PM Harper: Science, not politics will decide the fate of Northern Gateway Pipeline

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that the Northern Gateway pipeline project will be approved on the basis of science, not politics. The Prime Minister has been under pressure by the opposition parties and has been demonized for including changes of environmental laws in his omnibus budget bill. Despite fillibusting the bill was passed by the majority conservative government and the conservative dominated Senate.

One of the keynote changes in the bill is the approval process for environmental assessments. The bill imposes a two year limit on the National Energy Board Review.

The Alberta oil sands are the favourite whipping child of environmentalists. Using outdated data they have demonized Alberta's bituman crude oil and of course aerial photographs taken from carbon spewing helicopters have been used to make their point. This totally disregards the land reclaiming process in place.  Full story@allvoices.com

Pipeline politics in Canada: national energy strategy

There has been a heated spat between British Columbia Premier Christie Clark and Alberta's Premier Alison Redford. The dispute started when Christie Clark paid a call on Redford to outline her conditions for the Northern Gateway pipeline, before going public.
Christie went public this week, prior to the Premier's Summit in Lunenburg, NS with her conditions:
1. Completing the environmental review process with a recommendation by the National Energy Board that the project proceed.
2. Deploying world leading marine oil spill response for the delicate BC coast line
3. Using world leading land spill response and prevention.
4. Addressing legal requirements of Aboriginal and treaty rights.
5. Ensuring that BC receives a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits. At present B.C. only gets eight percent of the pipeline revenue.  Full Story @allovoices 

Mulcair's Divisive Comments Not Ready for Prime Time

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair demonstrates with his divisive comments that he is not prepared to lead Canada.  His so-called analysis of loss in the manufacturing sector is flawed.  Most of those losses have come through globalization and cheap wages in Asia, particular in the troubled textile industry.  If Mulcair looked to Ohio and Pennsylania he would see the same phenomena.  Does Walmart come to mind?  Could it be that the public demands cheap products that are available at Walmart?  Just a thought.

The Premiers of the three Western provinces rejected Mulcair's remarks that Canada is suffering from "Dutch disease" due to the resource industry, especially the Alberta Oilsands.

Mulcair dismisses the criticism by the Premiers and told the National Post that they were simply acting as the Prime Minister's messengers.

This provoked more retaliation from the Premiers.  The Premier of Saskatchewan, quoting a StatsCan report, said the report proved that the NDP and Mulcair are wrong.

“The stats out today put a lie to some of these theories that Mr. Mulcair has been espousing, I think, or certainly stand in stark contradiction to them because we see in Canada, where there is a strong resource sector and an attendant strong dollar, manufacturing is moving in the right direction,” Wall told reporters.

“We have one more message for Mr. Mulcair and that is that his facts are wrong and what he’s doing is very divisive for the country.”

On the comment by Mulcair that the Premiers were messengers for the Prime Minister, Wall said,  “I work for the people of Saskatchewan and if Mr. Mulcair is wondering for whom I am a messenger, I am a messenger for the people of Saskatchewan and for the economic interests of this province.”

Alison Redford took to twitter and said, “Is this national leadership? @Thomas Mulcair continues to make divisive, ill-informed and false comments.”

It is hard to comprehend why the NDP leader would take on the Western provinces.  All this does is divide the country into regions.  One has to wonder where he and the NDP think they are going with this approach.

On her facebook page, Alison Redford said that Mulcair's remarks "do not display national leadership."

"Alberta has strict environmental laws that support the responsible development of the oilsands. His claims about unregulated development and disregard for the environment are false," she said.

"I would also like to make it clear to Mr. Mulcair that as Premier of Alberta I expect that someone would have the courtesy to properly inform themselves rather than making disparaging comments about Alberta."

If Mr. Mulcair has an issue with the oilsands or any other resource industry, because he perceives that environmental concerns are not being addressed, then he should do just that.  For a start he can visit the oilsands and find out what has been done about the environmental concerns, instead of listening to the spouting off outdated information provided  by environmentalists.  By the way he does have an open invitation by Alberta's Premier Alison Redford to take the tour.  What's he waiting for?

One can only conclude that the NDP and their leader Thomas Mulcair are not ready for prime time.

Canadian Politics this Week (7-13 May 2012)

You have to love Canadian politics if you're a political junky.  Since the Harper Conservatives won a majority just over a year ago, the attacks by the opposition parties have been relentless.  This week a poll revealed for the first time that the NDP has a slight lead over the Conservatives, 34% to 30%, while the Liberal party's popularity remained steady  at 20%.

