Calgary Herald: Green Plan Not Enough

If you get the Calgary Herald every morning, you'll see the following as the paper's main front page story. I've provided some excerpts:

Alberta admits green plan not enough
Emissions still likely to rise 30% by 2017
By Renata D'Aliesio
Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner says the province's rising greenhouse gases — fuelled largely by the oilsands' rapid expansion — are expected to increase another 30 per cent within 10 years despite the province's new effort to regulate emissions.
He attributes the jump to Alberta's unprecedented economic growth.
….government projections show even with anticipated reductions achieved through a provincial regulation taking effect in July, emissions could be 64 per cent above the benchmark by 2020.
…
Speaking to the city's business leaders in the heart of Canada's energy industry, the environment minister called for action on global warming.
…
“One of the most compelling facts for me is this one — by 2080, the children born this year will be in their early 70s, and the temperatures in Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray could be very similar or higher than the temperatures we see today in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat,” said the southern Alberta MLA.
“I'm from Medicine Hat and I know how hot it gets. I can't imagine Fort McMurray having that same kind of heat. Nor can I imagine where the Medicine Hat that I know today might be at that point in time.
“These are startling facts, and facts we can no longer afford to ignore.”
[Read the full story]

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You think you're heating bill is high …

The Ottawa Citizen’s Glen McGregor digs through the hydro and natural gas bills for 24 Sussex Drive — the official residence of the Prime Minister — and reports that it costs one heckuva lot to keep the place lit and warm:

In spite of an unusually warm winter, the costs of heat and electricity for 24 Sussex Drive hit a chilling $57,000 for the year ending in January, records obtained by the Citizen show.

…

For the December 2006 billing period, with the Harpers in residence, the National Capital Commission was billed for 4,799 cubic metres of natural gas, even though the average mean temperature that month was a relatively toasty -1.7 C.

In the same billing period the previous year, under Mr. Martin, with an average mean temperature of -6.6 C, only 4,472 cubic metres were used. The average Canadian home uses about 3,000 cubic metres annually.

The electric bills, however, were virtually identical under both prime ministers. Mr. Harper averaged 1,304 kilowatt hours per day compared to Mr. Martin's 1,297.

Neither the Harpers nor Martins used as much energy as their predecessor, Jean Chretien and his family, who burned off 20-per-cent more gas during his last year in the historic home. Temperatures were lower in 2003, accounting for the higher gas consumption  . ..

[Read the rest of the story]

 

Libloggers organize!

On the heels of a conference call organized by Stephane Dion’s office with some key Liberal bloggers, Liberals in the blogosphere have set up a single point-of-contact for those who want to watch YouTube content created by Liberal supporters. Here’s the release from Liblog creator Jason Cherniak:

Liblogs, the unofficial list of Liberal bloggers, launches a video page on the Liblogs.ca website 

Toronto, March 28, 2007 – Canadians are watching YouTube videos more and more every day.  Taking advantage of this new medium, Liblogs.ca will now offer one location for Liberals to post their YouTube videos (http://liblogs.ca/news.en.cgi?10) for all to see.

“Ever since Stéphane Dion’s election as leader, Liberals have been making videos at home and sending them to me,” explained Jason Cherniak, founder and president of Liblogs.  “I realized that it was time to expand Liblogs so that we could display those videos in one easy to access location for all Canadians to see.”

Liblogs is the operating name of a non-profit corporation, Blogger Support Services. For over a year, it has been operating a list of Liberal bloggers at http://liblogs.ca, where Canadians can scan the headlines of the posts of over 250 Liberal bloggers at any time, on any day.

 “This new video page is in addition to our main blog service and Liblogs News, which highlights a selection of some of the best Liberal Blog posts once a day,” said Mr. Cherniak.  “Liblogs videos will allow Liberals from across the country to use their creative talents and express their support for the Liberal Party in the most modern manner available.”

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Tretiak in the House

TretiakOk this is kinda cool — Vladimir Tretiak (left), the goaltender who just about stole the 1972 Canada-Russia series, was hanging about the foyer of the House of Commons this afternoon. Tretiak was in Parliament to push the idea of another bout between Canada and Russia’s best, this time to commemorate the 35th anniversary of that famous series. He also met hockey fan Stephen Harper.

