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Rafe Tells Harper and Oliver He’s Ready for the Bulldozers

Jan 25th, 2012 by

Joe OliverJoe Oliver, Harper’s Resources minister, is a dangerous man. Indeed so is Harper. They have flung down the gauntlet, essentially saying that violence is the inevitable consequence of BC not taking the Enbridge Pipeline, the consequent tanker traffic, increased capacity and tankers for the Kinder Morgan line – with only a grumble or two from bitching NDP types.

What should really get our juices jumping is the statement that environmental hearings should proceed speedily and obstacles removed from these projects. it obviously being unthinkable that they could stop them.

That is ill-disguised code for, “Listen you assholes, we don’t give a damn about the public process – just get it over with so we can get on with the construction. It doesn’t matter that this monstrous Tar Sands gunk is to be transported through your pristine forests, mountain and streams – get on with it.” Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | No Comments »

Should BC Have a Referendum on Enbridge?

Jan 24th, 2012 by

If there’s one thing above all politicians hate it’s democracy. For God’s sake, we can’t have the rabble have a say in decisions! Let them do this once and we’ll never get to run the province again! They believe that we live in a parliamentary, representative “democracy” which means that we hire people, called representatives, to do our thinking for us and take decisions in our name.

Any thinking citizen knows that the public, for many reasons, cannot grapple with all the issues and email a vote on each one. The theory of our government, runs the mantra, is that at election time we can throw those we disagree with out on their duffs. That, at any rate, is the theory.

In practice that doesn’t happen, which means that a government does what it wishes – subject only to elections every four years at which time new issues cloud the old.

There is a way that the public can be consulted: a referendum. This is a tool used in many different ways, under different systems – sometimes as a method to get rid of a politician, sometimes to eradicate legislation, sometimes only to go to governments as popular advice. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 2 Comments »

Tube the Pipelines, All Three

Jan 23rd, 2012 by

Cartoon by Greg Perry

Cartoon by Greg Perry

Keystone is no victory if dangerous bitumen instead pumps through Kitimat or Vancouver.

What will happen to the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta’s tar sands to Houston, Texas? Will it finally be a go after the November presidential election, or will it be tubed?

Before I go on, Damien Gillis, the master filmmaker and I, are co-founders of The Common Sense Canadian — an environmentally-based organization — and do it with virtually no money. We are both several-generation British Columbians but, if there is someone out there who wants to give us some badly needed money, with no strings, obvious or subtle, your nationality is irrelevant.

It was, I hate to admit, with mixed feelings that I heard last Wednesday that President Obama announced he would not approve Keystone XL. Now it appears that it only received, as Bill Tieleman says, a “flesh wound.” The global environmentalist in me rejoiced, but the British Columbian in me was disappointed. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Tyee | No Comments »

Clark, Harper, Enbridge Taking Suicidal Risks With BC’s Future

Jan 13th, 2012 by

Today, because events are moving so quickly, a twofer for you.

First, Premier Clark is in one hell of a jam and it’s scarcely improved with a man who I bet left the inner staff of Attila the Hun to join with Madam Photo-op by name of Ken Boessenkool, who amongst other clients worked as lobbyist for Enbridge for two years! What the hell reason could she give for this kind of move?

This woman is out of control. She’s in a political hotbox like President Gerry Ford was when he took over the mess Nixon left him. In fact she’s in a box Houdini couldn’t have escaped.

She’s trying to distance herself from the disgraceful reign of Gordon Campbell and now finds herself in the midst of the worst environmental fight probably in history. The proposed Enbridge Pipeline and resultant tanker traffic is straight from the Gordon Campbell/Fraser Institute playbook and it isn’t working out quite like the Liberal advisors had expected. In fact, Clark is facing, and knows she’s facing a political storm that makes Bill Vander Zalm’s troubles look like a kid’s fight in a sand box. Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 2 Comments »

Rafe Challenges Premier Photo-op to a Debate

Jan 11th, 2012 by

I have good news for our premier.

If what I’m about to say is wrong, you have nothing to worry about. You see, Premier, I have this radical notion that the mood of the voter has changed – you evidently don’t, making it obvious (sorry to talk as if you are a slow learner) that if you just paddle along, down the happy old stream, why the voters, so afraid of the bad old NDP, will put you right back in government in 2013.

In fact, if I’m wrong and you’re right may I respectfully suggest that some tactics are natural:

1. Keep right on charging us the HST. No matter that if you could start it in an instance you could stop immediately. I’m sure that the voter knows that you’re really trying hard on this matter.

