Stupidity causes global warming

The Harper government's decision to kill its own environmental advisory board could result in a government hearing little else but its own voice on climate change, says a former director of Environment Canada's meterological and climate research branch.

That’d be the voice of people like Peter Worthington.

Worthington, that old, white, failed conservative candidate must have simply decided when he graduated from Carleton U.  in the fifties that there simply was nothing more to learn.  Any new research, any recent world events, any post-50s facts are just...fads.  Or the lies of communists.
How else can one explain his response to Elizabeth May objecting to the fact that the 2012 federal budget doesn’t even mention climate change:
(emphasis mine)

One might ask why on earth the budget would mention climate change? There is nothing you, I, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair, or even Elizabeth May herself can do about climate change.  Climate change is going to happen, we just don’t know to what extent.

And why is it such a threat to our future? We will adapt to it, whatever it is, and even if no one fully understands it, we still have to live with it. Climate is always changing.  Thank goodness we no longer stress “global warming,” and now call it “climate change.” (WTF?)

If Canada were to abandon the Keystone pipeline, ceased trying to extract oil from the earth, eliminated oil tankers, forbade SUVs, outlawed cigarettes and allowed only whole wheat bread, it wouldn’t stop the climate from changing if the climate continued to want to change.

Peter...where to start...

The climate doesn’t want to change.  It doesn’t not want to change.  It simply changes as a result of forces around it, and one of those forces is the impact of human beings spewing crap into a closed system – the Earth system.

“Climate change is going to happen, we just don’t know to what extent... We will adapt to it, whatever it is...”  Well, no.  That’s the fallacy of the ignorant who mock science yet blindly believe “they” – those scientists – will come up with a solution.  If we keep warming the planet at the rate we are, there will come a point at which the devastations caused by the warming will occur so rapidly and with such frequency and ferocity that we will not have the time or resources to “adapt” our entire species to the new and unstable environment.

Worthington goes on to say that because the climate is changing anyway (because it wants to), that we should focus on what’s really important -  “tap the continent’s oil reserves...exploit our resources. Period.”

If a fire is threatening to spread, a few people trying to control it will have no success if others are avidly feeding it as fast as they can.  The fire will reach a point where it will destroy even those feeding it.  It doesn’t want to.  It can’t help it though, because that’s the science at work.

“Thank goodness we no longer stress “global warming,” and now call it “climate change.”” First, WTF gives him relief in that?  Next - Worthington is a journalist?  He doesn’t know that those terms mean two different things?

"Without the national round table, they can go wherever they like for advice, and sometimes that may mean they go after the people who are going to give them the answer they expect to get," said John Stone, a former Environment Canada employee who has worked with the agency.  "I can imagine very easily that the vacuum will be filled with organizations and interests which are more inclined to deny climate change, sow doubt about climate change and hence, hold back progress," said Mr. Stone, who is currently an adjunct professor with Carleton University's geography and environmental studies department.

“Hold back progress...”  There’s the problem.  To the harpers and worthingtons of this world, progress is only linked to economic development, and protecting our planet and life on it just doesn’t turn a quick enough buck.  What they fail to realize in their monumental ignorance, what even a young child can understand is that you can’t make money if you use up the means to make it, and you sure as hell can’t spend it if you’re dead.

So if a child is married to an adult in another country where such things are legal, is her husband allowed to keep raping the child if they move to Canada?

Because according to the CONs, she is still the old fuck's wife.

And if a woman moves to Canada from a country where women aren’t allowed to vote or run for office, does that mean she can’t vote in Canada when she becomes a citizen?

What a bull-shit line of reasoning to impose narrow, twisted, vile beliefs on others.

Harper keeps saying he won’t re-open same sex marriage debates, but he is changing our laws through the back door, getting Canadians used to the ideas, altering our very identity as he clearly has been stating he intends.

No one in steve’s party publicly expresses intent to change legislation without clearing it through him first.  Enough retired MPs, senators, and insiders have told us so and we have seen what happens to those who oppose him – Bill Casey, Garth Turner, Chong…

So when his CONsorts keep gunning for women’s wombs across the country, there is no doubt fatso wants the abortion issue to come out.  He can claim he didn’t open debate,  he can claim Canadians want it.  He can let his atavistic crew push through some law that opens the door to abortion (giving fetuses same status as Canadians when a woman miscarries due to an attack) then say it’s really a legal argument and he can hardly stop debate.  Or hell, just do away with debate at that point.

