconcilable options. There have been references to a ”carbon-neutral pipeline,” (a nonsensical idea), and fuzzy comments about how to pay for the prime minister’s vertiginously expensive doomsday climate wish list, including a referendum on tax increases.