Tar Sands are Not Sustainable Growth, But Quick Buck Exploitation

Conservatives Care about Incremental Transitioning

 The TransCanada Oil Oligopoly of global foreign investors have banded together to rip up as much damage to the province of Alberta as they can before the Conservative plutocracy is stopped by a reality check this coming election.

Andrew Nikiforuk's Tar Sands Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent  is a scathing report on the damaging project that has completely transformed the Canadian economy and social contract.

Why should Canada embark on this irresponsible greed?  To keep oil business wealthy and to make our economy a slave to big business while in the meantime allowing for a communist agenda to subvert all environmental criticism.  Misrepresentation and untruths abound.

Alberta's bitumen apologists swear that "work is progressing to return the disturbed land to a natural state after development, and it will be done right."  The province's former ambassdor to the United States, Murray Smith, even assured our number ne oil market that the industry will achieve "100 per cent long-term restoration of the lands it makes use of."  Why, major tar sand companies have even planted 7.5 million tree seedlings.  The Mining Association of Canada says reclaiming open pit mines can be done with a "vision worthy of a Group of Seven artist." (Tar Sands, 94)

The tar sands are too big, too destructive, too caustic to soil to rehabilitate.  Nothing will grow there again.  But the plans just keep growing bigger to lay waste more.

Even at that, the mines make up only a small part of the wreckage created by the megaproject.  The Alberta government has leased an additional 23,000 square miles of land (and another 30,000 square miles await global investors) for in situ projects, including steam-assisted gravity drainage.  The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, which encompass 9,000 square miles and include Jasper, Banff, Yoho and Kootenay, could fit int this planned industrial zone about six times.  As noted, SAGD development will slice and dice the land with thousands of industrial well sites, seismic lines, pipelines, and roads.  This fragmentation will transform the forest into a bitumen park, exterminating the population of woodland caribou and decimating songbirds home from their winter in the tropics.  Seismic lines, which make a forest look like and engineered spiderweb, typically need more than one hundred years to fill in with trees again.  Yet the government has no tight guidelines for reclaiming forest ruined by SAGD. (Tar Sands, p95.)

Coverup of a tailings pond with sand and grass.  What about the toxins below ground?

These are the facts with real concrete specifics, unlike the vague unrealistic and false statements coming from the Minister of the Environment.

And don't believe that oil is good for the people of Alberta which the Conservative oligopoly likes to pit against all the "have not" provinces against.  They are not doing so well as the lies tell us.
Albertans are losing funding for schools, hospitals, jobs etc. as the money is going to the oil industry. Services such as plumbing and construction are now very expensive and hard to find as most of the workers in this trade are working in the tar sands. The irony of this is that their gas prices are increasing too because most of the oil is shipped to America or elsewhere. The energy security propaganda we hear about from the industry is absolutely false. There have also been many complaints from workers about unsafe, unhealthy and abusive situations. As a result of all this there have been increased rates of gambling, suicide and crime in nearby communities. Long term sustainable economies such as forestry, commercial and recreational fishing, ecotourism, hunting, farming and housing are also taking a hit.   Blog source

Across Canada, we've seen the destruction of B.C. loss of forest industry and tourism slowly becoming a gas and fracking hellhole.  Large sections of coastline which are needed for fish spawning grounds are becoming overbuilt with industry.  Farming in the prairies is taking a hit for growing industry servicing and mining acquisitions.  Quebec has lost so much in manufacturing, the Atlantic provinces to fishery manufacturing loss.  The oil industry is keeping the dollar high which kills off export for any other endeavor across the provinces.

Make sure to keep up the criticism and take action for a change.

Conservatives Threaten Canadian Culture of Environmentalism

Conservatives want to imitate US gun culture

The only good environment holds for a Conservative is that it be exploited for gain.   They would take Jasper Park and make it an ugly mechanical mess of boardwalks, concession stands, empty pop cans and cigarette butts.  Woods are not for the animals but for gun toting hunters. 

Today's Globe story runs a complaint by Dalton McGuinty that our beer store model is out of date.  I would argue the truth of that and support microbreweries as a better way to distribute beer.  As I also approve of the growing number of outlets for locally produced wine, like Magnotta which are sold in plazas and Loblaws.
To this end, local businesses that are associated with agriculture must be protected from encroachment of policies that favor anti-environmental positions and promote destruction of lands that are growing our grains and grapes for alcoholic products.
See the link here to the Canadian culture of environmentalism that has been part of our ethic to preserve our lands for product growing of our own produce.  Conservative policies spell destruction of locally producing microbreweries, because they run counter to small business models of efficiency by showing preferred taxing models for big business.

