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Martyn Brown’s Tepid Remedy

Sep 4th, 2012 by

Rules of the game in BC prevent the new approach to politics he advises.

Former Gordon Campbell chief of staff Martyn Brown’s much ballyhooed book about the Campbell/Clark government pleads for a new approach to politics in B.C. So does Gary Mason in a recent column in the Globe and Mail. Meaning no disrespect, these two eminent political commentators are missing the point, but then so do 35 million other Canadians. For we are taught exactly the opposite from what is reality.

Our system is called “responsible government” — the word “responsible” has nothing to do with the behavior of MLAs, but refers to the type of system we have where the premier and cabinet are responsible for their jobs to the whim of the legislature. If they displease the legislature it can turn them out of office.

(I will be referring to the provincial scene but the same remarks, and then some, apply to the feds.)

This system, on paper, looked as close to perfection as you can get. There you have the government under constant fear of political execution if they don’t measure up.

Are you ready for this?

There will be no improvement, none, of our political culture until this farcical system is tossed out and replaced by something that works! Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Tyee | No Comments »

Tankers too risky for coast environment

Sep 1st, 2012 by

I am, God knows, no scientist and it’s this that made by heart warm when I saw the story in the Vancouver Sun, September 1 at page A5 headlined “Tankers too risky for coast environment, engineers say”.

Three engineers including two professors emeritus from UBC have verified what I and others have been saying for some time. From the story: “Known as Dilbit, diluted bitumen is a mix of heavy crude oil and a condensate that allows it to flow through a pipe, the analysis explains. When Dilbit spills occur, the condensate separates from the bitumen and forms a toxic cloud, poisonous to all life around a spill” …

“And whereas lighter oil floats on the surface of water where it’s easier to clean up, bitumen sinks to the bottom in fresh water and to a level below the surface in saline water. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 1 Comment »

The Enbridge Pipeline – it’s all about PR now

Aug 29th, 2012 by

Today is dedicated to the 51% the polls say could be swayed by evidence and support the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.

To recap, The pipeline proposed runs 1,100 kms. through the Rockies, the Rocky Mountain Trench, through the Coast Range getting to the ocean at Kitimat thence by tanker through the Douglas Channel to China. This is some of the roughest terrain in the world and Douglas Channel is an extremely dangerous waterway.

The pipeline would pass over 1000 rivers and streams. many of them critical to our salmon runs.

The issue is not whether or not there will be spills for we know that for certainty – in fact we know by Enbridge’s own documents that they have more than a spill per week. In short, the mathematics of statistics tells us spills on land and sea are inevitable. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

Premier Clark should step aside

Aug 27th, 2012 by

It has been accurately observed that in politics six weeks is an eternity. By April/May of 2013, who knows what the issues of the moment might be? I’ll tell you my bet in a moment.

It is this question which should spur the Liberals into doing something about their leadership – or lack of it.

I simply cannot see how, short of a fluke, Christy Clark can lead her party to victory in May 2013.

Ms. Clark didn’t have a chance from the start. With but one MLA supporting here she had to pull off a miracle in order to start putting Humpty Dumpty together again. Ms Clark doesn’t have it within her to lead in a forceful way – the sad fact is that she simply is not a leader, period. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

Memo to Enbridge: Special Effects Don’t Erase Risks

Aug 20th, 2012 by

Enbridge animation disappears islands. Watch that video, and opponents’ video response, lower in this article.

We are treated by Enbridge to full page ads extolling the pipeline company’s devotion to the environment and safety.

They are, dear fellow British Columbians, not to be believed, as I propose now to demonstrate.

Using data from Enbridge’s own reports, the Polaris Institute reports that 804 spills occurred on Enbridge pipelines between 1999 and 2010. These spills released approximately 168,645 barrels (26,812.4 m3) of crude oil into the environment.

That’s more than one per week, an average of over 70 spills a year or one every five or six days! Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Tyee | 3 Comments »

Gordon Gibson, David Black, and the Fraser Institute got it wrong

Aug 20th, 2012 by

Gordon Gibson used to be Liberal until he fell in with those proponents of consensual slavery, The Fraser Institute. While I find myself in great sorrow saying this, Gibson has become a all out capitalist suck.

