Stephen Harper's National Energy Program May Do More Damage Than OPEC

" I witnessed first-hand the movement of an economy from historic boom to deep recession in a matter of months. A radical, interventionist blueprint of economic nationalism, the NEP caused the oil industry to flee, businesses to close and the real estate market to crash. The lives of honest, hard-working Albertans were upended and I came to know many of those who lost their jobs and homes." (Looking Back at Trudeau, Stephen Harper, National Post, October 5, 2000)

By 2000, Harper had left the Reform Party, and was running the National Citizens Coalition, a right-wing, anti-liberal non-profit; created initially to end public healthcare; but grew to include a fight against unions and a fight for the ability of corporations to fund politicians and political parties.

I don't know if Stephen Harper really believed that the National Energy Program caused the devastation he describes, or he was simply reviving an old wedge issue, while attempting to rewrite history.

Admittedly, the NEP was not popular in Alberta, but its cancellation by Mulroney, was the cause of most of their woes.

Oscar Wilde wrote that there are only two tragedies: one is not getting what one wants; the other is getting it. In the fall of 1985, the latter tragedy befell Alberta's oil industry. The OPEC cartel failed to agree upon a world oil price. The result was a global free-for-all among producing nations. Canada's oil and gas producers were caught in the middle. Having recently gained freedom from the NEP, Canada's oil and gas industry was not protected as the price of oil dropped from US $27 per barrel ... to $8 per barrel by August 1986. ... Forty-five thousand oil workers lost their jobs." (Of Passionate Intensity: Right-Wing Populism and the Reform Party of Canada, By Trevor Harrison, University of Toronto Press, 1995, ISBN: 0-8020-7204-6 3, p. 97)

In fact, most in the industry liked Trudeau's program because it allowed further exploration on public land. What they opposed was the proposed closing of tax loopholes by then Liberal finance minister, Allan MacEachen.

However, they couldn't campaign against that to attack the Trudeau government, so instead sold it as Ottawa aggression toward the West, and Ted Byfield, an early Reform Party organizer, kept the campaign alive. Wrote Harrison: "In the months and years that followed, Byfield's Alberta Report continued to mythologize the intent and the impact of the NEP", giving the Reformers their battle cry, "The West wants in".

Harper's National Energy Program

Since coming to power in 2006, the new and improved Reform Party, now calling themselves the Conservative Party of Canada, has done everything they could to deny that Climate Change exists, or that the Alberta Oilsands has anything to do with it, if it does.

That stance has made Canada a symbol around the world, of what Climate Change denial looks like, though it has increased Harper's creds with the diminishing Denial crew.

In the CPC's latest campaign, they suggest that the toxic bitumen coming out of the Oilsands is actually good for us. No more harmful than cooking a steak on a barbecue. Heck maybe we could bottle it and sell it as a sauce.

Economically, we've been turned into a Petro State with our fortunes dependant on how well the industry is doing.

Yet, according to the International Monetary Fund for every dollar in growth from oil, 82 cents goes to Alberta, with Ontario seeing just 4 cents. Yet the entire country has subsidized the Oilsands to the tune of 34 billion dollars.

Harper has also increased Alberta's federal transfer, while decreasing Ontario's and is moving the National Energy Board to Calgary, creating jobs in a province already apparently experiencing a labour shortage.

Will All of This Largesse Really Help Alberta?

The Harper government recently tried to bury a report, warning of the economic and health risks of the Alberta tarsands. Just another attempt at denying Climate Change exists, that has included muzzling scientists and ending tax breaks for environmental groups.

In the debate over the pipelines, we are told that without them Canada’s economic recovery would suffer serious damage. Says Russ Blinch in the Huffington Post: Prime Minister Harper says he won't lift a finger to help the environment because he's working too hard to protect jobs. In fact he is imperiling our future by blocking innovation in order to support a fading industry: fossil fuels.

The World Bank says that tackling climate change would grow economies, not hinder growth or recovery.

And while John Baird is putting pressure on the U.S. To approve the XL pipeline, a former Canadian ambassador claims that there is a very good chance that they won't be needed. Obama is now allowing American crude to be exported, which might also bring the price of oil down.

The Northern Gateway that would send the tar to China for refinery, is also not looking too promising. China is moving away from oil and switching to natural gas, which they are getting from Russia. Looks like Putin is laying claim to the Asian market with his own pipelines. So much for sanctions, as he's also moving away from the U.S. dollar.

So will Harper's National Energy Program cause the oil industry to flee, businesses to close and the real estate market to crash? Will it upend the lives of honest, hard-working Albertans, many of whom will lose their jobs and homes?

Jeffrey Rubin Former Chief Economist with CIBC World Markets asks Are Harper's dreams of Canada as energy superpower going up in smoke?

In the last decade, his Conservative government has done everything but roll out the red carpet for the energy sector. Whether it's multi-million dollar advertising campaigns in the United States, gold-plated junkets to foreign energy markets, or muzzling opposition from domestic environmentalists, never before have we seen Ottawa shill so unabashedly for a single industry ... Unfortunately for Canadians, it’s becoming clear that despite the Prime Minister’s best attempts at economic intervention, their government is playing a losing hand.

If Harper's Reform Party used the revisionist history of the impact of Trudeau's energy policies, with a tagline "The West Wants In", maybe the next election ours should be:

CANADA WANTS IN

But that won't happen until Harper is out.

Moving Beyond Politics by Empowering the People

What if Environment Canada issued a tornado warning for your area?  And what if along with that warning they offered suggestions to keep you safe?  Things like moving into the basement; covering yourself with blankets and staying away from your windows.  You would certainly heed their advice, since it's based on scientific knowledge.

However, what if a lobby group, wanting to undermine the scientific community, told you to ignore the warnings? We'll call them the International Damnifying Idealist Organization for the Takeover of Sensibility, or I.D.I.O.T.S. for short.

And what if I.D.I.O.T.S., instead suggested that the warnings were unfounded?  Merely an attempt by criminals to get you in the basement, covered in blankets and away from the windows,  so they could steal your stuff.