Must Read For Analysis of Harper is a Fascist Bag of Tricks

Read this blog for a full summary of a lot of the points I had already been thinking about but for which I didn't know the backstory fully.

Canadian Consulates Closing in US Our Biggest Trading Partner

Eight out of twenty-two consulates in the United States will be shut for a purportedly cost saving measure.  One does wonder, if the ones left will be staffed by Conservatives.  It does seem to be related to a Harper chill after the cancellation of the Keystone and a snub against the too Liberal Obama who would see the China visit as openly shifting allegiances.  Harper's also betting that the Keystone will be a go once the GOP Republicans push it through with all their money and clout.
And if anyone wants to say that this back turning really isn't intended as such, then not at all.  Harper's very calculating about optics and messaging.  All that flag waving and whatnot, the open handed gestures that are de rigueur.  Here are some comments to this latest action.

Clearly you have never been in business before! My company: for every 1 Canadian order we get, we get 100 USA orders are 30 European orders... And you know how many from Asia???

NONE!

That's right, not one... Asians don't buy things from us, they never will. They just sell us stuff.. That is not a business relationship. We must stand with the USA to ensure our economic survival, without them, we're so done!

....................................

Canada is "shifting focus from the US struggling markets".... Tsk Tsk ...Has Harper begun to believe his own propaganda or was this little slip of the truth sneaked into the article to throw the stupid public off?

By all reports, the US economy is growing at a much faster rate than Canada's.

Harper is "shifting focus to China" right now ... to benefit his Conservative pals in the US congress and senate ... and to benefit his pipeline investors who in turn will fund his next election.

Cozying up to China and expanding trading partner offices in every region that can be exploited by Canadian businesses is far more important than supporting where Canadians may be looking for services.  Here is a list of the countries that now have Canadian offices.

Canada's New Investment Strategies - Prisons

Libyan torture prison built by Canadians

It just takes a big accident, a trouble maker to break the law and headlines reveal a nefarious underground story that the media has left out of the eyes of the public.  Yesterday, it was the horrific crash that killed 11 temporary immigrants.  Today it is the Ghadaffi abetting woman in Mexico who worked for SNC Lavalin.  Yes, Canadian companies are finding profits in amoral ways and influencing the politics of Canada.  CBC News ran an article on this company here and I've gathered some comments from people in the know.

Quinton denied reports that SNC-Lavalin was concealing the project.

"It is one of the thousands of projects we work on yearly, not all of which are announced by press release."

Quinton pointed out the project is mentioned in SNC-Lavalin's upcoming annual report for 2010.

"We are proud to be able to deliver such a necessary project and hope that it will become a model for others in the region. What would be the alternative to building a state-of-the-art facility according to the standards of human rights?"

What follows are quotes taken from readers' comments.  They said it so well and many are more informed than I, so here goes.  No attribution given out of respect to their privacy.  You can look it up from the link above.

SNC Lavalin is also one of the many corporations that have Direct input into Canadian politics, through their involvement on the NorthAmerican Security & Prosperity Partnership ; NAFTA , along with Power Corp.

This odious propaganda about free trade around the world will bring democracy just keeps getting exposed for the lie it is, it is all about capitalism and ensuring a small % of citizens have the largest % of influence.

Capitalism is the nemesis of Democracy

 it should be remembered that all jails are built by governments to be used to detain its citizens. The more people detained, the more likely that the government is repressive. When a government starts passing legislation that imposes stiff sentences for minor social 'misbehaviour', takes the imposition of sentences out of the hands of judges, and concentrates the financial supports on punishment rather than rehabilitative programs, then we have the beginning of tyranny.

 As an engineer I am disgusted that SNC Lavalin would put aside any ethical concerns in favour of doing business with a long lasting brutal dictator. It's one thing to build an airport which one can argue doesn't affect people in a negative way, but building a prison for Ghadaffi is helping to build more repressive infrastructure to imprison people who dare complain about their own lack of human rights. And the assertion that the prison meets human rights standards? Give me a break- beatings, torture, murder can happen anywhere a dictator wants it to, even in a "human rights approved prison". So much for professional standards and ethics. I hope the Libyan people burn that prison down.

If SNC didn't get the contract some other foreign company would have gladly accepted it. Libyan Airlines also uses several CRJ900 aircraft from Bombardier so do we condemn them as well? (was this an inducement to win the contract?)

  The difference between Gadhafi and Kim could probably be summed up by paraphrasing the famous old Cold War saying as, "He may be a bastard, but he's a rehabilitated bastard" (referring to Gadhafi).