Death penalty?  Oh, no…he won’t go there, he says.  But once again, he is trying to change our mindset by picking and choosing which Canadians on death row in another country will be defended by our government.  You know, while all people are equal, some just plain don’t deserve equal treatment.

It’s a gut knowledge thing, ya know?  Tim Horton type wisdom if you get my meaning. 

The CONs play on that gut thing, play on divisiveness, point fingers at “other” until too many fail to look to reason when our laws are modified.

Because by then, too many just think it’s right because it kind of feels right.  And for those who in frustration try to protect our rights and freedoms as well as fair and equal systems for all, the systems that had been in place to defend those rights are so eroded and murky that there is less and less hope for sanity to prevail.

Our crime minister has no hidden agenda.  It has always been obvious – through his early speeches, his early affiliations, his ongoing actions in politics.

The almighty Economy seems to trump everything here in Canada.  Canadians buy into the bullshit that CONs are more fiscally responsible and that The Economy takes precedence over human rights, health care, the environment, the future of our children, decent public services, housing…

But too many Canadians forget that money – especially in a system where wealth resides in the hands of a privileged few – cannot guarantee a safe, healthy environment, equality, care for those in need, separation of church and state, health care for all regardless of wealth, protection of the innocent: things Canadians have long valued above all else.

Harper says oilsands critics spreading 'misinformation'

Naw…it’s just free speech, dude. 

And you can’t shut these guys up.

(graphic partial)

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.

The environment isn't a special interest

Although some people seem to think it is.  It's not like hockey, or hunting, or the opera where you can choose whether or not you want it to be part of your life.  Unlike skiing, or golf, or the art of origami, you can't just ignore it if you aren't interested and unlike those things, it will have a major impact on your life whether you believe it is worth taking into account or not.

Care of the environment isn't something that can be put on hold like renovating the Parliament buildings or building a hockey rink.  We can't keep saying there's no money in our budget to meet the challenges of climate change or protect the ozone layer. 

Because it isn't a special interest and because it affects everyone right at the survival level, we can't treat it like a marketable product that needs to compete with other products or interests.  It can't be forced to compete with oil profits or political ideologies, but largely, that's what's being done.

This week, knowledge-challenged Kent will be going to Durban to discuss climate change.  His plan?  Defend Alberta’s oilsands.  Not discuss ways we can deal with climate change, but defend one of the very things that aggravates the very serious problem.  Our Environment Minister's priority is how to stop environmental protection from interfering expanding oil production.  If anyone still has any doubts that the harper government™ is not at all concerned about climate change or any aspects of our environment, this insane plan for the Durban meetings should quell those permanently.

As harper tries to keep some distance from the crazy Levant, his party has picked up on the term "ethical oil" although Kent thinks we are all as stupid as him and says the term "came from somewhere in (his) unconsciousness" before he ever heard of it in connection to Ezra.  Right.  Sure. 

So Kent is going to use that dishonest argument at a climate change summit to attempt to convince countries that recognize the necessity of actually having an environment that can sustain us that increasing production of Canadian oil will somehow benefit burka shrouded women in the Middle East.

These aren't a bunch of distracted Canadian voters he'll be addressing.  He can't count on their ignorance of science, social issues, and the harsh realities of climate change lapping up at shores across the globe, causing droughts and famines, drying up rivers reliant on ice caps.

Besides embarrassing Canadians by his small town, small minded politics, he will not likely meet with much success -

(N)egotiating climate change agreements in South Africa by bringing up the ethics of Canada’s oil may not be the firmest ground for Canada’s government delegations...

“The ethical oil sort of messaging has certainly been popping up. It certainly wouldn’t have been around three or four years ago,” Matt Horne says. But in Europe, as focus turns to curbing the production of carbon-intensive fuels, “it doesn’t seem to be a dominant part in that debate. They’re much more focused on the environmental implications of different sources of oil.”

“The fact that we have a stable democratic system is good, that’s not an excuse not to move forward on environmental considerations as well, though. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if it’s raised by some, but I don’t think that will satisfy the many people who are rightly looking at the environmental concerns as well.”