Confused?  Science or a noisy lobby group?

Now what if a group of Nobel prizing winning scientists told you that a devastating change in climate, brought on by the warming of the planet, could make a tornado look like a balloon losing air?  And what if along with that warning they offered suggestions to keep you safe by slowing down that warming, but it would involve major changes by industry and yourself.

However, what if several lobby groups and short-sighted individuals, wanting to undermine the scientific community, told you to ignore the warnings?  We'll call them Exxon, friends of Exxon and the Harper government.

Confused? Science or the money and power behind I.D.I.O.T.S.?

This week President Obama, when pressured by another group backed by the oil industry, we'll call them the Republicans; announced that he would not support the XL pipeline, that would transport bitumen from Canada to the U.S. for refining.

Canada may not care about the environment, but he did.

However, he could not have taken such a stand, had it not been for another noisy lobby group.  We'll call them The People.  Backed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, they empowered Obama to act on behalf of the majority and do what was right.

The Toronto Star had an oped piece this week, written by someone suggesting that Obama's move was purely political.  An attempt to get re-elected.  We'll call him American journalist Robert O. Samuelson.

Bill Moyers, another American journalist, was on Bill Maher this week, and he saw Obama's decision as something else.  The oil industry pushing for XL, and their wholly owned subsidiary (we'll call them the Harper government), put $42 million into the pockets of politicians in an attempt to undermine democracy. 

But the NRDC, and other environmental groups, instead put millions of voters at Obama's doorstep.

Moyers had worked with Lyndon Johnson, when Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964.  When headlines applauded the move, Johnson told Moyers that the Democrats had just lost the South for a generation, and he was right.  But the South didn't dictate, the majority did, and the Act was the right thing to do for the majority of Americans.

FDR's New Deal met with the same opposition by big business in the 1930s, but he asked the people to put the power behind him.  "Make me do the right thing".

Moyers believes that this is why the Occupy movement is a good thing for these times.  Instead of empowering politicians to work against our best interests, by allowing noisy lobby groups to work on behalf on the top 1%, we have to empower them to work for us.

We are the only ones who can build  integrity into the political process.

Durban Climate Conference Tells Peter Kent to Stay Home. I Wish He Would Just go Away!

Lesley Hughes was a popular CBC radio host and respected journalist, who had always been an advocate for the less fortunate members of society. In 2008, she was urged to run for the Liberal Party of Canada, in the Winnipeg riding of Kildonan–St Paul, to challenge incumbent Joy Smith.

Smith was a cohort of Stockwell Day's,  a social conservative who handled his Manitoba campaign when he was running for the party leadership.  Since Kildonan–St Paul is a swing riding, the Conservatives feared that Lesley Hughes could unseat Ms. Smith.

Waiting until it was too late to register another candidate, Peter Kent and the B'Nai Brith, publicly accused Hughes of being anti-Semitic, because of an article she had written in 2002.

It was called Get the Truth, and was in response to the "friendly fire" deaths of 4 Canadian soldiers.  Hughes, like most Canadians, questioned our involvement in the Afghan war.

Kent pointed to one paragraph, as being an attack on Jews.

German Intelligence (BND) claims to have warned the U.S. last June, the Israeli Mossad and Russian Intelligence in August. Israeli businesses, which had offices in the Towers, vacated the premises a week before the attacks, breaking their lease to do it. About 3000 Americans working there were not so lucky.

She does not suggest that the Jewish people were behind the attack, only that German intelligence had warned of the attack, weeks before, and since it looked like nothing was being done in the U.S., Israel was not about to let their people be victimized, just in case the reports were true.  And she provides her source.

Yet, with the help of the media, she was painted as being anti-Semitic and one who believes in a "Jewish conspiracy".  The incident not only cost her the election, since Dion was forced to remove her name, but severely damaged her career.  (B'Nai Brith Canada tells Liberals to dump star candidate)

This was not the first time that they tried to discredit Progressive candidates.

As a former journalist, I was surprised that Kent would sink to this level, but then he was with Canwest Global, a step up from Fox News, though it depends on what you're stepping in.

Peter Kent would also make headlines for his involvement in trying to influence student elections at York University.

"The Conservative party has no authority at all for getting involved in student politics and neither does the York administration. We're an incorporated, independent body," charged Krisna Saravanamuttu, who was elected president of the York Federation of Students in the controversial vote. "Prime Minister Stephen Harper's foot soldiers are deliberately interfering with student elections to help candidates more friendly to their policies." (1)

Through a Freedom of Information request, the student federation obtained 50 pages of email exchanges in which assistants for the two politicians, who represent student-heavy ridings north of the campus, repeatedly questioned university executives about the results of a student council vote this spring.

The students were right that the Conservatives had no authority over their elections.

I can't look at Peter Kent without being angry, and the thought of him representing us at an international climate conference, makes my blood boil.

He was shown on the National, blaming the Liberals for signing onto Kyoto in the first place.  Their biggest blunder says Kent.  And to bring some "balance" into the story, the National interviewed environmental expert Jack Mintz.  Isn't he an economist?  But then they can't really interview an actual scientist, because Christian Paradis (2), also not a scientist, has them all bound and gagged. Suncor got to weigh in though, and guess what side they're on?

Mintz is using China as a scapegoat, but even they have a better policy than we do.

And where are the environmentalists in this story? Our climate policies are now being decided by an ex-journalist (Kent), a corporate lawyer (Paradis) and Suncor.

This reminds me of a joke I shared before, when another non-scientist (Bernhard Rust) was heading up the science ministry in 1930s Germany.  It was published in a 1933 Time Magazine story, entitled 'Science: Jews Without Jobs':

Two Germans were eyeing a burly lout in the Nazi uniform who was striding through a university hall. First man: "What is the policeman doing here?" Second man: "Sh, sh. That is the man selected to succeed Einstein."