Having said that, I personally think it's reprehensible that SNC would be involved in helping Gadhafi upgrade his security infrastructure, "rehabilitated" or not. I realize SNC is an engineering company, and engineers tend to be less squeamish about ethics than other people concerning business deals. Still, I think SNC should rightly be feeling some heat over this particular contract.
 Takeaways - Harper's government can be proud of its fascistic methods for wealth creation and its ability to twist a despicable enterprise into a positive.  Beware of the company they keep.
I look at these people and they appear like you and me, but deep down, there is no morality or ethics in them.  How did this happen?  And why did we let it happen?

Temporary Immigration in Canada is Wrong

The census of 2012 discloses that Immigration is being used to provide cheap labour for businesses and industry, to drive down wages, distort population mobility figures and shuts out Canadians willing to work.  Eventually, there's a plan to dispose of the EI in the long run to further cheat Canadian workers out of a right they earned.  Canada Immigration Blog notices when this changed and what it means.

Until recently, Canadian immigration policy targeted economic immigrants (permanent residents) to fuel our country’s growth. However, in the past few years a significant shift has taken place. Starting in 2006, and for every year since, Canada has admitted more temporary foreign workers than economic immigrants. We are now choosing to fill labour shortages with guest workers ahead of permanent residents. This change in direction will have consequences.

A whole new cottage industry of pseudo immigration facilitators are charging fees to work the system and grease the wheels of accessing entry employment.  See Red Seal home page.  Does this look like some kind of agency you'd think you would trust?  Why are they allowed to capitalize on a government agency that should be above board?  Here's another one called Abhinav that also pushes for skilled workers needed in the west.

Lawyers are using misrepresentation to put fear into employers who might break government rules.  Here's an example on this site:

More and more businesses in Canada are hiring foreign workers.  In fact, the number of temporary foreign workers has ballooned in recent years to the point where they now outnumber new permanent residents.  There are many reasons for this trend, including a rapidly aging labour force, skills shortages for specific sectors of the economy, as well as federal government policy which has increasingly prioritized temporary foreign workers over permanent residence applications.

And just out today, Jason Kenny said that the companies themselves will be doing the recruiting of new hires for temporary work.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told Sun News Network on Thursday one of the biggest changes will be to "invite businesses to go overseas, recruit the people who they think will work well in their companies, give them those job offers, and then we'll bring them in (to Canada) on a super-fast basis."  Sun News

The new temporary hires may well be going to the tar sands for all we know or to work at the Tim Horton's where people don't want to work for minimum wage.  But who's to tell?  And how fair will that be to temporary immigrants that run into difficulties with their employers, or are injured?


After a horrific accident that killed 11 temporary workers, we learn the dark side of life for temporary workers.

"Canada and the agricultural industry are quick to dispose of migrant workers who get injured in the course of their employment,” she said.

“Workers are soon sent back to the ... south, and in our experience, are unable to find work with their injury and largely unable to pay for private medical care. It's an inhumane and unjust way for Canada to treat people who get injured putting food on our tables.”

Everything this government does lacks class.  It turns its back on Canadian joblessness.  Uses up the temporary workers like expendables as if saying "there's more where you came from".  It farms out its responsibilities to govern by good policies and taking ownership of responsibility to simply handing it over to the ruling class of big money.

What's Missing from the Long Form Census According to Former Statistician

There is a need for an improved Consumer Price Index that updates weights more frequently, has a wider coverage of commodities and does a better job in dealing with quality changes.
from Munir Sheikh, former chief statistician of Canada New Directions for Intelligent Government in Canada

•    Canada does not have an ongoing wealth survey. This is surprising since a number of issues the country faces today require information on wealth holdings at the household level. The debate on the adequacy of pensionsNew Directions for Intelligent Government in Canada

is taking place without the knowledge about personal asset levels of Canadians at the time of their retirement. The impact of the financial and eco- nomic crisis cannot be fully examined without an understanding of changes to household wealth.
•    The Drummond Report, prepared for the Council of Labour Market Ministers, highlighted serious labour market data gaps and urged the government to act expeditiously in view of the weak labour market that exists today following the financial and economic crisis (Drummond, 2009).
•    With globalization, trade data have not kept up. There are weaknesses in data for trade volumes, because of inter-industry and intra-industry trade, and trade prices, particularly import prices.
•    Service sector data, particularly service prices, need improvement.

•  Data on aboriginal populations are particularly weak. This is especially true of populations on reserves where the only source of data for reserves which participate was the census. Even that source is now largely gone
with the cancellation of the long form census.