Photo: Flickr CC Licence / Flood G I find myself, late in this election campaign, ashamed to be a Canadian. As a longtime supporter of the rights of Quebec going back to days where I was involved in constitutional affairs in this country, I find myself utterly appalled at their
Continue readingAuthor: Rafe Mair
The Common Sense Canadian: Postmedia’s alternate version of energy realities
Yesterday in my email inbox, the chickens began to come home to roost for Postmedia – the Canadian newspaper chain. My first letter came from a constant correspondent who gave the Official statistics for BC Hydro losses going back to the old NDP years. Since the Campbell/Clark government, the losses have
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Dear Prime Minister: Time for electoral reform, says Rafe Mair
PM Stephen Harper addresses a youth delegation (Flickr/Stephen Harper CC licence) To: The Rt. Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister Dear Prime Minister, Most issues we face today we’ve faced before. For an older person like myself there is a strong sense of déjà vu. We’ve been through deficits and surpluses;
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair on Trudeau’s surprise comeback, Mulcair’s continued strength
Justin Trudeau continues to defy expectation (Flickr/Canada 2020 CC licence) Churchill once stated that the best time to predict events was after they had happened and I think he was probably right. The current federal election is demonstrating that predictions at any time are pretty iffy but in a hugely
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair’s ‘State of the Union’ on Canadian environmental politics
Before I get onto the federal election, let me say I have never been more depressed about governance in this country. A recent note from a reader pointed out the atrocious record of the Christy Clark government in erasing emails, losing emails, redacting emails (that’s bureaucratese for blacking out anything that
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Media let Liberals get away with murder on IPPs, now LNG
Construction of a private power project on the Ashlu River (Photo: Range Life) A flash of anger came over me when Ian Jessup of CFAX 1070, Victoria, asked me to come on his show and talk about so-called independent power producers (IPPs), euphemistically referred known as “run of river”. No, I
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BCIT demands LNG lobby drop falsely used name from “partner” list
BCIT campus (Dago Agacino / Flickr CC licence) I find myself spending more time than I would like on Resource Works, the invention of The BC Business Council, that blindly supports approval of Woodfibre LNG in Squamish. To follow on last week’s column, where we learned that Resource Works’ website contained
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: LNG lobby fakes partnerships with prominent organizations
Key Resource Works members (clockwise from top left): Teck’s Doug Horswill, ex-Vancouver Sun editor Stewart Muir, former A-G Geoff Plant, and Lyn Anglin of Geoscience BC Desperate people do desperate things. Today I want to talk about Resource Works, the shills for Woodfibre LNG, proposed for Squamish at the head of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Trudeau’s misstep on C-51 will help the NDP in federal election
Photo: John McCallum/Flickr We’ve reached the summer doldrums and perhaps that’s a good time to sit back and look at the coming Federal election, if only in general terms. Amazingly, the main issue is exemplified in the story of the “Paddle for the Peace” organization and the ever ham-handed right
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Postmedia partners with LNG lobby to sell Woodfibre LNG – latest lapse in journalistic integrity
Resource Works ED and ex-Vancouver Sun deputy editor Stewart Muir (Resource Works – Flickr CC licence) I am, as readers well know, a babe in the woods when it comes to matters of journalism. Ever naive, I read the papers in awe and know that all times they have my better understanding of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper says LNG tankers too dangerous for East Coast, but OK for BC?
I live on Howe Sound in lovely Lions Bay. I have lived my entire life in British Columbia, growing up in Vancouver and spending much of my boyhood on this lovely fjord. Howe Sound belongs to all of us. It had been all but destroyed by industry until 20 years
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair: Civil disobedience against LNG plans is a must
Citizens line the Sea to Sky Highway to protest Woodfibre LNG (My Sea to Sky) It’s time to fish or cut bait, folks. We’ve learned that some 200 LNG tankers and barges are slated to use the lower Fraser River and the company, WesPac, doesn’t even feel the public deserves a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: What Tom Mulcair must do to become Prime Minister
Can Tom Mulcair become the next prime minister of Canada? Barely 6 months ago that question would have brought loud guffaws but the Alberta election and recent polls showing the NDP slightly ahead of its two main rivals have reduced the guffaws to nervous coughs. I think Mulcair can do
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe Mair’s Modest Proposal: Scrap environmental assessments
The 3-member NEB Joint Review Panel for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline (Damien Gillis) Do you enjoy being a raw hypocrite? Well, if you’re a taxpayer in Canada that’s what you are because you support raw hypocrisy every day in the various hearings on environmental matters that take place.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: In absence of political leadership, public and First Nations stepping up
Citizens line the Sea to Sky Highway to protest Woodfibre LNG (My Sea to Sky) Dr. David Suzuki, in a recent column well worth reading, talks about a change in attitude across the country – changes with First Nations, increasing environmentalism, a new government in Alberta. Big changes are happening everywhere.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Notley should change electoral system following Alberta NDP win…no, seriously
Alberta Premier Elect Rachel Notley celebrates a shocking victory (Alberta NDP facebook page) Somehow, the day after it happened, the election of the NDP in Alberta doesn’t seem quite as astonishing as it would have say, a year ago. Back then, one would have been in danger of certification as
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Woodfibre LNG is bad business for BC
Except briefly, let’s avoid environmental questions about Woodfibre LNG for today and concentrate on fiscal matters. Even if Woodfibre LNG was an environmental bonus to Howe Sound and the surrounding communities; even if it was clean as a whistle, its plant and accoutrements safe as a church, and the tanker
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Woodfibre LNG: Shady PR, lobby violations, fraudulent, eco-criminal owner…Is this the kind of business BC wants to welcome?
Sukanto Tanoto (right), the man behind the proposed Woodfibre LNG project The war against an LNG plant in Squamish is heating up, and as the late singer Al Jolson said, “You ain’t seen nothin yet.” Know that on this issue, I am not in any way independent. Along with thousands
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper, BC Tory MPs have oil on their hands from English Bay spill
A cleanup crew works on Third Beach following the recent English Bay oil spill I say three cheers for Premier Christy Clark and Mayor Gregor Robertson of Vancouver. The verbal assault by the Premier on the federal government was more than justified by recent events and just happens to be a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Rafe: Vancouver Sun keeps shilling for “clean” LNG, Woodfibre plant
Christy Clark promotes “Clean LNG” at Vancouver conference last year (David P. Ball/The Tyee) The Vancouver Sun – rapidly becoming, if it hasn’t already become the “Pravda” of Vancouver – has done it again with another article supporting LNG and the proposed Squamish plant. This one is by a father and
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