I chuckle at the media suggesting that at Copenhagen we agreed to do what the U.S. does, despite the fact that Italy and Canada were the only G8 nations not invited to attend Obama's private meeting. The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was back home after being attacked by a protester earlier in the week, and Harper should have just stayed home. (3)

We were also warned by Americans that we should fend for ourselves:

.... speaking before a House of Commons committee on the environment, three experts on the U.S. effort to pass a climate change bill suggested Canada might be better off working on its own legislation then working to link it to whatever legislation the U.S. passes.

Gotta' love the media though. If Harper says it, it must be true.

The Durban climate conference is now telling Peter Kent to stay home.  I agree that he shouldn't attend the conference, but why do we have to be stuck with him?

Sources:

1. Stop meddling, students tell Tories, By Louise Brown, Toronto Star, July 6, 2009

2. Ottawa’s media rules muzzling federal scientists, say observers, By Margaret Munro, Postmedia News, September 12, 2010

3. Obama makes last-ditch effort to save climate deal, By Allan Woods, Toronto Star, December 18, 2009

The Reformers Remain Out of Step With Canadians

Now that Stephen Harper has his majority, he has been pushing through the Reform Party agenda at lightening speed.

If you want to know what that agenda looks like, read anything written on the Reformers from 1987-1999. Stephen Harper drafted their policy, 2/3 of it cribbed from the National Citizens Coalition handbook.

If you don't want to read the books, watch the Tea Party debates. Mass deregulation, attacks on the poor, attacks on women's rights and gay rights, religious fundamentalism, law and order for corporate America, everyone packing heat in the name of vigilante justice .... it's all there and then some.

What Harper may not have anticipated, however, was Canadians fighting back.

We are not taking the demolishing of gun control lightly, especially given the mean spirit in which it is being forced on us.  The Reformers are not only going against the wishes of the police, and the Canadian public who fought so hard to keep it, but they are also stifling debate in future governments, by destroying all records.

The environment is now back in the news, and climate change once again a key issue.  The Harperites don't believe in the science of climate change, so instead have spent the last five years and millions of our dollars, launching a denial campaign.  I heard a Tea Party politician recently suggest that we shouldn't worry about it because God promised Noah that there would be no more floods.

I feel better already.

Wheat farmers in the West have launched a campaign to raise awareness to the devastation that the abolishment of the Canadian Wheat Board will have on their farms.

In Brandon Manitoba, they dumped a pile of grain in front of Conservative MP Merv Tweed's constituency office. In Saskatchewan they straddled a railway crossing, symbolic of Harper telling farmers to get on his multinational corporation train.

The Canadian Wheat Board Alliance was formed to fight back, and demand the democratic rights of farmers.

After suggesting that "Bilingualism" was "the god that failed", Canadians instead have recently told our little dictator, that bilingualism is vital to Canada's future.  "47.5 per cent feel that bilingualism is “important” and 22.3 per cent feel it is “somewhat important”. A total of 8.1 per cent think it is “somewhat unimportant” and 19.2 per cent think it is “unimportant”." Pushing English speaking only appointments is not a smart move.

The Liberals were right to stage a walkout in protest.

Canadians rejected the Reformers at the ballot box, and the Conservative Party of Canada is still the same old Reform Party.  They are now in a position where they no longer have to pretend to be anything other than Reform, so look for a continued assault on Canadian values.

Jim Flaherty and Mike Duffy have been in Kingston Ontario recently, leading ghost walks, a popular attraction.  Both brought up Sir John A. MacDonald, as if they had something to do with their party.

Sir John A. would have hated these guys, because they are the antithesis of everything he stood for.  A strong central government and independence from the United States.  Kingstonians are smart enough to know that.  We have a Liberal MP, Ted Hsu; a Liberal MPP, John Gerretson; and our progressive and foreword thinking mayor, Mark Gerretson, is the MPP's son.

Nanos did a poll recap for October and under leadership scores, Harper is down 17 points, Bob Rae up 10.8.  Nycole Turmel is down slightly (by 3 points) and Elizabeth May up almost 9.

Harper might want to rethink his agenda.  Not that he will.  The arguments of American conservatism are iron clad.  He couldn't change course now even if he wanted to.

Canada Now the Only Country Refusing to Release Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Harper's environmental plan was to just do whatever the United States did, hoping that would buy him a bit of time.

But time has run out and Canada is now the only Country not providing important information to UN:

Canada has once again missed an international deadline for submitting an inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations.

While 42 governments, including from earthquakestricken Japan, have submitted their data on emissions of the heat-trapping gases that warm the atmosphere, Canada is the only one behind schedule in reporting to the UN's climate change secretariat as part of its international obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

They're blaming it on the election, but the key words here: 'once again'.

...Canada has been criticized in recent years for being late in several cases with reports on its greenhouse gas pollution data. Graham Saul, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, a coalition of environmental, faithbased and labour union groups, said it reflected a pattern of behaviour by the Canadian government.

"If the Japanese can pull it together in the midst of a devastating natural disaster, then I don't know what excuse the government of Canada could have for failing to produce it on time," said Saul in an interview. He added that the delays suggest the Canadian government is trying to do as little as possible to address climate change and deserves to be criticized as the worst in the industrialized world at promoting progress in international action to reduce dependency on fossil fuels such as gasoline, to reduce pollution and promote cleaner energy options.

Stephen Harper doesn't believe in the science of global warming, so he will do as little as possible to address it.

In fact, someone reported from a local debate, that the Conservative incumbent said that they were proud of their Colossal Fossil Award.

Me not so much.

Ignoring Climate Change Will Not Make it Go Away

British environmental activist and author, George Monbiot, gives Stephen Harper and the Conservatives a place of honour in his book Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning

Thanks to the efforts of Mr Harper and your environment minister, Rona Ambrose, Canada's global reputation is now beginning to catch up with its performance. When they say that Canada cannot reach its Kyoto targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, they mean that they do not intend to try. Their surrender within the first few months in office is an astonishing instance of political cowardice. Having presented himself to the Canadian people as a man who can make tough choices, Harper declared himself an irresolute wimp as soon as he was faced with a choice between upsetting a few industrial lobbyists or helping to save the planet. Keeping Canada's promise to cut emissions by 6%, he says, is just too hard. When I first heard that, I couldn't help bursting into bitter laughter. (1)

Stephen Harper didn't try because he doesn't believe in the science of climate change. In fact he doesn't believe in science at all. How else could you explain his appointment of a creationist to the science portfolio?

