Harper says oilsands critics spreading 'misinformation'

Naw…it’s just free speech, dude. 

And you can’t shut these guys up.

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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 committee of amateur comedy, racism, hate and misinformation

You would think that if a Committee is serious about studying an issue, they would get specialists with factual knowledge of that issue to testify.

Not anymore.  Not in this new Parliament that appeals to the stupid, the shallow, the viewers of American Idol and other great, intellectual programs.

No, now Committees appear to be in the entertainment industry as well.  Might be starting their own version of That's Incredible!  Guests need not be informed or specialists.  In fact, that's discouraged because all that sciency stuff and all those facts are, well, just plain boring!


Levant...was invited to speak to the Natural Resources Committee while MPs study the future of Canada's lucrative yet controversial industry.

Of course.  Wouldn't a racist big mouth who has been sued numerous times for spreading lies, a lawyer of some kind who has nothing to do with earth sciences be top pick for your panel on the pros and cons of developing the oil sands? 

Oh, right.  Biggest qualifier to appear as a guest on harper's new and ever-so-modern  reality tv Parliament show is that the guest must agree with the programmer's conclusions ahead of time and all answers must help support that conclusion.

Levant's valuable contribution to the Committee:

"I don't know what God was thinking when he was handing out oil, but he gave it to all the world's bastards - Saudi Arabia, Iran Venezuela, Nigeria."

How can you not put someone who says such things on National, public funded TV?

Don’t worry...Harper promised

Sinopec's $4.6-billion deal to acquire a minority stake in the Syncrude oil-sands plant would give the Chinese state-controlled company a veto over the crucial decision of whether the company should upgrade more oil in Alberta or export raw bitumen for processing.

That would include decisions on whether to invest in a proposed project that would increase the plant's production and whether to boost capacity to process the additional bitumen into lighter synthetic oil on site. It could also cover investments in technology needed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

That would be bad.  Exporting raw bitumen would not favour job creation for Canadians and would most assuredly lead to greater GHG release in China, which affects us all.

Not to worry, though.

In the last election campaign, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government would prevent any company from exporting raw bitumen to take advantage of weaker environmental rules in other countries.

And he always keeps his election promises, right?