Like Baird before him, on harper's orders, Kent will do what he can to slow progress on climate talks.  I think that rather than gaining any points for Canada, he will return with our image even more tarnished and put us at a disadvantage when invitations are issued for tight groups intent on making real change happen.  We'll be the country listed on their agendas as problematic.  

When Ivison of the Nat-Post talks about CON spin...

...you know the reality is as obvious as an industrial washing machine so out of control even brain-fried druggies passed out in the laundromat sit up and take notice.

The Conservatives will spend $10-billion less in the coming year than they did in 2010-11 — the first time in a decade any Canadian government has planned to reduce expenditure, according to Stockwell Day.
 
...What Mr. Day neglected to say is that as much as $7-billion of the planned savings come from the sun setting on stimulus spending. A further $8-billion comes from reduced spending on things like public debt charges ($3.4-billion down because of lower interest rates), Employment Insurance (down $2.6-billion as the economy recovers), and harmonized sales tax compensation.  The real question for the Conservatives, is why aren’t they planning to spend billions of fewer taxpayers’ dollars in the next financial year?

Well, because harper has: increased his cabinet by creating positions to reward blind loyalty, resulting in the largest cabinet in Canadian history; has spent more on tax payer funded partisan promo ads than any other government in Canadian history; has spent more on polls, more on personal security, more on bribing ridings...

He also plans on building prisons we don't need, sole-sourcing the F-35s, building a luxurious spy training centre, building a glass dome on the Hill, building a Harper bunker where he can play Morgan Freeman playing Col. Abraham Curtis...

He intends to increase budgets for security and public safety ,  Correctional Services ,Canadian Border Services Agency , the RCMP,  and Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.

There will be some cuts.  Guess where.  Come on!  You can do it!  Here's a hint: he won an award for it in 2010, the Collossal Fossil Award.

That's right!  He will cut Environment and resource based programs with 2/3rds of the cuts coming from programs related to climate change!

harper plans on cutting 1 billion from NR programs including the Clean Energy Agenda, the Pulp and Paper Green Transformational program and the Sustainable Development Technology Canada fund.

Dorky Day did not waste a chance to show his junior-high enthusiasm and maturity by insulting our intelligence and making a joke of a very serious announcement.

The announcement was made in an Ottawa fitness club called Lean and Fit — apparently an attempt to persuade us that this is a government with six-pack abs and no fat left to trim.

riiiiight....

So, brief summary of the Main Estimates:  money goes to agencies whose employees can legally kill human beings now and in the future, and money is cut from those agencies trying to make a safe, sustainable environment for us and for generations to come.

Seriously.  Anyone who still thinks CONs are fiscally conservative need to go find their surgeon and ask for their lobotomized chunk of brain back.

That explains why the CONs do nothing on the environmental files

Cracking down on water pollution from raw sewage is a "morality" issue that must be done in partnership between governments, federal Environment Minister John Baird said Monday..."It is not an environmental issue," he said Monday. "It is a morality question to be dumping ... what essentially is raw sewage into our lakes, rivers, oceans and streams."

So no need to spend money preventing pollution of our water.  Just deliver a good, stern lecture on morality.

Somehow, I don’t think Baird has mastered morality enough to lecture anyone on it.

The recurring nightmare that is John Baird

Maybe Taseko will open that gold mine after all.

It's not like we actually have an Environmental Minister.

Ignatieff's sell-out of human rights and environmental protection

I really miss Mentarch’s thoughtful posts on how our governments’ actions affect us not only nationally, but globally as well.  He would probably have a lot to say about Bill C-300 (An Act Respecting Corporate Accountability for Mining, Oil and Gas Corporations in Developing Countries), how two (or three, if you want to point fingers and include the four NDP who didn’t vote) parties contributed to its demise, and what impact this will have nationally and globally.

We have come to expect the Harper government to place corporate interests above the environment, human rights, developing nations, and people near or below the poverty line.  They believe governments should not regulate industry and they continue to perpetuate the ridiculous myth that corporations, given the freedom to do as they please, will display a social conscience.

To watch the Liberals defeat their own private member’s Bill by abstaining in numbers large enough to make sure it dies is frightening.  That means that the only two parties that currently have enough support to win even a minority are not seriously concerned about regulating greed-driven organizations that abuse human rights, have no regard for the environmental damage they cause unless bad publicity affects their profits, and let as little money as possible filter down to taxpayers.

