In a more efficient economy, people would be moving westward to fill jobs. But Mr. McGuinty’s solution has always been to subsidize dying industries, a process which necessitates taking capital away from more productive uses. Perhaps that lesson was taught in Economics 102 — a course the Ontario Liberals would
Continue readingTag: Tar Sands
Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to close out your weekend. – Erica Alini points out that the effect of the Cons’ lobbying on behalf of the tar sands has been solely to make sure that the absolute worst polluters force the public to pay the cost of their activities, as anybody actually operating
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Andrew Weaver on the Tar Sands
Last week, world-renowned University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver, lead author of several IPCC reports, shocked friends and enemies alike by publishing an article in Nature Climate Change in which he makes an unexpected claim. He and co-author Neil Swart (a UVIC PhD student) find that Alberta’s Athabasca tar
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Thomas Walkom points out that the McGuinty Libs’ choice to emphasize austerity rather than stabilizing Ontario’s economy may lead down exactly the same destructive path travelled by Greece and other countries: (T)he crises in Spain, Portugal and Greece occurred because government spending cuts
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: Newt Will Destroy Alberta’s Economy
Desperate Republican no-hoper Newt Gingrich is currently promising that, if elected, he will reduce the price of gasoline to $2 per gallon. Maybe a terrific prospect for gas-guzzling American consumers feeling the pinch of rising oil prices, but not one without consequences… To realize the promise of $2 per gallon
Continue readingCanada’s latest threat in an already long line of hostilities: trade war with the EU
(Found this on Google but no attribution. Looks like Montreal Simon’s work, though.) Harper has served notice on seniors, potheads, the youth, internet users, the environment, scientists and just about every other group not profitable to his party. Now, he’s threatened to go to war with the EU over nomenclature.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Damian Carrington reports on the Harper Cons’ sad efforts to prevent the European Union from accurately accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from the tar sands, offering in particular a look at how Canada’s actions look to our global neighbours who don’t operate from
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Erin nicely summarizes Don Drummond’s report on Ontario’s finances. But it’s worth noting that leaving aside Drummond’s own choice not to follow the instruction, anybody looking for a thorough analysis of Ontario’s fiscal realities should be able to discount the report in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Mike de Souza’s report on the Cons’ attempts to hide both the oil industry’s involvement and its own lack of credibility is well worth a read in full. But let’s focus on a more basic revelation: Harper has set up a publicly-funded
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Unethical Oil: Why Is Canada Killing Wolves and Muzzling Scientists To Protect Tar Sands Interests?
shutterstock_71225605.jpg In the latest and perhaps most astonishing display of the tar sands industry’s attacks on science and our democracy, the government of Alberta has made plans to initiate a large-scale wolf slaughter to provide cover for the destruction wrought by the industrialization of the boreal forest ecosystem. In the coming
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Canada’s Environment Minister Warns of Danger of Climate Change
Peter Kent in 1984, before he got sucked into the bubble, that facts can’t penetrate.
Continue reading350 or bust: Northern Gateway Pipeline: Just Say No To Enbridge
How far are we willing to go to continue our toxic addiction to oil? Why can’t we just love it and leave it? It’s been a hell of a ride these past few centuries, but it’s time for humanity to wake up out of our oily nightmare and move on.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Thomas Walkom highlights the lesson we should draw from the economic devastation caused by the shutdown of an Electro-Motive plant which was supposed to serve as a poster child for corporate giveaways: Using tax breaks to encourage domestic production is a standard prescription.
Continue readingArt Threat: Paint it or rape it: would the Group of Seven condone the tar sands?
Lawren Harris, Lake Superior Sketch XLV (collection: A.K. Prakash) Rather like waiting for a London bus, you wait some time for a decent exhibition of landscape art and then two come along at once, or, at least, one behind the other. Just opened at the Royal Academy in Piccadilly, London,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: All The World’s A Stage: Harper Hypocrisy in China
Harper blasts foreign money in oil sands debate while welcoming China Prime Minister Stephen Harper blasted “foreign money and influence” behind critics of Canada’s oil sands even as he welcomed Chinese investment in Canada’s energy sector. … he made clear he does not equate Chinese foreign investment in oil sands
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: December 5, 2011
Monday, December 5 saw the House of Commons debate the NDP’s motion on climate change. And while the Cons tried to put up a relatively brave facade on an issue where they’ve been fighting progress at any turn, they inevitably ended up showing their true colours. The Big Issue At
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: China Looks To Stephen Harper For Lessons In Dirty Energy Exploitation
oilyleaf.jpg Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in China this week to meet with Chinese leaders about how both countries can profit big by exploiting China’s shale gas reserves, as well as by importing Canadian tar sands oil. Harper is scheduled to meet with both Chinese officials, as well as
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,
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