But denying climate change doesn't mean that it will just correct itself.

The image at the top of the page is from a billboard going into the climate change summit in Copenhagen in 2009. The world was taking notice and the world was not impressed. And in Copenhagen we won not only many Colossal Fossil awards of the day, but ran off with the top prize. The Colossal Fossil of the summit.



And not simply because of our inaction on climate change, but because Harper tried to sabotage the negotiations.

And in an attempt to rescue our reputation, the prime minister ... well ... did nothing. In fact he missed most of the conference, instead arriving with wealthy oil execs to have lunch with the Queen of Denmark.

And when he was reminded that smaller nations were being devastated by global warming, he made one of the most shocking statements ever to come out of a world leader, let alone a Canadian pm:

"This may be a shock," Harper said last month in the House of Commons, "but the negotiators Canada assigns to international negotiations (like Copenhagen) are there to represent the interests of Canada, not the interests of Mali."

With that statement he painted Canadians as cold and heartless.

We are a nation now being defined by the Tar Sands. And it is giving not only Canada but Alberta a black eye.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has often referred to Canada as an emerging "energy superpower" due largely to the development of the Alberta oil sands. But what has been the long-term legacy of fossil fuel development in Alberta -- the epicenter of the Canadian conservative movement and Harper's political powerbase?

Deficits, foolish giveaways to corporations at the expense of taxpayers, and environmental "carnage" without funds to fix it, according to Allan Warrack, a former minister in the Alberta government who nearly 40 years ago helped craft the province's plan for saving and intelligently investing its oil wealth.

And putting his entire focus on the Alberta oil patch has been misguided at best. Goldman Sachs is now warning their clients not to invest in Canada:

A Goldman Sachs strategist has told investors that it is time to dump their Canadian stocks, so they can avoid suffering losses in the short term as oil prices decline.Noah Weisberger told investors Tuesday that Canadian stocks "made new highs last week, even as growth jitters and higher energy prices were constraining equity markets elsewhere."

But he advised Goldman Sachs clients to drop their Canadian holdings as "risks to the forward view of economic growth are more balanced as are the risks to oil prices."

And Harper's pipeline plans will flow all the good jobs South, even though apparently they don't want them.

And his entire environmental platform is a fraud. It's why he appointed fraudster Bruce Carson to write copy for the Tar Sands and their so-called "ethical oil".

George Monbiot wrote a piece for the UK Guardian: Canada's image lies in tatters. It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling. In it he says of Canada:

When you think of Canada, which qualities come to mind? The world's peacekeeper, the friendly nation, a liberal counterweight to the harsher pieties of its southern neighbour, decent, civilised, fair, well-governed? Think again. This country's government is now behaving with all the sophistication of a chimpanzee's tea party.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Kate Heartfield wrote last week for the Ottawa Citizen: John Baird rewrites history In it she calls out Baird for his flip-flop on cap-and-trade.

In her closing statement she says: "Granted, the Liberals have changed their carbon-pricing policy too since the last election (from the tax shift in 2008 to cap and trade now) but at least they're being honest about it."

The Liberals were left with no alternative. Stephen Harper, with the help of Jack Layton, made "carbon tax" akin to poison. Which is sad because a carbon tax is a much better initiative.

It is open, transparent and can be made revenue neutral, which is exactly what the Green Shift was. But sadly, in 2008, both the Conservatives and NDP campaigned against it, as a "tax on everything".

It helped them politically but greatly damaged our chance at reversing the trend.

Now the media is giving the Conservatives a free pass on the environment, simply because they are claiming they will do what Obama does, knowing full well that the Tea Party/Republicans are severely tying his hands.

One of the budget measures they insisted on was the gutting of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, mimicking our own government's gutting of environmental protection, under the guise of removing red tape.

It's fitting that Monbiot referred to the Harper government as "a chimpanzee's tea party". The Canadian version of the Koch Brothers Tea Party.

You do the math.

And when you're done make sure you vote on May 2, and vote wisely. Our reputation depends on it.

Sources:

1. Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning, By George Monbiot, 2006, Random House, ISBN: 13-978-0-385-66221-5

Conservative Platform Gets Thumbs Down on Environment

The Pembina Institute is giving the Conservative platform a thumbs down on the environment. Too little, too late, or nothing at all.

"The Conservative Party came to today's announcement with a five-year track record of failing to meaningfully tackle greenhouse gas pollution and avoiding federal responsibility for oilsands development. The result is that Canada now risks falling further behind other countries in capitalizing on the rapidly growing global clean energy market. "Today's platform would do nothing to reverse these trends."

More hot air.

Canada Needs an Environmental Minister. Not Another Environmental Spinner

I was reading Julian Fantino's campaign literature, and when I came to the section on the environment, I laughed out loud. He says, and I quote:

"Canada now has tough new regulations against toxic chemicals and one of the most aggressive plans on earth to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

What is he smoking? Canada has NO plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and in fact we recently won another colossal fossil award for trying to sabotage climate change talks. That's the only aggressive plan this government has ever had.

The Toronto Star got it right. Peter Kent's appointment as our new, not so much an environmental minister as an environmental spinner, is nothing to celebrate.

Another day, another minister of the environment -- the fifth in five years for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. His latest choice for the embattled portfolio, Peter Kent, is unlikely to have any more impact than his predecessors. Indeed, Harper made it clear in the press conference following his Tuesday mini-shuffle that he wants his government to “stay the course.” In the case of the environment, that course has been to do the minimum possible while spinning to the max, especially on the climate change file.

Harper himself was spinning madly at the post-shuffle press conference. Asked whether Canada would be following the lead of the United States with stricter regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, he replied: “I notice the Obama administration is now talking about moving toward tougher standards on the electricity sector. In that particular case, they have a long way to go to catch up to us.” Strictly speaking, that’s true, when it comes to electricity. That’s because about half of the American power supply comes from coal-fired plants, whereas more than half of ours comes from emission-free sources like hydro and nuclear. What Harper didn’t say is that we have an emissions problem in another sector: Alberta’s tar sands, where development continues apace and greenhouse gas emissions are still growing.