In this case, it was more than failure to show concern on the part of the Libs and CONs.  Both made sure the Bill would not pass, telling us beyond any doubt that both parties would rather please the money-men who already control so much they are far from vulnerable than protect not only those who cannot protect themselves, but average people as well.

Both parties distorted the truth about this Bill and what it means to industry, showing us that they are both willing and able to lie for their masters – the large corporations.

What does that do to the value of our individual vote, then?  If our elected representatives will lie to their constituents to help line the pockets of the very organizations that use and abuse voters, then that system is a corrupt, secretive, seriously off-balanced and unfair one wearing a cheap mask that sort of looks like democracy.  Who then speaks for the people who can’t spend millions lobbying for their own interests?  Who votes on their behalf?  And the longer such sell-out parties, parties that lie to those they are supposed to work for, the more power shifts to corporations as they get richer, more powerful, more dug in, and more arrogant in the knowledge that they will never seriously be held accountable.

So what do the CONs and Libs think will happen as populations keep rising on a planet where resources are dwindling and corporations, unchecked, devastate yet more land?  What do they think will happen as the people whose rights are tromped on see the abusers getting wealthier at their expense?  We’ve seen this over and over in history.  Governments and corporations may consider those they deceive, suppress, and ignore as mindless masses, but every individual in those masses has a stomach and gets hungry.  Each one needs a safe place to live.  Each one has a dream of some sort of future for themselves and their family.  And each one has some sense of what they view as fair and just.

Their numbers grow along with population growth and wealth goes into fewer hands.  Pressure builds, and most of us realize what happens when pressure increases in a closed system.

Rather than a smooth transition into systems suited to denser populations with fewer resources where we have no choice but to be careful of what we put into our soil, air, and water, we will have a series of bloody outbursts.  Some groups will not know who to attack or may be unable to target the ones who are causing their misery, and in frustration, desperation, and anger will lash out at their neighbouring countries or districts, or set their sights on sub-groups within their own communities.

Corporations and governments will encourage this mis-direction of hostilities because they want the masses to focus on something other than the real causes of their suffering.  To such governments, losing a few hundred thousand people here and there in lands that cannot sustain them will not be viewed as a big negative.

After that...possibly an alliance between a very few super powers who hold economic control, dividing the planet between them, economically, at least.  Whether or not this happens, the smaller outbursts will be followed by global ones and everyone, even the swinishly wealthy corporations lose.

Then, a slow re-building over the bodies of the dead until we start the whole cycle over again because we don’t seem to learn from our past mistakes.  Or rather, some of us learn, but the greedy, power hungry few grab opportunities at the expense of those who strive for fairness and equality.

Short sighted, selfish politics practiced by people like Harper and Ignatieff cause long lasting devastation not only to our country, but to the way our species handles situation.  Rather than being guided through thoughtful long-term planning that would enhance the lives of all people as equally as possible, those we have given power to through our democratic process are building terrible pressure in a closed system. 

These politicians aren’t all heartless.  Some actually mean well but reason their way through bad policies by saying to themselves and their members, “just for now, until we get power.  Then we’ll do the right thing for all.”  But it doesn’t work because the corporations they cater to will still be there when they get that power, and the lobbying will be just as intense.  The new opposition will work against positive change, because they will apply the same faulty reasoning of “just for now.”

Meanwhile, every compromise, every sell-out, every bit of justice stepped on to appease the powerful and the rich builds that deadly pressure.

As Gwynne Dyer says in “Climate Wars,” starving people aren’t reasonable.

Stand up and fight, damn it!

Seriously. 



If you can't stand up for one of your own party's private Bills against a lying sack of shit who misrepresents it, then you're not fit to lead the opposition, let alone the government, Michael.

But it seems the Master Strategist is fronting a brilliant attack:


“Ignatieff MP John McKay has introduced legislation that unfairly targets successful Canadian mining, oil and gas companies – a key pillar of our economy,” Conservative strategists said in a memo to MPs and supporters Tuesday. “If the Coalition has it way, many Canadian jobs will be lost in an industry that contributed $40 billion to Canada’s economy in 2008 and which employs 351,000 workers.”
Wait...it's a good idea to see what McKay's Bill actually involves -

This consternation and controversy is over Scarborough MP John McKay’s bill, C-300, that aims to clamp down on Canadian mining activities in foreign countries. The legislation, which went through committee without any amendments, would allow the government to deny funding of Canadian mining companies found guilty – through investigations initiated by Ottawa – of human rights or environmental violations.


