Several hundred concerned citizens, First Nations and conservationists gathered recently in Burnaby to speak out against KinderMorgan’s plans to pipe 700,000 barrels a day of Tar Sands bitumen to supertankers in Vancouver’s harbour. The rally was held …
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The Common Sense Canadian home page: Morton Sees Answer to Fraser Sockeye Collapse…And She’s Finally Free to Share It
In a blog posting yesterday, following a series of major developments at the Cohen Commission, biologist Alexandra Morton suggests she now has enough pieces of the puzzle to pin much of the blame for collapsing Fraser sockeye stocks on salmon farms.Mor…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Shades of Green: Avatar Grove – the Extraordinary and the Ordinary
A scant 10 minute walk off a logging road near the BC’s West Coast town of Port Renfrew is Avatar Grove, a stand of old cedars so majestic, powerful and gnarled that T. F. Watt said he and his colleagues from the Ancient Forest Alliance “were running a…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Audio: Damien Gillis Talks Private Power, Hydro Report on CFUV’s "Hidden News"
Get MP3 (27 MB)
Listen to this 20 min radio interview from CFUV’s Hidden News. Damien Gillis and host Mehdi Najari talk private river power, smart meters and the fallout from the recent panel report on BC Hydro and leaked comments of the crown corpo…
The Common Sense Canadian home page: Gerry Hummel Cartoon: Private Power Thieves
In the wake of the panel report on BC Hydro and the media firestorm over costly private power projects we plainly don’t need, our cartoonist Gerry Hummel gives us his take on the robbery of taxpayers and ratepayers this program represents.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Cobb Fallout: Coleman, Clark Say No New IPPs but Refuse to Kill Policy
The admission by Dave Cobb, President of BC Hydro, that Hydro is spending 100s of millions for energy they don’t need came as a shock, for Damien Gillis and me and others, notably the Wilderness Committee, have been saying this for three years withou…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Miller Takes Stand at Cohen: More Clues and Questions in Salmon Virus "Detective Story"
Dr. Kristi Miller spent all day on the stand at the Cohen Commission yesterday in front of a packed gallery – but it wasn’t until the end of the day, when Alexandra Morton’s lawyer, Greg McDade, got his first crack at her that things got really interes…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Cohen Commission: Was Kristi Miller’s Virus Research Obstructed by DFO Colleagues?
A new twist in the case Dr. Kristi Miller – the DFO scientist infamously muzzled by the Harper Government from discussing her groundbreaking salmon research publicly – came forth yesterday at the Cohen Commission into collapsing Fraser sockeye. Ecojust…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Video: Rafe & Damien on EVOTV (Part 2)
Watch part 2 of Rafe and Damien’s discussion on Shaw’s EVOTV, with host Irma Arkus. In this episode, the pair talk wild salmon and aquaculture, private power and environmental politics in BC. Damien Gillis: “This isn’t free enterprise – it’s piracy. It…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Shades of Green: Pipelines and Tankers – the Building Pressure
Anyone who is concerned about the arrival of pipelines and tankers to BC’s West Coast should be worried. The forces are mounting to make this province a bridge to an energy-hungry Asia. And the inevitable result will be – sooner or later – a ruptured p…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Port Metro Vastly Exaggerating Need for More Container Capacity, Infrastructure
The way Port Metro President and CEO Robin Sylvester tells it, we’re facing a major shortage of port capacity in the coming years, justifying the plans of his organization and both senior levels of government to continue a massive build-out of Tsawwass…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Hydro Chief’s Leaked Comments Trash IPPs – What Will Clark Do Now?
I have called it the Campbell/Clark government because that’s what it is. Premier Clark was in on the beginning of most policies including the disastrous energy plan that sees private power companies (IPPs) destroying our rivers to produce power for …
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Site C: Poster Project for British Columbia’s ‘Command Economy’
Editor’s Note: Despite the criticism of BC Hydro’s big-dollar infrastructure plans by the BC Liberal Government following its handpicked panel review of the utility’s proposed rate hikes, Energy Minister Rich Coleman maintains it’s full steam ahe…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Shades of Green: Local Communities and Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Responsibility for reducing carbon dioxide emissions is falling to cities, municipalities and regional districts because wider efforts during the last 30 years to ameliorate the threat of global climate change are not working. Multiple negotiations spo…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Rumours of Pipeline’s Demise Grow as Speculation Surrounds Enbridge
It’s impossible to divine anything concrete from the flurry of interesting chatter surrounding Enbridge’s embattled 1,100 km Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal. Alternate routes, Asian energy experts laughing at our stupidity, Enbridge as a straw man t…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: BC Libs, IPPs Can’t Distance Themselves from Hydro’s Woes
The response of the private power industry (IPPs) to the recently released study on BC Hydro is goofy even against other barmy statements they make. The defence against the charge that their power costs many times what BC Hydro can make it for the…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Video: Rafe & Damien on EVOTV
Rafe Mair and Damien Gillis discuss The Common Sense Canadian and their coverage of key environmental and public policy issues in BC and Canada on Shaw’s EVOTV, with host Irma Arkus. The three cover a wide range of issues in the half hour program – fro…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Hydro Report: Death Knell for BC’s Public Power?
This will be a short blog because the point is simple…and devastating. Mark down August 12, 2011 as the day BC Hydro all but concluded its suicide mission, with the Campbell/Clark government and the Review Panel playing the role of Dr. Jack Kerv…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: Farmed Salmon Confidential (Part 2): The Cover-up
Part 2 of a 2-part series – read part 1 here.When does a foreign-owned corporation’s right to protect its share price trump the environment and Canadian public’s rights? Apparently, when it’s the Norwegian salmon farming industry.Numerous instanc…
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian home page: The BC Liberals and the "Family" Issue
What do families have to do with the
environment?
Quite a bit, actually.
The Campbell/Clark government is
looking for an issue to run on and the Family is the answer the backroom boys
and girls have decided is the best one.
This decis…
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