And Impolitical reveals that Quebec, a province committed to the environment, is not impressed that Harper chose a minister who cannot speak French.

Jeffrey Simpson in the Globe believes that Peter Kent's only challenge will be the ability to lie with a straight face:

With serious action ruled out in advance, the Harper government’s environment minister must be a smooth talker. He must be prepared to repeat things that are demonstrably false – as in Canada will reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 17 per cent by 2020 from 2005 levels – with a straight face while all those around you are cracking up in derision. When necessary, the minister must bluster.

I don't think he'll have a problem with it. He came from CanWest Global. It's what they do best.

But if he has a problem with making lies convincing, he can just call on Julian Fantino. He's got it down to a science.

Harper's Climate Change Denial is Costing Taxpayers a Bundle

Some of Ernie Eves’s top cabinet ministers partied last week with Kyoto-bashers the Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions*, a lobby group with close ties to both Ralph Klein and the energy industry ... It took place in the Queen’s Park dining hall and was a very chummy shrimp-and-wine gathering, a chance for members of the coalition -- the Canadian Association of Oil Well Drilling Contractors, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Landmen, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, etc -- to schmooze Tory heavies.

There were speeches by coalition organizers, and a particularly passionate Ontario energy minister, John Baird, made his anti-Kyoto rallying cry. Needless to say, the audience was very receptive. Baird’s parliamentary assistant, Scarborough MPP Steve Gilchrist ... was busy propping open doors with chairs to give relief to a very hot and stuffy room. I couldn’t help remarking to him that perhaps the room was so unbearably hot because of climate change. He was not amused. (1)

That was almost a decade ago and since then John Baird has only become even more passionate about denying climate change, so seeing him standing on the stage at the latest Climate Change Conference, is frankly, annoying as hell.

Why are we wasting money on Baird's latest vacation, when we know that he has absolutely no interest in addressing this urgent matter, despite the fact that polls show that an overwhelming majority of Canadians want action?

We again lead in colossal fossil awards, but what is more troubling is that we have since learned that Stephen Harper has been putting pressure on international governments to ignore the warnings about the environmental damage as a result of the Alberta Tar Sands.

Three major departments in the federal government have been actively co-ordinating a communications strategy with Alberta and its fossil-fuel industry to fight international global-warming policies that “target” oilsands production, newly released federal documents reveal. The documents, obtained by Postmedia News, suggest that Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada as well as the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, have collaborated on an “advocacy strategy” in the U.S. to promote the oilsands and discourage environmental-protection policies. “The activities of the oil sands sector has emerged as one of the high priority files for the federal government,” wrote Natural Resources Canada policy adviser Paul Khanna in an email, on behalf of Kevin Stringer, the director of Petroleum Resources in the same department.

... The documents also reveal that the government is aware a majority of Canadians want stronger action to crack down on oilsands pollution. It highlighted public opinion research that suggests 72 per cent of Canadians want it to do more and that 79 per cent want emissions to be reduced from current levels ... The coalition that obtained the documents said the revelations may only represent the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of other international lobbying efforts by the Harper government, including recent letters sent to European politicians to discourage similar policies targeting pollution from the oilsands.

David Suzuki is asking why we should give a damn.

In the lead-up to last year’s climate summit in Copenhagen, we rallied more than 14,300 Canadians to send letters and cards, make telephone calls and post videos online to demand that the federal government take action on climate change. Although it was great to see that support, it didn’t budge the government. World leaders failed to deliver the fair, ambitious and binding agreement we need to fight global warming, and Canada was seen as obstructing progress at the talks. Canada’s record since hasn’t increased our hope. Our government has made “law and order” one of its platforms, yet it ignores that the Kyoto Protocol, which Canada signed, is international law. And last month, the government used the unelected Senate to kill, without debate, the Climate Change Accountability Act that the elected House of Commons had passed.

Worse perhaps, we recently learned that Canada’s government teamed up with the oil industry to secretly lobby against climate policies around the world, including California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, even though the government’s own bureaucrats reported that the California policy would “have a negligible impact on the Canadian oil industry” and that it is consistent with Canada’s goals.

Why doesn't this government just come out and say "we don't give a damn what Canadians want, so there"? It would be cheaper than wasting millions of dollars pretending that they do.

Footnotes:

*The Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions, was an AstroTurf front group for National Public Relations (NPR), the lobbyists for the oil patch. It was led by Harper's former chief of staff, Guy Giorno.

Sources:

1. Big Oil's Kyoto Party: Harris whiz kid pulls strings at wine and shrimp fete, By Josh Matlow, NOW Magazine, October 24, 2002

After Years of Democratic Abuse Marjorie LeBreton Has Finally Gone Too Far

LeBreton dealt with dozens of demands and requests, particularly when Senate seats became available. Seven prominent Tories explicitly asked for appointments: I had John Reynolds on the phone lobbying for a Senate seat for himself, and giving me this pitch that it should be someone that could go on the talk shows. I said, "Gee, John, I haven't noticed you being out there." (1)

Marjorie LeBreton is the consummate crony. She knows all the games and who will scratch her back. She's had years of practice.

But her latest comments about one of the most undemocratic maneuvers in our history, is the last straw.

She must resign immediately.

Sources:

1. The Secret Mulroney Tapes: Unguarded Confessions of a Prime Minister, By Peter C. Newman, Clandebye Ltd., 2005, ISBN: 10-0-679-31351-6, Pg. 89-90

Stevie Pulls a Fast One to Squash Climate Change Bill

Sneaky Stevie has pulled a fast one. Without announcing that there would be a vote he waited until he had more senators in the chamber and then forced one through, to put an end to the climate change bill.

How democratic.

An e-mail I received from the office of Bruce Hyer (the MP who introduced the Bill) explains: In an unprecedented move, the Conservatives
called for a surprise vote on Bill C-311 in the Senate while many Liberal Senators were missing. While that isn’t a first, the fact that the bill was called for a vote before any debate or consideration could be held is unprecedented.

