Category: Energy

Audio: David McGuinty in his own words: "Go back to Alberta"

David McGuinty
(Chris Roussakis / QMI Agency)

On Tuesday afternoon, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources met to consider “Innovation in the Energy Sector”  (Here are the minutes with the witness list).

Our reporter, Daniel Proussalidis caught up with the Liberal MP on that committee, David McGuinty, after the committee meeting had concluded and asked McGuinty if he had heard anything during the committee “that would reassure you about the way the oil sands are being developed — the innovation or technology that’s being employed?”  Continue reading Audio: David McGuinty in his own words: "Go back to Alberta"

The Politics of Carbon Pricing

Like they did in 2008, in the 2011 general election campaign, Jack Layton and the New Democrats put an election platform before Canadians that included commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by, among other things, doing the following:

We will put a price on carbon through a cap-and-trade system, which will establish hard emissions limits for Canada’s biggest polluters to ensure companies pay their environmental bills and to create an incentive for emissions reductions;

In its costing statement for its election campaign commitments, the NDP said the federal government would receive the following revenues as a result of its cap-and-trade system: Continue reading The Politics of Carbon Pricing

Northern Gateway Pipeline opponents outnumber supporters, Abacus says

Did you see the latest poll from our friends at Abacus Data? Abacus finds:

  • B.C. Premier Christy Clark is getting a big thumbs up from Canadians outside Alberta for her stand against the Northern Gateway pipeline
  • More Canadians — again, outside Alberta — oppose the construction of a pipeline to ship Alberta crude to a northern B.C. port than support the project.
  • Outside Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, a majority of Canadians do not believe the oil sands in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan generate wealth for the rest of the country.

If you ask me, these findings add up to political trouble for Stephen Harper and federal Conservatives as well as Alison Redford and Alberta Progressive Conservatives who have pushed a pro-oil sands policy that includes support for the construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline.

Continue reading Northern Gateway Pipeline opponents outnumber supporters, Abacus says

Today's Lesson: Pipelines are evil!

The press release I’ve reproduced below just arrived at the Sun Media bureau in Vancouver from a teacher employed by the Vancouver School Board. She is leading her students in a protest of the Northern Gateway pipeline. The students are adults looking for high school credits and, as the teacher notes, many of them many not speak English as a first language. But, by golly, they’re going to learn that pipelines are bad!

Now surely, even opponents of the Northern Gateway Pipeline must agree that, as a pedagogical exercise, this is a bit over the top for a public school class. By all means, use the pipeline debate as a teaching moment. But taking a bunch of students who may have only a working knowledge of English and ask them to get high school equivalency credits if they produce work that agrees with a teacher’s particular policy or political bent bent seems to me to be a wee bit over the line. 

July 26, 2012

Press Release

Hello!

My name is Amie Wolf.I teach art at South Hill Education Center, Vancouver School Board, Adult Education. South Hill is located on Fraser Street at 45th Avenue in Vancouver, BC.

The center serves adults returning for high school credits, many of whom are immigrants and international students from all over the world.

On Wednesday, August 1st and Wednesday, August 8th, 2012, from 1-3pm, about twenty of my adult art students will create and then present a large outdoor graffiti moss mural on the North wall of the Sunset Community Center (6810 Main Street, Vancouver).

This imaginative mural will be in protest of the proposed Enbridge Pipeline. Juliana Bedoya, professional artist and founding member of Something Collective, has developed, secured funding for and executed this community building arts initiative.

Thank you for your consideration and we hope to see you!

Sincerely Yours,

Amie Wolf

[Address and phone withheld]

UPDATE: Bedoya, the “professional artist and founding member of Something Collective” was, to put it mildly, surprised to see this press release from Wolf. You can read her e-mail to me below. Wolf subsequently sent a letter to Bedoya “terminating” the project and Bedoya’s participation in the project.

Dear David,
 
I am Juliana Bedoya, the professional artist member of Something Collective (somethingcollective.ca) that is working with the students from the South Hill Education Centre on this mural proposal using moss graffiti as a medium.
 
Today I have been dealing all day with the teacher herself, the principal at South Hill and all the parties involved from the city, with fact that the teacher Amie Wolf added the “protest against the Enbridge pipeline” as an item from her own personal agenda to the process I’ve been having with the students. She even sent this press release without consultation and previous authorization from my side. I strongly disagree with her attitude towards this community engagement process acting on behalf of the students and me. 
 
During this process I’ve been facilitating at South Hill, the students reflected on different environmental issues, but they didn’t even mention the pipeline was an issue of their concern to be added as a theme for their mural proposal. The teacher added this component as an external environmental issue that wasn’t addressed during the facilitated sessions. 
 
I would like you to take this press release back and make sure the project is tied to the We Are Here, A Community Mapping Project and not to an initiative derived from a collective reaction against the Enbridge pipeline. 
 
Thank you for all your help.
 
Sincerely,
 
Juliana Bedoya

Getting oil from Kitimat to the open ocean: Can we do that?

I’m looking to tap the brainpower of the blogosphere for a very specific question:

Can we safely move oil from Kitimat, B.C., down the Douglas Channel, and into the open Pacific Ocean?

Continue reading Getting oil from Kitimat to the open ocean: Can we do that?

'Dutch Disease' metaphor wrong for Canada

Mike Moffatt, an economist and assistant professor at Western University in London, Ont., and I assess NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair’s claim that Canadian resource development, particularly in the oilsands, have given Canada’s economy “Dutch Disease”:

 

Oil sands monitoring: Some positives but some opportunities missed

Queen’s University environmental scientist John Smol was among the scientific advisors that contributed to the creation of the Oil Sands Monitoring System, announced in Edmonton Friday by Environment Minister Peter Kent and his provincial counterpart Diana McQueen.

As my colleague Tanara McLean reported:

The program aims to create a more “transparent” and cohesive monitoring system. All oilsands Continue reading Oil sands monitoring: Some positives but some opportunities missed

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver avoids the key question on Northern Gateway

The federal government, you may have noticed, is frustrated at what amounts to filibuster of the Northern Gateway Pipeline review by individuals and groups opposed to the project.

This week, both Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Davos, Switzerland and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver here at home vowed to introduce legislation that would streamline regulatory review processes to avoid, in Harper’s words, “delay for the sake of delay.”

Ok, then: Does that mean the government will introduce legislation to short-circuit/streamline the Northern Gateway Pipeline review. Continue reading Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver avoids the key question on Northern Gateway

In Newt's eyes, Harper is America's best buddy

Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday night and gave a long, rambling, and, if you ask me, odd victory speech. But this chunk of his speech, is sure to be of interest to Canadians: Continue reading In Newt's eyes, Harper is America's best buddy