Archive for News

I’m beginning to get some real sympathy for Jack Layton’s Dion-bashing.  I still don’t like the mocking tone, but the substance is true.  And here‘s Mr. Dion, once again letting the budget slide without much of a peep.  The funny thing is, I wouldn’t want Dion to do anything different.  I just want a better explanation.

Truth is, if we had an election today, the Conservatives would win a fresh mandate, possibly even with more seats, and we would have wasted a lot of money just to end up with the status quo or worse.  I’m assuming that’s Mr. Dion’s calculation, and he sees nothing to fight that would suddenly propel him to victory.

But if that is Mr. Dion’s calculation, I wish he would say so.  I wish he’d say “I don’t particularly agree with this budget, but I don’t see the point of dragging Canadians through an election only to end up right where we already are.”  Instead, he just seems kind of limp.

Update:  Elizabeth May disagrees with me.  She thinks the budget was a lot worse than mediocre, that it is leading to the militarization of Canada, and that Canadians deserve to be consulted on issues such as this.  She is a wise lady, and in many ways much smarter than I am.  But it’s hard for me to consider taking the risk of bringing in a Conservative majority.

At the transportation talk I attended the night before last, one audience member pointed out that Israel expects to stop selling internal combustion engine vehicles by 2020.  Here‘s support for that statement, though the details are a little different.

The gun registry is supported by police associations and most Canadians.  The Conservatives, who have made a point of saying they’re tough on crime, don’t want to put a vote on the gun registry to the House of Commons.  They certainly don’t want their government to fall on this issue.

So they’re killing the registry by funding cuts and amnesties.  According to CTV:

The Liberals say the Conservatives are unwilling to debate the issue in the Commons and have instead submitted the latest proposed regulations in the Canada Gazette, the official newspaper of the Canadian government.

“Instead of putting the future of gun control to an honest vote in the House of Commons, they are achieving the same ends through back door tactics like sweeping amnesties and funding cuts.”

The measure would push back an amnesty originally issued in 2006. An extension set to end later this spring could now be in effect until May 16, 2009.

The Calgary Herald recently reported here on the need for more energy to fuel expansion of tar sands extraction.

The tar sands require a lot of energy in extraction.  Most of it comes from natural gas.  And natural gas supplies are diminishing while the demands of the tar sands increase with expansion.  Nuclear power company Areva  sees great promise in these developments:

Speaking in Calgary, Areva CEO Armand Laferrere said continued oilsands development would consume virtually all of Canada’s current natural gas supply — some 92 per cent — by 2030.

“You need to diversify,” he said on the sidelines of the Canadian Energy Research Institute’s natural gas conference.     Read more »

I got this message a few days ago from the Friends of the Lubicon.  It’s a very eye-opening glimpse into the political games of tar sands oil.     Read more »