The Bill was first proposed in 2006 and finally passed in May 2010 with a majority vote by our elected politicians. Conservative Senators made a gutsy move to kill our Climate Change Accountability Act. Not only does the Senate decision hurt our standing in the international climate community (right before Cancun, really?!) but the decision undermines our democracy

And at CBC:

The Speaker of the Tory-dominated Senate, Noel Kinsella, voted against the bill, which had been passed in May by the House and went to the Senate for final approval. "Killing Bill C-311 shows a fundamental lack of respect for the many Canadians who care deeply about climate change. They had a right to have this bill debated properly," Mitchell said in a news release.

Our dictator has spoken and we loyal subjects must just shut up. He's got riot police and he knows how to use them.

Republican Put his Hand on the Constitution and Swore to Uphold the Old Testament

We knew it wouldn't be long before we'd find out just how looney the Republican Party is now.

Republican John Shumkus wants to become the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

John has solved global warming and wants to have it on record that God will save us from climate change.

U.S. Representative John Shimkus, possible future chairman of the Congressional committee that deals with energy and its attendant environmental concerns, believes that climate change should not concern us since God has already promised not to destroy the Earth. Shimkus, an evangelical Christian and a Republican member of the House from Illinois, on Tuesday signalled his desire to become chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The Energy and Commerce committee is among the most powerful in the U.S. Congress, with a wide-ranging purview over legislation touching on energy policy, environmental initiatives and public health.

If God will save us from Climate Change who in the hell is going to save us from these lunatics???

It reminds me of the joke where a man, after a flood, sat on his rooftop waiting. He turned away a raft, a boat and a helicopter, saying that God would save him. He drowned.

When he got to heaven, he asked God why he had forsaken him, to which God replied: "But I sent you a raft, a boat and a helicopter."

Oye!

Stephen Harper Once Again on the Wrong Side of Climate Change.

The BBC recently reported on a native protest, over the destruction imposed by oil sands development.

James Hansen, scientist: physicist, climate change expert and head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, recently visited the tar sands, to give a warning:

Unless we dramatically reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases over the next two decades, humanity will be plagued by droughts, floods, famine, disappearing ice shields and rising oceans. It will get increasingly worse for our children and grandchildren. His solution: Phase out coal and stop development of unconventional sources of fossil fuels such as the oilsands.

Stephen Harper, who is not a scientist, physicist or climate change expert, also visited Alberta:

Prior to industrial development, Alberta's oilsands was "nature's biggest unusable oil spill," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper Friday. Environmental groups are calling the prime minister out of touch with nature based on his description.

"The development of the oilsands is more like causing an oil spill than cleaning it up," said Jennifer Grant, a policy analyst with Alberta's Pembina Institute. "This area was a functioning ecosystem that was, that is very diverse before tarsands development. To portray it as an oil spill is missing the point," added Gillian McEachern, a program manager at national group Environmental Defence.

I think we should listen to James Hansen.

Rethinking Alberta. Harper Set to Destroy His Adopted home

A media campaign has been underway in the United States, targeting the Alberta Oil Sands.

Stephen Harper should have never let it get to this stage. Instead of taking oil tycoons to Denmark to have lunch with the Queen, and winning a Colossal Fossil Award for sabotaging Climate Change talks, Stephen Harper should have done something to give Canada an environmental policy.

Instead, he is trying to revive the carbon tax bogey man, with nothing, absolutely nothing, to replace it. Now many U.S. Corporations are boycotting oil from Alberta.

Another four major U.S. companies are joining the move to either avoid or completely boycott fuel produced from Alberta's oilsands. Walgreens, which has 7,500 drugstores across America, is switching fuel suppliers for its delivery trucks to those that don't make gas from oilsands crude. "We found that it was a relatively simple process of surveying our vendors, seeing which ones may have tar sands oil sourcing and simply avoiding those vendors," said Walgreen's spokesman Michael Polzin. "We are in that process right now."

The Gap, Timberland and Levi Strauss have all told their transportation contractors that they will either give preference to those who avoid the oilsands or have asked them what they're doing to eliminate those fuels. The move adds to growing international economic pressure on the oilsands industry and the Alberta government to reduce its environmental impact. "What this signals is the beginning in earnest of the financial war over the tar sands," said Todd Paglia of the environmental group Forest Ethics, which is organizing the campaign. As well, courier company Federal Express has promised it will consider the environmental and social impacts of the fuels it uses, although it didn't specifically mention the oilsands.

Harper may have been a transplanted Albertan, but I think it's time they rode him out of town.

Tilly O'Neill-Gordon and Gail Shea Need to do More Than Just Perform Skits

My anger over this government's decision to do absolutely nothing for the environment, or to address climate change, escalated when I came across this little skit performed by two MPs; one a cabinet minister for heaven sake.

First off, those are our coastguard ships and we would expect nothing less than having them react to this disaster. Did Shea go out personally and give them a push offshore? I rather doubt it. In fact the decision was probably made by the coastguard themselves.

It's hardly anything warranting this kind of ridiculous display. But then reading lines is about all a Harper caucus member is allowed to do.

Last month Tilly-O'Neill urged everyone to get involved World Environment Day, saying that "Under the theme 'Many Species. One Planet. One Future', this year’s event will celebrate the incredible diversity of life on Earth as part of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity."

But how does her government treat these "many species"? With 1600 dead ducks in the tar sand tailing ponds?

Or how about your co-star in this little performance, Gail Shea. Shea is so concerned with these 'many species' that she authorized the senseless slaughter of 500 Narwhal whales. And she's trading away our fishing rights to the benefit of multinationals who care nothing about the stock or the eroding shoreline.

Is that how your government protects our 'species'?

And how about allowing our lakes to become mining dumps? How many 'species' are suffering for that decision Ms O'Neill-Gordon? Is that how you and Harper celebrate Environment Day?

So instead of silly skits, how about urging your government to do something for the environment? Then we might all have something to actually celebrate.

