Per cents are not people. Per cents don’t hold jobs, buy products or pay taxes. People do. Yet it seems that most of the conversation about the 2011 census report revolves around per cent growth, not people growth. The per cent growth is interesting, and much more simple to illustrate
Continue readingTag: Alberta
David Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Alberta’s Electrolux Throne Speech: breathtaking in its vacuity, but quite possibly effective
Your blogger with Tory campaign mastermind Stephen Carter. Below, Charles Dickens, who also wrote a good story; Finance Minister Ron Liepert. It was either the best of Throne Speeches or it was the worst of Throne Speeches. Heck, maybe it was both at the same time. Yesterday being the 200th
Continue readingAlberta and Saskatchewan vie for pollution title
Alberta is generally considered to be Canada’s pollution champion. And it deserves the honour. With 11 per cent of the country’s population it contributes 34 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, Saskatchewan can also make the claim. It only produces 7 per cent of the country’s emissions,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Warren Buffett Exposed: The Oracle of Omaha and the Tar Sands
Warren Buffett Barack Obama.png On January 23, Bloomberg News reported Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), owned by his lucrative holding company Berkshire Hathaway, stands to benefit greatly from President Barack Obama’s recent cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. If built, TransCanada's Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline would carry tar sands crude, or
Continue readingEnemygate: Harper’s divisive politics
Margaret Atwood has dubbed it ‘Enemygate’. ForestEthics whistleblower Andrew Frank accuses Harper of bullying tactics. John Bennett of the Sierra Club frets that this is “a scary time for Canadian democracy”. With the Prime Minister calling any opposition to his pet Keystone project, “enemy of the Government of Canada”, the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Odious profits and the Enbridge pipeline
Two obvious but generally unstated details about the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline are climate change and that oil and gas companies stand to make mega-profits. An honest appraisal of the project would be something like, “yes, putting in the pipeline will facilitate even more greenhouse gas emissions from the Alberta
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: The sum of some
Earlier today, federal, provincial and territorial justice and public safety ministers finished their annual meeting in Charlottetown. Among the items under discussion, was Quebec’s request that the Harper Tory government transfer data from the life saving long gun registry to provinces wishing to establish their own. According to the agreed
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Dances With Oil
If Stephen Harper were a character in a Hollywood epic movie about the western Canadian frontier, and went to live with the First Nations people, I can’t help but think his alternate name would be Dances With Oil. He sure doesn’t dance with the one he brings to the ball.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Job Vacancies vs. Unemployment
Progressive economists have advocated expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to boost demand and create jobs, given the high rate of unemployment. By contrast, employers and conservative commentators complain of unfilled vacancies and labour shortages, emphasizing policies to increase labour supply and labour mobility. Today’s new Statistics Canada survey of job
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Demise of Keystone XL Means More Bakken Shale Gas Flaring
NA-Pipeline-Map-Theodora.png Damned if we do, damned if we don't – this is the CliffsNotes version of the ongoing Keystone XL pipeline debate. President Barack Obama recently halted TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project, which would bring tar sands crude, or dilluted bitumen ("dilbit") from Alberta, B.C. through the heart of the U.S., to
Continue readingExponential Book: Education disadvantage
If a cash-strapped province or state had to make painful cuts to public services, the immediately noticeable effect would be the outright elimination of some of them. One would not think of, say, laying off a fraction of all bus drivers and asking the remaining ones to work longer hours,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Environics’ polling on inequality shows over 80% of Canadians wanting to see governments reduce the disparity between the rich and the poor – even as the current federal government moves as far as possible in the opposite direction: More than eight in 10
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Alberta supports Quebec long gun registry
Last week while we were busy doing other things, Alberta Premier Alison Redford visited Quebec. Over the course of the visit, the Premier was asked about her views on the life saving long gun registry. Redford told reporters that she respects Quebec’s decision to establish its own long gun registry
Continue readingExponential Book: Double whammy
We all understand that, sometimes, financial hardship is simply a fact of life. And I do believe that most of us are willing to endure painful sacrifices, in the pursuit of a common good. What exasperates people, is the perception of a general lack of vision, of a concrete, well
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Are Enbridge’s job numbers credible?
Putting aside the impact of the proposed Enbridge pipeline on GHG emissions or spills on land and at sea, the case in favour of the pipeline rests on creating jobs. Personally, I think industry and government use “jobs” as a euphemism for “profits” as that is where the lion’s share
Continue reading350 or bust: Canadians Ignore the Warning Lesson of Haiti’s Environmental Destruction At Our Peril
Today marks two years since the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti where more than 200,000 died and an estimated 1 million were left homeless. We are used to hearing that Haiti is a very poor country, yet rarely do we hear that at one point in its history, Haiti was the
Continue readingsomecanuckchick dot com: On Kitimat…
The proposed oil pipeline from Bruderheim, AB to Kitimat, BC will spill. It is not a question of if, but when — and by how much. FYI, oil and gas pipeline incidents and accidents are a regular occurrence in Canada. The majority are classified as minor, discharging less than 10 litres
Continue readingsomecanuckchick dot com: Rainbow Pipeline Leak — Eight Months Later…
It has been 8 months since Plains Midstream Canada reported that there had been a Rainbow Pipeline leak, 100 km NE of Peace River, Alberta. As of December 2, 2011, there have been no updates made to the Plains Midstream Canada web site. [ Web Updates ] The largest Alberta
Continue readingChiquita si, tar sands no
Chiquita Brands has caused a bit of a flutter on the Canadian scene by announcing it will avoid using fuel from Alberta’s tar sands. The company says it has joined 13 other companies in trying to reduce its carbon footprint. The announcement is timely. According to an industry report, the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: ‘Consumer Energy Alliance’ Front Group Exposed by The Tyee and Salon
Consumer Energy Alliance.png In a must-read piece co-published today by Salon.com and The Tyee, Geoff Dembicki exposes the dark underbelly of the public relations and lobbying industry, revealing the interconnectedness between Alberta tar sands movers and shakers in Alberta and their oily compatriots in Washington. The investigative article focuses on the fossil fuel industry front group
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