Witness his article today on the op-ed page of the Globe and Mail as he talks about David Black’s idiotic plan to build a $16 billion oil refinery near Kitimat.

The Gibson I knew would never have allowed this Gibson to utter such tripe.

Gordon waxes lyrical about this “project”, uncritically accepting the numbers put out by Black’s flacks (neat little rhymer, don’t you think?) Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

Jay Spark on methane, NAFTA, and river privatization

Aug 19th, 2012 by

A letter from Jay Spark of Victoria:

About a decade ago I wrote to a few people about the issues of methane hydrate development and southwestern US water-shortages. I can’t remember if you were one of them.

I know the tar sands pipelines, coastal trans-shipment of hydrocarbons, and BC Hydro’s dismantling are all vitally important and at a critical stage in terms of political synergies right now; but I feel methane and water-rights are very quickly becoming front-and-centre matters. In fact they may soon be used to divert public attention from the looming public confrontations with Enbridge and the so-called “North American” powergrids. More than anything, this is just a “heads-up” on methane and water. Continue Reading »

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Posted in General | No Comments »

Refining the Black Stuff in Kitimat Doesn’t Make Sense

Aug 18th, 2012 by

One must, I suppose, take newspaper tycoon David Black’s offer to build a refinery near Kitimat seriously, although the idea is preposterous on several fronts.

For openers, he doesn’t tell us who will be behind such a refinery. He admits he doesn’t have the money – an important matter.

Of course, Mr. Black tosses out employment as jelly bean for us to enjoy, citing 6,000 jobs over the six year construction period and 3,000 long-term in the operation of the refinery. He doesn’t mention any research on this issue – one must take these numbers with the skepticism which always rightly greets announcements of undertakings like this. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

Replacing Enbridge with Rail, Other Routes Misses the Point

Aug 15th, 2012 by

The tide seems to be turning against the Enbridge Pipeline but we must take great care not to lose by winning.

Industry seems to be talking alternative routes by using rail or other methods.

My old friend Tex Enemark weighs in this morning in an op-ed in the Sun(August 15) and makes several points – we can soak the companies by levying high taxes for rights of way, we can make the pipelines safer (you will note he doesn’t say “safe”), we can use other routes, and that if we don’t permit the pipelines China will retaliate by reducing imports of our other goods. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 1 Comment »

Video: Rafe Mair and Economist Erik Andersen, Pt. 2 – LNG, Site C Dam and the Global Economy

Aug 13th, 2012 by

In Part 2 of Rafe Mair’s July 2012 interview of economist Erik Andersen, the two cover the plan to build Liquefied Natural Gas plants on BC’s west coast – to sell natural gas to Asia – and the proposed Site C Dam. Says Andersen, “Site C is a loser of a project and we don’t need it.”

Andersen raises real concerns about investing in new dams and electrical infrastructure to supply industries like mines and LNG: “…here we are planning to spend basically 30 or 35 Billion dollars of new money – borrowed money – to create an electrical environment for people who are probably not going to be in business in about a year or two.” Watch Pt. 1 of Mair and Andersen’s interview.

On the subject of fixing our wayward energy system going forward, Andersen offers, “Hydro should shut down any calls for new energy. They should take all of the industrial demand expectations off the table, and if there are to be things built to serve industrial customers, they should be built site-specific and they should be for customers at full cost to produce. No subsidies from the public. Then, in my dream of dreams, we would start to look at the existing contracts that are there for IPPs and try and unwind them, try and renegotiate them – and this isn’t anything unusual.”

Andersen references the recent report by John Calvert and Mark Lee, titled, “Clean Electricity, Conservation and Climate Justice in BC: Meeting our energy needs in a zero-carbon future”, which readers can check out for themselves here: http://www.behindthenumbers.ca/2012/06/20/clean-electricity-conservation-and-a-zero-carbon-future/

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

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