Another Black Mark on Canada as U.S. Runs Anti-Alberta Ads

This is horrible. By putting the environment on the back burner, while subsidizing the oil industry, Stephen Harper has once again destroyed our image on the world stage.

San Francisco-based Corporate Ethics International launched a new ad campaign Wednesday that urges would-be visitors to "rethink" planning a trip to Alberta. "Alberta is spending millions to brand itself as an environmentally friendly destination for tourists, when in fact we think it's the most environmentally unfriendly place in North America because of the tarsands," said executive director Michael Marx.

Billboards are going up in Seattle, Portland, Denver and Minneapolis. The campaign will expand to the U.K. in two weeks.

I'm so proud.

Does Jim Prentice Still Have a Job Now That Harper Has Abandoned the Environment?

Months ago Stephen Harper stated that he was going to use the G20 to convince the world's wealthiest nations to abandon tackling climate change until the economy was improved.

Then he went on a spending spree.

Then he went on another spending spree.

Then he went on a two and a half month vacation costing millions.

Then he went on another spending spree.

And to address the oil spill Harper has hired oilmen and no scientists. He hates scientists.

BP disastrous blowout has prompted both Canada and the United States to review offshore oil and gas drilling, but the results could be dramatically different given the contrasting nature of the panels charged with charting a new course for the industry. While U.S. President Barack Obama has appointed a panel of prominent people with virtually no ties to the industry, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is relying for advice on the National Energy Board, many of whose board members come straight from the energy sector.

And he also has the Chamber of Commerce pushing to abandon action on climate change, like he needed a push.

Canada’s largest and most influential business organization has launched a lobbying campaign urging Canadian senators to kill legislation requiring the government to deliver a science-based plan to fight global warming and provide
regular reports on its progress.

A "science based" plan. Did I mention that Stephen Harper hates science?

But he least he got some pretty pictures.

Where Harper has come under increasing criticism is his environmental policy, or, his lack of commitment to any truly serious program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the end of the day all the photo ops in the world with international leaders won't be able to compensate for a foreign policy which only satisfied Harper himself

So I don't know what Jim Prentice is doing. Maybe he's in charge of stocking "fake lake" with fake fish.

I guess all we can do is laugh.

Mississauga-Erindale Goes Bollywood While Bob Dechert Goes Nuts

On October 16, 2009; residents in the riding of Mississauga-Erindale opened their doors to a surprise visitor. It was none other than famous Bollywood actor and OXFAM Ambassador, Rahul Bose.

He was there distributing pamphlets and asking those he spoke with to encourage Stephen Harper to go to Copenhagen and make an honest effort to address climate change.

This could be very damaging for the riding's Reform member of Parliament, Bob Dechert, since he was already in trouble for not spending enough time at home.

And of course, Jason Kenney's crack about being the 'minister of curry in a hurry', because of his exploitation of immigrants, including East Indian; didn't help either.

So it was time for a little damage control.

The opposition had long been critical of Stephen Harper for abandoning ties with India, so maybe this was a good time for a little photo-op there, to raise the party's profile with the Indo-Canadian community. And of course this would include an appearance on a favourite dance show and a well publicized visit with another famous Bollywood star.

MUMBAI, India — Prime Minister Stephen Harper will meet India’s answer to Brad Pitt on Monday and pose for pictures with Indo-Canadian contestants of wildly popular TV dance contest. The reason? More votes in Canada.

The pictures of Harper meeting Bollywood mega-star Akshay Kumar are pure political gold, say Conservatives in Canada. So too is Harper’s tour Monday of the television studio that is home to the reality show Premier Dance League — the subcontinent’s version of So You Think You Can Dance — that is a hit here and with the Indian diaspora in Canada. Three Indo-Canadians have advanced through several rounds of the contest. Harper’s three days India will certainly contain some of the standard photo-ops one would expect ...

And who better to make the announcement in the House of Commons, than the embattled Bob Dechert.

Mr. Speaker, before the Liberal leader decided to return to Canada to be crowned, the Liberal government pursued an ideological policy of isolation toward India, slapping it with sanctions and marginalizing Canada's influence with India well into this decade.

Our government has been working to repair this long-term damage to our relationship. That is why the Prime Minister is in India this week, rebuilding relationships and deepening our economic ties with an emerging economic power.

I am happy to point out that under our government, Canada-India relations are at an all-time high. Canada's exports to India have more than doubled since our government was elected and exports are still on the rise. We recently expanded our trade network in India to eight offices, making it one of Canada's largest networks worldwide. When it comes to free and open trade with important allies like India, it is this government that is getting the job done.

Of course this was not really an announcement, so much as a bit of self-promotion, and typically, completely false.

After the bombing of the Air India flight 182, our relationship was strained, but:

Major economic reforms were brought about in the early 90’s and India began growing its economy, increasing its visibility and impact on the global economy. Canada realised the need to expand its presence to Asian countries and identified India as a major market with abundant scope for commercialism. In the late 90’s, Canada initiated the move to improve bi-lateral relations. There have been a number of bilateral visits at the political level since thus moving forward the trade growth. Trade between India and Canada has increased many folds in the past decade.

The Reformers are actually working toward a free trade agreement, which in neo-con language means that Canadians will probably just get screwed again.

I don't know how successful this side show was, but news from India revealed that it was pretty much what we see at home. Harper refused to answer questions and the domestic media got roughed up when they tried to 'break the rules'.

And we all know what happened when Harper finally agreed to go to Copenhagen. Another bust.

IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA? IS BOB DECHERT REALLY THE BEST CHOICE FOR MISSISSAUGA-ERINDALE?

It May Not be Environmentalists Who Shut Down the Tarsands But Investors

The trouble with having the most secretive government on the planet, and a media that nurtures it's secrecy; is that we have to read online papers from across the globe to discover what's happening in our own country.

I'm not a scientist or an investment specialist by any means. Just a curious old broad who had a light bulb moment.

And in that moment, the future of the tar sands flashed before my eyes.