And rightly so.  We shouldn't be funding companies that violate human rights or environmental concerns.  So why, why, why don't you Liberals just shove the damn thing right back at the CONs showing how they place the dollar before human rights...once again.

Apparently, there are some problems with the bar for complaints being set too low, and there are no penalties to deter false complaints.  So, amend the Bill.  Is it really that difficult?  I doubt that's the problem at all -

"While the principles are noble, the mechanism for administration is flawed with multiple inadequacies that are not workable," the analysts said. "We believe that if passed, Bill C-300 will have damaging effects to all stakeholders in the resources industry and Canadians as a whole. The impacts will be primarily financial but reputational risk is also high."

That's the heart of the resistance to this Bill. Money and reputation for slack laws must not be sacrificed for a bunch of poor people and their land.  Fuck our human rights reputation.  It's not like we're currently held in high esteem anyway.  In fact, Harper yet again sidelines those who are interested in human rights by trivializing them as “international special interest groups.”   You see, mining companies aren't a special interest group because a bunch of rich people own them.  They are simply special due to the intrinsic nature of wealth.  I'm sure god and the troops are tied in somehow, and law and order, of course.  You know, those things that are so sacrosanct that to merely begin a vague questioning thought is treason.

Bill C-300 is a good Bill, Liberals.  Amend it, but back it.  Show you stand for something, or just step aside so some new party that isn't afraid to stand up for the rights of all can fill in the void.

You listening, Michael?  Don't make me dedicate the Backing up song to you.

Like I said, after the photo op is done...

...the promise becomes no more than a caption.

 (photo)
It was hailed just four months ago by Environment Minister Jim Prentice as one of Canada's "richest ecological areas" when he announced a landmark $5-million study aimed at declaring it a National Marine Conservation Area.  But while one branch of the federal government has moved to protect Nunavut's Lancaster Sound as a one-of-a-kind natural treasure — "an area of incredible beauty that is teeming with wildlife," according the region's Conservative MP Leona Aglukkaq — the Geological Survey of Canada has confounded environmentalists and local communities by planning a seismic seabed survey this summer to probe for potential oil and gas deposits in the beluga and narwhal-rich waters north of Baffin Island, at the eastern entrance to the Northwest Passage.

While proudly announcing their intentions to declare Lancaster Sound a national marine conservation area (and including token Inuit in their promotional photo ops),  Prentice and Aglukkaq stated consultations would be held on an ongoing basis with the Inuit concerning the area.  What do the Inuit have to say about this latest bit of use-it-or-lose-it news?

"The legislation is very clear with respect to marine conservation areas: Oil and gas development is expressly prohibited," said Chris Debicki, Iqaluit-based director of the eco-advocacy group Oceans North. "They just don't go together."

He told Canwest News Service on Wednesday that the proposed resource survey conflicts not only with Parks Canada's high-profile push for a Lancaster Sound protected zone but also with the traditional use of the area by Inuit hunters, who have raised concerns through the Nunavut review agency about the potential impact of the Arctic Ocean survey — and any resource development that could follow — on caribou herds and marine mammals.

The Inuit may be the original inhabitants of the area.  They may offer terrific photo ops.  Their traditional outfits looked super cool at the Olympics.  But really, does Harper intend to consider their needs or listen to their wishes when it comes to the Arctic?

Not likely, considering they were not even invited to the recent Arctic Council meeting.

(photo)
"As global climate change continues and traffic through the Northwest Passage is expected to increase, our government is committed to safeguarding Canada's Arctic and protecting its most special natural features," Prentice said at the time (of announcing the marine sanctuary). "The Government of Canada recognizes the increasing importance of understanding and protecting the Arctic and this project will allow us to significantly advance our knowledge as well as our protection and conservation activities in this area."

Really?

The Harper government is rewriting the rules of environmental assessments, handing the Environment Ministry the power to minimize reviews of projects from open-pit mines to municipal construction along with other changes that critics claim will “gut” the environmental review process...Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act will ensure “that we get good environmental outcomes” while “not delaying and frustrating projects through unnecessary red tape.”