Here’s a transcript of the brief scrum he did with reporters in the foyer. I have edited it for clarity: 

Tretiak: (Speaks Russian which, sadly, only a few Parliament Press Gallery reporters are able to speak and I am not one of them)

Tretiak’s Interpreter: We're very interested in launching the series again in Russia because the two hockey superpowers have to meet again, at least out of Canada and Russia.

Reporter: Are you going to meet Mr. Dryden? (The MP for York Centre – ed)

Tretiak: Frank Mahovlich too. (Now the Senator from Ontario)

Reporter: Can you tell us about your meeting with Mr. Dryden?

Tretiak: (More Russian)

Interpreter: We're just going to a meeting with him.

Reporter: Who's your favourite player in the NHL today?

Tretiak: Crosby, I think. Crosby. Plays very well. Yeah. ( Speaks more Russian)

Interpreter: He's a very good player.

On his way out of the House of Commons, Harper stopped on the stairs up to his office to offer a couple of comments:

Reporter:   [Tretiak] wants to talk about the future of hockey with you, sir? Any thoughts about that?

Harper: Well, he probably knows a lot more about that than I do.  I'm just worried about the future of the country. I think it's looking good. 

Question:   Is [meeting Tretiak] a perk of the office, sir?

Harper: Yes. (The Prime Minister, at this  point, has a rather broad grin on his face).

Question:   Can you get him to play for the Senators? 

— The PM declined to answer and continued up the stairs —

 

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Engineering their own defeat

A few days ago I signed up at Facebook and wondered here how I might find it useful. Well, here’s one useful reason to be there: Many of the people I cover are there. Here’s Liberal MP Mark Holland, for example, writing on Facebook live from the C-30 (Clean Air Act) committee meeting room with his thoughts on how work on that bill is going; how the Conservatives might engineer their own defeat on it; and how it seems the Bloc might be caving a bit …

Some people were unclear about why C-30 would lead to an election – I should be clearer. We will amend the act in committee with the support of other opposition parties – make it pro-Kyoto and basically totally rewrite it. The Conservatives will then declare it an 'economy killer' and say that if the House passes it, it is a vote of no-confidence in the government. We and the other opposition parties can't give up our commitment to Kyoto so we will have to support it – down goes the government. Just my theory…however in a new development, the Bloc are refusing to work with any of our or the NDP amendments. I think they are avoiding strengthening C-30 so that it stays the government bill. They will then support it as a first step, saying that they want more but can accept C-30 as a start. They are using the argument of territoriality as shielding. In short – they are letting the Conservatives have their weak and meaningless C-30 generally as it was presented to avoid them using it as an election starter. I still think we will go to the polls in spring but maybe not on C-30 now… we’ll have to see how the week plays out and if the Bloc turn around to working with us to make C-30 a real plan to deal with climate change.

UPDATE: Holland has updated his Facebook comment,  removing the section above about the Bloc Quebecois. He now says the Bloc Quebecois seems to co-operating more fully with the other Opposition parties. His comment from committee now reads:

Some people were unclear about why C-30 would lead to an election – I should be clearer. We will amend the act in committee with the support of other opposition parties – make it pro-Kyoto and basically totally rewrite it. The Conservatives will then declare it an 'economy killer' and say that if the House passes it, it is a vote of no-confidence in the government. We and the other opposition parties can't give up our commitment to Kyoto so we will have to support it – down goes the government. Just my theory…C-30 sits until 9:30pm tonight so we should have a better sense of things by the time the night is out.

Top Tories named in OPP investigation

The mayor’s race here in Ottawa last fall was an exciting one with a surprise finish. Larry O’Brien, a millionaire high-tech enterpreneur with no political experience literally came out of nowhere to upend an incumbent, Bob Chiarelli, and another strong challenger, Alex Munter. There was another candidate — Terry Kilrea. Kilrea and O’Brien were on the right of the political spectrum; Chiarelli is a longtime Liberal and Munter is probably a little left of Chiarelli.

As the campaign unfolded, Munter became the guy to beat — and the political right started to mobilize hard to beat him. Then, in late August, O’Brien packed it in, citing an inability to be able to afford to continue. His departure, some say, galvanized right-wing supporters and help O’Brien win.

Then, after the election, Kilrea told the local media that, before he made the decision to  quite, O’Brien tried to get him to quit by offering to cover his expenses if he quit the race, an allegation which O’Brien rejects.