It started with a story out of the UK, covered by the Bloomberg Press:

BP Shareholders Protest Canadian Oil Sands Project
By Fred Pals
Feb. 8, 2010

BP Plc shareholders put a resolution to the annual meeting on April 15 for a review of the risks of the company’s Canadian oil sands project, following a similar protest against competitor Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

A coalition of investors requested the review in a resolution to BP’s annual meeting, FairPensions, the campaign’s coordinator, said in a statement today. The risks include increased carbon costs and reputational damage from environmental damage, according to London-based FairPensions, which represents unions, charities and faith groups.

“There’s now a growing group of investors who are questioning the wisdom of BP’s apparent move from ‘Beyond Petroleum’ to ‘Back to Petroleum’, which these resolutions illustrate,” Louise Rouse, director of Investor Engagement at FairPensions, said in the statement. “Investors are learning from recent shocks that it is in their interest to act as responsible owners.”

About 140 investors back the resolution, according to Duncan Exley, a director at FairPensions. The amount of shares held wasn’t provided.

FairPensions is a blanket organization that works with investors, faith groups and NGOs to ensure that pension dollars go to fund responsible investments.

While growing a nest egg for your retirement, your pension savings could also be paying for environmental destruction, illegal arms sales or the exploitation of workers. That's because the money you pay into your pension fund each month may be invested in businesses with irresponsible practices.

It's interesting to note that KAIROS, one of the first victims of this government's axe, also protested the Tarsands as it related to the future of humanity. They worked in countries being hit the hardest as a result of global warming. But as soon as you bring up the 'humane' word, it becomes a catalyst to the Harper regime and you knew their fate was sealed.

But even worse, they once questioned Israel's possible complicity in war crimes, something that even many Israelis are questioning. Jason Kenney pulled out his old testament, went into a trance, started speaking in tongues and POOF, they were gone.

This brings me to a recent article in the Toronto Star, again about future western investment in the Tarsands:

2 U.S. firms wash hands of tar sands
February 10, 2010
By Mitch Potter Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON-Canada’s controversial tar sands industry took its first retail blow Wednesday as two Fortune 500 companies announced plans to eliminate the high-carbon Alberta fuel from its supply chain.

Are we detecting a trend as investors start to pull out of the project, not because of environmental concerns so much as the cost of cleaning up the oil to meet environmental standards? Perhaps.

Is this why Jim Prentice announced that we are lowering our targets even further and is hinting at an exemption for Alberta?

But what if none of that works, and more and more cautious investors refuse to throw good money at a project with questionable returns? Stephen Harper did promise $800,000,000 of our money for carbon capture, but many people know that's a farce.

We now have to go to Hong Kong for the next stage of the story:

SEOUL/HONG KONG
Korean Oil puts Canada on its radar
Miyoung Kim and Joseph Chaney
RTGAM

SEOUL/HONG KONG - Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC), sitting on a multi-billion-dollar warchest, is setting its sights on Canada as the state-owned company aims to ramp up production and catch up to Asian rivals.

Seoul said this month that cashed-up KNOC will spend $6.5-billion (U.S.) on M&A in 2010 in an effort to cut South Korea's almost total dependence on imported oil.

That goal will put the company in direct competition with Asian energy giants such as PetroChina, Malaysia's Petronas, and India's ONGC.

KNOC may be eyeing assets offered by such Canadian companies as its top oil firm Suncor Energy, No.2 independent petroleum producer, EnCana Corp. and No.3 independent oil explorer Talisman Energy.

In addition, Canadian oil sands company Opti Canada and its peer Nexen Inc. are seen as potential acquisition targets. Their shares moved up as recently as late last year on speculation of bids from Chinese energy giants. So far, no public offers have emerged.

Foreign owned, foreign controlled, and propped up with Canadian tax dollars. Gotta' love neoconservatism.

But why would Korea be willing to invest in a project with a questionable future, because of environmental concerns?

Drum roll please ...

Back to Bloomberg Press

Harper Says Global Recovery Must Precede Environment
By Rob Delaney

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will use Canada’s co-chairmanship of next year’s Group of 20 countries meeting to urge members to put economic recovery before efforts to protect the environment.

“Without the wealth that comes from growth, the environmental threats, the developmental challenges and the peace and security issues facing the world will be exponentially more difficult to deal with,” Harper said in an address to South Korea’s National Assembly.

So where will we find the next bit of news on what's happening in Canada? Maybe I'll check out the Timbuktu Gazette.

Stephen Harper Turns His Back on Women and Civilization

So while our dictator tried to tell us with a straight face that he was a born-again human being, who would be putting women's issues front and centre; his actions and those of his party suggested otherwise. It was the same old, same old.

Destroy Canadian sovereignty while padding the pockets of the Corporate elite.

Gorrie: An environment policy that hurts women
February 6, 2010
By Peter Gorrie Environment Columnist

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he wants to save the most vulnerable people on Earth. "As president of the G8 in 2010, Canada will champion a major initiative to improve the health of women and children in the world's poorest regions," Harper said in a recent opinion article in this newspaper.

Some 500,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth every year, and 9 million kids die before their 5th birthday, he wrote. "Far too many lives and unexplored futures have already been lost for want of relatively simple health-care solutions." ... If Harper were serious about his new campaign, he'd put Canada in the lead on climate change rather than keep us a laggard. He'd make that policy part of a coherent effort to change the conditions that condemn so many women and children to desperate, short lives.

"We don't see them connecting the dots," Fox says. Worse, they act as if the dots don't even exist.

And if you're going to work to destroy civilization, you might as well threaten our national unity while you're at it.

Quebec tailpipe law is 'folly,' Tories say
Quebec points out that it is not acting alone
By Mike De Souza,
Canwest News Service
February 3, 2010

The Harper government defended its criticism of Quebec's climate change plan on Tuesday, but was unable to produce evidence to back its warnings of catastrophic economic consequences from the province's crackdown on pollution from cars. Environment Minister Jim Prentice told a Calgary audience in a prepared speech this week that Quebec's new tailpipe standards for new vehicles would drive up prices by as much as $5,000, prompting accusations that the government was fearmongering ....