The measures...would give the Minister of the Environment the power to determine the scope of any assessment.

That would be this Minister:

Canada's leading environmentalists say they're losing interest in lobbying federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice because the government has locked itself into an environmental policy "bunker" and is not giving their ideas serious consideration.  Meanwhile, according to the Registry of Lobbyists, representatives for big oil companies frequently lobby the minister, and appear to be a major source of policy advice on energy and climate issues.

...Some say energy interests have an inordinate influence on Canada's national policy, something which is symptomatic of a deeper "corruption" in Canada. Among them is Thomas Homer-Dixon, who holds the Centre for International Governance Innovation Chair of Global Systems at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario.

In a December interview, Mr. Dixon asserted that "our political processes in Canada are being corrupted by narrow energy interests."

And in what direction are those narrow interests leading Harper?

"A strong and sovereign Arctic must be a healthy and prosperous Arctic. In the weeks and months that lie ahead, our government will continue to introduce measures aimed at unleashing the North's true potential," said the prime minister.

A recent post at Far and Wide talks about how the Liberals should approach the CONs undermining of environmental protection:

Unlike Carbon Emissions /Climate Change, the environmental concerns here are pretty cut and dry – very easy for the media and public to understand the issues at stake. The Reformatories would be on the defensive to explain why they put this into the budget, and why they feel it’s necessary to pollute our lakes and streams for generations to come for dubious short-term economic gain.

The Libs should put out a few trial balloons and see where it goes – have a few MPs talk to the media-types about this little nugget buried in the budget. Then if all goes well make the threat that you’ll vote against the budget unless this legislation is specifically removed. It would be interesting to see how Harper & Co. will try to defend overriding provincial jurisdiction to pollute lakes and poison indigenous communities - while saying this issue somehow proves that Iggy is just in it for himself.

As entertaining as the Guergis-Jaffer train wreck is to watch, and while they should be investigated if there appears to be corruption, opposition parties, and the Liberals in particular need to show Canadians that we can do better.  That is not accomplished by lowering the opponent, but by elevating themselves.  Fighting for protection of our environment is a good platform to speak from as it affects not just voters today, but future generations.  Harper doesn’t care if he kills the golden goose because his narrow vision is also very, very short term.

You know there’s a catch when a CON asks for your opinion.

Jimbo Prentice wants to know what Canadians think of his proposed environmental policy.  So far, the response from critics has been less than kind.

The website allows feedback and the deadline for submitting comments is July 12, 2010. The consultation comes as the government’s environmental policy has taken a sustained attack in the wake of the federal budget.

So why ask us for more feedback, especially when this government seems to be very selective of what comments it pads its findings with?

More than one person with an interest in the environmental file has pointed out that the Federal Sustainable Development Act requires the government to develop a Federal Sustainable Development Strategy by June 26, 2010. There is a legally-required 120-day consultation period written into the Act.

So, says one of them, “all Mr. Prentice is doing is obeying the law and holding a consultation - late. His government forced him to break the law and miss the deadline when they prorogued Parliament, though, so the comment period closes more than two weeks after the final strategy is required to be completed.”

Oh...a CON broke the law...I see...

I thought the idea was to create jobs

Not cut them.

As students are finding job prospects slim   and Harper is going around spending vast amounts of money on self-promotion, several organizations are suffering and will have to cut back on staffing since funding which they have received for decades is no longer coming and that probably won’t change.

The Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association, along with 15 other Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP) organizations, has learned Environment Canada's Atlantic region programs under the National Ecosystem Initiative, will not be ready for implementation in the 2010 fiscal year.  Currently there are no plans out of Ottawa to maintain conservation and environmental education in the Atlantic Region. Community programs such as BBEMA will wind down and critical youth employment opportunities will cease.

There’s problem number one: this government doesn’t feel environmental project are worth funding.

Problem number two is this government’s arrogance in wanting to control everything despite evidence that projects are best managed by experts and those who have been working on them for years.

"We've had great success but unfortunately, the way the money goes, BBEM and our sister organization Southeast Environmental Association are community-based organizations," (Tracy Brown, BBEMA executive director) said. "So our projects and what we do and how we react is driven by the community.  "The federal government is looking to go the other way . . . they want to be governing from the top down so they're the ones controlling where things go."