The Ottawa Citizen asked Kilrea to swear an affidavit to his allegations and also asked him to take a polygraph test. Kilrea swore an affidavit and passed the polygraph.

Now even though the Citizen has had the affidavit for months and has reported on the issue extensively, we’re just hearing for the first time today that John Reynolds, the former Conservative MP and Conservative national campaign co-chair in 2005–2006, is named in the documents along with John Baird, the Ottawa-area MP who is also the Environment Minister. The affidavit is the key document in a complaint made to the Ontario Provincial  Police by the Ottawa and District Labour Council. The OPP launched an investigation into the matter on Friday.

You can download the affidavit and read it for yourself and there’s also a good wrap up of the issue by Canadian Press reporter Bruce Cheadle that you can find on our Web site.

Here though, is the section from the affidavit, sworn in December, that refers to Reynolds and Baird:

11. At approximately 2 p.m. later that day (July 5,2006), O'Brien called me to advise that my name had been put forward for an appointment to the National Parole Board. When I asked how this was possible, he responded that he had spoken to John Reynolds. He then instructed me to call John Baird (“Baird), President of the Treasury Board, and to tell him that my name “was in the queue” for an appointment to the Board.
12. Following the call with O'Brien I emailed Baird indicating that O'Brien had instructed me to contact him regarding my name being put forward for a position on the National Parole Board. Baird responded that he had no knowledge of my name being put forward and that he did not know that I was interested in an appointment.
13. The following day (July 6, 2006) O'Brien called me to say that he had “screwed up”, that I “shouldn't have contacted John Baird” and that “it was all my [O'Brien's] fault”. He advised that Baiid would have no idea that my name had been put forward. He told me that “there was a different way of doing this” and
to “leave it with me [O'Brien]”.

…

18. I met with Baird on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at his office in the Department of Justice building on Wellington Street. I had decided not to raise the issue of the National Parole Board given my earlier email exchange with Baird on July 5, 2006 and O'Brien's comment the next day that I should not have done so. I
would only discuss the appointment if it was raised by Baird; however, at no time during the meeting did Baird mention it.
19. In the meeting I asked Baird if the federal Conservatives were backing O'Brien by providing him with logistical support. Baird said they were not.

….

30. If the facts deposed to in this Affidavit become part of a legal action, I am prepared to testify to their accuracy in a court of law.

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Liberals hand over 'confidential' Conservative files

The parliamentary headquarters for Her Majesty’s Official Opposition is at 180 Wellington Street. Sometimes known as the South Block, it sits across the street from Parliament’s West Block and Confederation Building, and houses a variety of government offices in addition to the Opposition Leader’s Office (OLO).

Stephane Dion’s Liberals now occupy these offices, of course, but, for the last few years it was the offices of the Conservative Party and one of its predecessor parties, the Canadian Alliance.

Now, normally, when one party turns the keys over to another party, the departing party makes sure there is not a scrap of paper hanging about. Well, it seems that the Conservatives failed in that mission when they moved in to government for the Liberals have come upon boxes and boxes of records left behind.

Last week, Liberal MP Mark Holland claimed that, among the records left behind by the departing Conservatives, was the documentary evidence to support his claim that the Alliance paid an MP to step aside so that Stockwell Day could enter Parliament. It is illegal to pay an MP to do that and Holland’s claims have not been tested in court and an earlier police investigation into these allegations ended without the charges being substantiated. The former MP, Jim Hart, rejected the accusations.

Today, Holland and his colleague Marlene Jennings held a press conference in the Wellington Building outside the OLO in which they announced they will be handing back these boxes and boxes of records to the Conservatives. Here’s the statement released by the Liberals:

Liberals Return Confidential Personnel Files to Conservatives

Ottawa – The Opposition Liberals today handed over boxes of documents belonging to the Conservative Party to illustrate that this self-proclaimed “accountable” government needs to be accountable for the privacy of all Canadians.

“Today we're returning five years worth of personal performance appraisals of Conservative staffers that this government negligently left behind,” said MP Mark Holland.

“These are confidential documents on their own staff. Such gross ineptitude makes me very nervous about how this government handles other issues of a private nature,” he added.

Liberal Justice Critic Marlene Jennings agreed.

“This is a government that purports to carry the torch on accountability, and yet has shown a cavalier disregard for the privacy of its own employees,” she said. “One has to seriously wonder just how safe the privacy of other Canadians is under this government's watch.”

