FEDERAL TRANSPARENCY: the record of the Harper government on the Alberta Oil Sands
Their cynicism and contempt for the public is unbelievable.
More unbelievable still: WHY exactly does the public tolerate this
crap on the part of those paid to be "public servants"?
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/07/15/TarSandsReport/
"Just two weeks ago the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable
Development abruptly cancelled a big report on the tar sands and the
project's extreme water impacts. The parliamentarians even destroyed draft
copies of their final report."..
DESTROYED DRAFT COPIES OF THEIR FINAL REPORT..!!
Please.. please.. take a moment to reflect upon that phrase
And these neocon wanabes were elected on a platform of "transparency" and "responsible government", eh? Is that it..
This is what those who believe in a just society or "redistributive justice" are REALLY up against. This is the TRUE FACE of the Beast: think about long term health and envrionmental impacts in the affected water basins, think about the long term geopolitical impacts of Global Warming on arid countries undergoing accelerating desertification..
Allen Ginsberg: "Howl". See part II, "Moloch":
http://www.wussu.com/poems/agh.htm
What to do?
Can this scandal be used as a "wedge issue" to - eventually - force a wider debate on the issues of responsible governance and national goals? (This period may prove to be a "tipping point", given the state of the global economy, ecology and climate..)
My suggestions:
- bitch to your MP
- get your friends to bitch to their MPs
- ask your friends to get their friends to bitch..
- write letters, articles and op-ed pieces for local newspapers, church or professional group bulletins, get on community radio..
Is anyone interested? We have more impact if we co-ordinate our efforts..
According to one of my financial newsletters the tar sands above ground activities will be replaced by in-situ mining. Perhaps this is a reason for the "cover up". The technique will require steam to be pumped into horizontal wells to enable the oil to liquify. Whether this will require more or less use of water wasnt mentioned but might be worth investigating.
ReplyDeleteThis way of behaving is typical of the Harperite government's behavior on many issues. I doubt if it is linked to any particular technical option for extracting oil: Big Oil already has a carte blanche to do anything they want to the environment.
ReplyDeleteBasically, the Harperites are populists of the neocon variety: they pit Canadians against each other like the neocons do in the US. As in the US, they mobilize their bigoted (I'm sorry to say), populist base with vacuous or (if realized) counter-productive slogans: "hard on crime", "law and order", pro-war, pro-military, pro-patriotic, anti-commie and of course, since they are "against the elites" (liberals, eggheads, lefties..) who "control government for their own benefit", they promise us "transparency" and "honnesty" in government. "Excellence" and "personal initiative" are lauded, yadee yadah yadah..
The reality, of course, is quite otherwise: the little man (the neediest) actually finds that government services that empowered him are cut rendereing him more vulnerable to the REAL elites (Big Business), info is massaged and micromanaged from the top,.. Big Oil rides high in the saddle in Ottawa, these days..