There is not much honesty in a stimulus push that create temporary construction jobs while existing ones are slashed, especially if they are part of effective programs such as those managed by ACAP.

We will be seeing more cuts such as these, especially in the public service with this government that thinks nothing is worth investing in unless it turns a buck for private businesses.  The cost to that path isn’t only jobs, it’s accountability, and the provision only of services that translate into big profits for private companies.

I'm sure it's because Canadians don't care, right?

With the environment near the top of the public agenda this year, Prentice's door swung open the widest for lobbyists, with 136 face-to-face or telephone contacts reported in the year, the data show.

Isn’t that nice?  Harper’s government not only realizing that the environment is near the top of the public agenda, but our very own environment minister meeting with lobbyist as a result.

Let’s see how what Harper, through Prentice has in mind for our environmental future.

Of these contacts, the majority -- 81 of 136 -- were with lobbyists representing oil, gas or other energy companies, including EnCana, Suncor, Shell Canada and ConocoPhillips. Prentice met to discuss energy issues with Imperial Oil on 14 occasions, more than any other company or organization.

Over half of the meetings were with companies lobbying to develop more energy sources harmful to the environment?  Not good.  But let’s be fair and look at how many environmental lobbyist groups our, you know, environmental Minister met with.

In the same period, he took just two meetings with environmental group the David Suzuki Foundation and another two with the Pembina Institute.

Steve Harper: once more ignoring what Canadians really care about.

It isn’t like there’s no pressing work to do...

As Harper & Co. Stay the course they have set with their first prorogation, governing by not governing, serious work is set aside.  The stimulus plan-with-no-plan does not exist in a vacuum, and several stakeholders need to work in tandem to make sure that the funds are not only used in a way they can best benefit our economy, but that other factors are examined closely so that damaging effects can be avoided.

(Pic adapted from)

More than 90 per cent of thousands of new projects receiving funding from the Harper government will proceed without a federal environmental assessment, Canwest News Service reported in November.

Why?

According to our dictatorship, those pesky environmental assessments would slow down projects and threaten economic recovery. 

Sort of like taking a couple of months off to go to the Owelympics would slow down governing an entire country.

This avoidance of making sure projects don’t endager the health and safety of Canadians is not a mere delay, however.  The very panel that the CONs created to advise them on such environmental impacts has been ignored for nearly two years.  In fact, the committee has not even met since the spring of 2008.

Throughout this time, sweeping changes to regulations have been passed, effectively exempting thousands of projects from mandatory evaluations.   "We haven't had any notice that the minister has dissolved the committee, but it's kind of awkward to have a committee that doesn't meet," said Gary Schneider, who sits on the panel.

The government, however, managed to introduce exemptions to projects without the consultation of the environmental panel and without going through legislation.

(Schneider) said he was confused about why Environment Minister Jim Prentice has not asked them for advice.   "If you think that you know everything, and you don't need to take advice from the public, just because you got elected . . . I don't think it paints a very good picture of the minister," he said.

I don’t think it’s just a case of Prentice thinking he knows everything, but yet another example of  going through the motions of creating a panel for optics while never intending to take their advice because they know ahead of time that such advice will conflict with their narrow ideology and support of business interests before all else - including the long term future of average Canadians.

A spokeswoman for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency said she could not comment on why the committee has not met since 2008 because it would cost her job. But she suggested that they would be brought together again soon as part of a required review by Parliament in 2010 of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Right - unless the CONs decide that such a review simply is no more necessary than considering the impact projects could have on our health and safety.

Considering the CONs lack of concern over environmental issues and their paranoid fear of reports, I guess that we and our children will just have to deal with the fallout of poorly planned projects offering no environmental protection.

Unless, of course, we join forces, say “enough,” and get rid of those uneducated, incredibly stupid, and undemocratic bastards while we still have the chance.

Talking to the public across Canada for the next few months and holding a thinkers’ meeting in March won’t cut it, nor will placing left-wing colours above common concerns for Canadians do it.  That two-thirds of the population with enough brains to realize how destructive Harper and the Cons are to our democracy and future need to contact members of the opposition and let them know they need to show up and work now.  Fuck prorogation and take back the Hill.