Liberals voluntarily decided to return these documents that were left behind in the offices of the Official Opposition after determining they were of no public interest. They are contained in boxes that also held faxes that appear to show Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and former candidate Jim Hart made a financial deal to get Mr. Hart to resign his seat.

Mr. Holland said the Liberal caucus is retaining possession of some of the documents to determine whether or not they contain other issues that are in the public interest.

Corn prices set to soar – driven by demand for ethanol

In a research note released this morning, analyst John Roy of W.R. Hambrecht and Co., says that U.S. farmers must plant at least 93.2 million acres of corn for the price of a bushel of corn to stay at (U.S.)$4.10. That is still a very high price — the 40–year average for bushel is around $2.40 — but, as Roy notes, prices could go higher still because of a booming demand in North America for ethanol. Right now, most ethanol in the North American market is made from corn.

Consumers, investors, and businesses will get a sense of how much corn will be planted in the U.S. on March 30 in the quarterly Grain Stocks and Prospective Plantings published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

If there is that much corn planted, that would represent a 19.5 per cent increase compared to what was planted last year.

Rising corn prices is affecting the price of food. In Mexico, tens of thousands have been involved in several  demonstrations protesting higher food prices. The tortilla — a corn-flour product that is a staple of the Mexican diet — has become very expensive.

The University of Illinois has published an estimate indicating that farmers must harvest 12.5 billion bushels of corn this year for prices to remain where they are.

Roy writes:

Recent warnings from two University of Minnesota economists (Runge and Senauer) about rising food costs have hit the popular press.  Due to the ethanol demand for corn (projected to be 35% of the harvest within a few years), Runge and Senauer now see corn prices up 20% by 2010 and 41% by 2020.  Just 4 years ago the same team saw grain prices falling. They cite the recent problems with tortilla prices in Mexico as a good example of the type of problem we might see.  We don't see politicians changing their views on ethanol subsidies, however, this is something to watch.  Cellulosic ethanol would seem to solve this issue.  

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Postal codes and MPs

This is good news. Anti-poverty activist Daniel Haran has written some code which lets you match postal codes to federal Members of Parliament. His goal — and likely the goal of many other activists — is to harness the power of the databases for political and social justice purposes. Now you'd think it would be dead simple to get a list of postal codes mapped to members of Parliament and if you thought that way you would be mistaken. It's dead simple if you're well-funded professional marketing agency and can afford to pay the federal government thousands of dollars for this data. Don't get me started …
In the meantime, Haran has made the dataset available in a variety of formats that should let you plug it in easily into whatever spreadsheet or database application you're using. Grab it now before the government sues him to shut it down!

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Kennedy and Liberal MPs sue National Post

Failed Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy have joined with some Liberal MPs to sue the National Post and one of its columnists Jonathan Kay for libel. Here’s the release from the Liberals:

Former Liberal leadership contestant Gerard Kennedy; Navdeep Bains, MP for Mississauga – Brampton South; and Omar Alghabra, MP for Mississauga – Erindale, served the National Post, columnist Jonathan Kay and related persons with notices of libel over statements that the three politicians were involved in deals to exchange votes in return for changes to national security policy.

Included as a defendant in one of the notices is John Doe, representing the anonymous source cited by Mr. Kay in his column published in the National Post February 27th, 2007.

“Mr. Kay has suggested criminal conduct on the part of Mr. Kennedy. This suggestion is false and defamatory. The situation is particularly aggravated by the fact that Mr. Kay's article is based on the information of a source whose identity, motives and credibility have been concealed. We look forward to exposing Mr. Kay's anonymous source so that Mr. Kennedy may be fully vindicated,” said Mr. Howard Winkler of Aird and Berlis, LLP, lawyer for Mr. Kennedy.

The conversations involving Mr. Bains related as fact in the column never took place, according to the notice prepared by Julian Porter, lawyer for Mr. Bains.

“In his notice of libel, Alghabra denies his political and policy decisions are driven by his ethnicity and that he knew of and condoned the vilification of Bob Rae and Arlene Perly Rae, at the Liberal leadership convention,” stated Cliff Lax, counsel for Mr. Alghabra.

“We have enormous respect for the role of the media,” says Kennedy, “but these are equally very serious and completely false statements that if left alone would mislead the public and distort public debate.”

The service of a libel notice is the first step in a defamation suit.

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