Naw…it’s just free speech, dude.
And you can’t shut these guys up.
Harper's comments came in response to a question about Chiquita Brands, which announced Thursday that it would avoid using fuel from Alberta's oilsands. The company, which sells hundreds of millions of dollars of fruit, juice and snacks around the world, said it has joined 13 other companies and one city in trying to reduce its carbon footprint.
I have a sudden craving for bananas. Chiquita, in fact.
7 comments:
Oil Sands=good solid unionized jobs
Chiquita=complicity in assisting the US in backing up murderous regimes.
ok, I'll come down on chiquita for that if you criticize our government for backing oil in Lybia under Gaddafi, if you condemn Canadian mines in Colombia and harper's lack of doing anything about the murder of union reps in that country. Oh yeah...and please do mention selling deadly asbestos to other countries when it is banned here.
And as to those good, solid unionized jobs...would you elaborate? harper's attack on unions, the talk of declaring the economy an essential service - how exactly will those jobs (as yet to be described) and the workers be protected from corporate rape if workers have no power and unions are de-balled?
Back troll! Back to your dark, smelly cave.
Oh I do come down on our government for that. Never said I didn't.
As for unions....plenty of them here.
Operating Engineers Local 47
Boilermakers Union Local 1
Carpenters Union Local 1325 (that would be mine!)
Plasterers and Cement Masons Union Local 222
Labourers Union Local 92
Operating Engineers Local 955
Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union Local 47
Electrical Workers Union Local 424
Elevator Constructors Union Local 122
Painters and Dry Wallers Union Local 177
Pipefitter and Plumbers Union Local 488
Insulators Union Local 110
Ironworkers Union Local 720
Millwrights Local 1460
This is only a partial list. I find it funny some people attack the governing party yet if the NDP had their way and shut down the oil sands, a lot of unionized workers would be out of work.
Maybe I'm being unfair to you as I don't know you, but the typical harper line of jobs, jobs, followed by finger pointing (well what about them?) says troll to me, so sorry if that wasn't the case.
I just don't see how mentioning unions and benefits along with the harper government has any credibility considering his appalling treatment of, and interference with unions and collective bargaining.
If you read how many times Catherine Swift of CFIB gets sit down time with Clement and Flaherty to talk about taking away benefits and capping wages and cutting jobs for federal employees, it says a lot about the direction this government is aiming for with workers' rights.
Sure the tar sands will create some jobs. Maybe a lot of jobs. But for who, and what will the wages and benefits be like under this government that is far, far from worker-friendly, favouring profits and tax cuts to the wealthy, and not being above the benefits of hiring migrants workers because they are cheaper (sorry, don't have the link handy, but it's accurate).
So while you list many unions and their members who could benefit from oil sands development, I see nothing coming from this government that workers will be protected, earn decent wages or benefits.
The chiquite part - I'm not naive enough to think Chiquita doesn't get some benefit from their stance on the oil sands, optics being a big one, but they cannot be criticized unless all companies are criticized for the same mercenary tactics - ethical oil being a big example of a company using optics to sell a product.
Finally, not every decision should be based on jobs and money. Take asbestos. Mining and selling the deadly stuff makes money, but does that mean we should just do it? If jobs and profit justify tar sand development despite the consequences to our health and an environment we all rely on to survive, why is asbestos banned here? The asbestos lobby groups just don't have the money to lobby like oil does, so now it fights to hold onto the couple of mines it has and the questionable right to disallow labeling products as dangerous in countries where Canada still sells a product that kills in horrible ways.
We need to weigh the benefits of profits and jobs - especially when they are short term, against the longer and more permanent costs they most likely will deliver in the forms of health, sustainable resources. It's a matter of time before Canada has to switch over to less destructive forms of energy, and as we try to make those last few dollars from tar sands, not only do we add to long term destruction, we also fall far, far behind in the global race to produce and profit from new technologies.
I'll take our oil sands here over the blood oil produced in other countries any time.
I agree that it shouldn't be all about money though. BUT I'll be long gone by the time the oil sands run out. In the meantime, the benefits I derive from working here help support my son. In the end that is all I really care about. Perhaps his welfare isn't a noble cause for some activists out there but it is for me.
I was happy not to spot any Chiquita products at my local grocery store here.
well then your comments about blood oil and how Chiquita treats people hold no weight since neither affect you or your son. Your choice if all you care about is you two, but that really takes away any strength in your arguments that are based on wider concerns. Can't have it both ways. Can't throw ethical arguments at others who may care about such things if ethical arguments mean nothing to you except how they affect you directly. I'm supposed to care about blood oil and Chiquita workers as well as what impact my life has on generations to come (including your grandchildren) and you can preach those ethics to others while not feeling that you need to respect them yourself.
Short term, short sighted, let me have mine and the hell with everyone else. Your choice, but now that I know that, I can dismiss any arguments and points that deal with issues that affect anyone excpet you and your son.
My kids come before everything, but that doesn't mean I have to give up caring about other things and other people and I hope this is something they emulate so that their kids and grandkids have a decent world to live in. And I hope they are all compassionate and caring of others since those are things necessary to have a healthy, stable society for them to live in. We don't live in a bubble.
It's a dog eat dog world.
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