2. Ignore the Fish Farm issue – most of the jurisdiction is now with the Feds so just wash your hands of the whole mess. Some might suggest that you should now speak up for BC and urge the Feds to get rid of this monstrous rape of our precious wild salmon resources, but I’ll betcha most people will overlook the fact that you don’t want to piss off the feds just when you’re trying to make a deal on that pesky HST. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 4 Comments »

Stopped in Our Tracks by a Sham Democracy

Jan 10th, 2012 by

On decisions that matter most, how much say do you and I really have?

On New Years Eve, in addition to looking to a new year like the rest of you, I started my ninth and likely last decade.

Before going on, let me thank all of you who helped celebrate my roast back on Nov. 24. It was a night I’ll never forget and I spent the lot of it shuffling through tears and laughter.

(In the laughter department, as well as in the teary part, the editor of this journal, David Beers, brought the house down!)

Sadly, the Vancouver Island group, including Mike Smyth and Moe Sihota, were kept away by high seas and no ferries. I was especially sad that Dr. Gordon Hartman, one of the celebrated “dissident scientists” from the DFO, who helped so much to win the Alcan struggle with his honesty and integrity, was stuck home in Nanaimo. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Tyee | 2 Comments »

Enbridge Admits There Will Be Spills

Jan 8th, 2012 by

Enbridge's 2010 spill of over 4 million barrels in Michigan - still not cleaned up

Enbridge is proposing two pipelines to Kitimat BC to take Tar Sands gunk (more politely “bitumen”) to tankers who at 300 per year will take it to China as is, or to the United States for refining, thence China.

Today I want to deal with the pipelines only. The horrible consequences of tankers on our coast are for another column.

First off, there is no question that there will be leaks and that any leak will be serious and in a remote area. The lines will cross over 800 rivers and streams, all fish bearing – three of which are important salmon spawning rivers.

Two questions arise. When there’s a spill somewhere in the heart of wilderness, how long does it take to find it and, once found, what can you do about it? Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 1 Comment »

Fighting the Corporate Take-Over of BC

Jan 2nd, 2012 by

I write this not just as a New Year’s thought but also as one looking personally at his ninth and presumably last decade. And a sad scene I see.

From the commencement of time ownership and control of societies have been shared, preposterously unfairly, between “them that has and them that doesn’t”.

It continues today as never before. What the super rich don’t own, they control. 100s of thousands of jobs, thanks to the computer, have been exported to lands where labour is dirt-cheap and where benefits are minimal if they exist at all.

We are witnessing the corporatization of our government by the powerful. It’s an easy task, for the ordinary MP or MLA, by reason of our rotten system, does what his or her leader orders. The decisions of society are no longer made by parliaments – if they ever were – but in the corporate boardroom. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 2 Comments »

Cummins’ Foolhardy Support for Enbridge – Plus Reflections on Cohen

Dec 22nd, 2011 by

I must say I was surprised to see that Conservative leader John Cummins supports the proposed Enbridge pipeline from the Tar Sands to Kitimat and I have since wondered if that would impact the NDP, the Liberals, both – or anyone.

John has never been strong on complicated issues and I wonder if he realizes that by supporting Enbridge he is also supporting tanker traffic? This may come as a surprise, nay shock, to Mr. Cummins, but it’s like the old song, “you can’t have one without the other”.

Perhaps Mr. Cummins has forgotten that Enbridge would cross 1000 rivers and streams, including 3 major salmon spawning rivers. Or does he have trouble with geography and thus is unable to trace these rivers into the Pacific Ocean thus doesn’t think there are any salmon around? Continue Reading »

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Posted in The Common Sense Canadian | 2 Comments »

Pipelines and Tankers: Recipe for Ugly Clash

Dec 13th, 2011 by

Wetsuweten Nation protest against proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline, July, 2010

We’re on a collision course to violent conflict, with little to gain for BC.

This lovely, peaceful province of ours is flying headlong into a situation which customarily breeds violence. Those are harsh words, but this is how I see the pipelines/tanker situation developing.

Some will claim that I’m irresponsibly creating a self-serving prediction. I am, however, the chronicler of the news, not the maker of it. The catalyst pushing us to the brink is already brewing up its potent mix.

The battlefields are three in number: the Enbridge Gateway pipeline from Alberta’s tar sands to Kitimat, the oil tankers that would ply our coast to draw from that pipeline, and the Kinder Morgan line which already brings tar sands gunk — more politely called bitumen — to Vancouver harbour and is proposed to be upgraded to bring far more. All three of these routes pass First Nations unceded territory. Continue Reading »

Posted in The Tyee | 1 Comment »

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