The Robocalls, omnibus crime bill and the current bill before government, the budget bill, F35 spending estimates, which have turned out higher than the governments estimates and the latest report on the cost of the Libyan conflict, have all contributed to the decline of popularity for the Conservatives. 

Mulcair's Take on Manufacturing and the Resource Industry

Leader of the Official Opposition, Thomas Mulcair, has slammed the resource industry for being responsible of the decline of the manufacturing sector in Quebec and Ontario.  This has prompted a strong response from the Premiers of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. 

Although Mulcair said in March that he would never be heard speaking against oilsands development,  he has jumped fully into condemning Harper's resource based policies on the economy as the "Dutch disease," referencing the Netherlands find of natural gas, which caused a decline in that countries economy.

Brad Wall, Alison Redford and Christy Clark have condemned Mulcair's remarks.  Brad Wall's response was the strongest, questioning Mulcair's comments by asking if Mulcair thinks the oilsands are a disease, he would like to know what the NDP leader's cure is.

 "It's a concern for people out West.  I think his economics are wrong. And there's a lack of recognition there that the resource strength for Western Canada is a strength for the whole country,"  Wall said.

British Columbia's Premier Christy Clark called Mulcair's remarks goofy.

 "I really thought that type of thinking was discredited and it had been discredited for a long time. It's so backwards," Clark said. "I think that's just goofy." She continued, "The NDP talk their gobbledygook, but really they want less economic development," she said. "We all know it's a recipe for disaster."


Alison Redford also reacted stating that she is not sure if Mulcair's comments were well informed or just his opinion. She continued that she hopes he explains his motivation because she says someone looking to lead the country one day needs to understand just how important the oilsands are to the entire country.


Gun Registry and Budget Bill


A very public fight has broken out between the Justice Minister and the Governments of Ontario and Quebec over  the legality of collecting information on long guns.  The federal gouvernment scrapped the gun registry earlier this year but the Chief Firearms Officer vowed to continue with the collection of information of gun purchases.  While he was told to cease and desist, the response was in defiance, stating that his authority stems from the Firearms act and he encouraged the federal government to either change he act or take it to the Supreme Court.  More to follow on that.

The Opposition has used parliamentary procedures to delay the budget bill.  About one third of the 400 page bill contains changes to the environmental protection act, including streamlining of procedures for environmental assessments.  The bill would limit hearings to two years, which also includes the Northern Gateway Pipeline.  It would stop exemptions for charities that use their funds for advocating.

Lybian Conflict

The government has also come under fire for the cost of the Libyan mission.  Last year, Defence Minister, Peter MacKay, reported the costs to be just under $50 million.  Not unlike the F35 procurement costs, it seems the governments report was flawed.  The cost is apparently closer to $100 Million, almost double the reported cost.

The Minister defended his reports stating that those were the figures he had received from the Department of National Defence.

 "What I said was that, as of Oct. 13, the figures that I received from the department were under $50 million,"

Prime Minister Harper  noted the total figure of $347 million includes the ongoing costs of operating the Canadian military, and he defended the earlier estimates.

"We always give the most up-to-date figures and it's important also to know ... that these figures include normal operations of the Canadian military, of those assets over that period," Harper said.

Expect to hear more on Mulcair's rhetoric this week.   Unfortunately, although Mulcair slams the Western resource based economy, he has not presented his won vision on how he would pay for all the social programs he seems to want.  It would be prudent for him to present an alternate economic plan.

Canada's economy is doing much better than most G8 countries.  The last jobs report has shown positive growth in the manufacturing sector, including Ontario and Quebec.  Mulcair has to present a vision and convince Canadians that his plans would not kill the fragile economy.

One only needs to look at Greece, Italy and Spain to realize what excessive spending and living beyond the means can do.  Unfortunately the situation in  Europe can drag down the global economy. 

Most of the changes being made by the Conservative government were well advertised on its agenda.   Only the changes to Old Age Security came out of the blue.  Those changes, i.e. raising the eligibility age from 65-67 do not affect anyone 55 or older. 

Look forward to another lively week in Parliament and more doom and gloom regarding the environment from the opposition. 

By the way there is an open invitation for Thomas Mulcair to visit the Oilsands. 

NDP Edges Ahead of CPC Amid Oilsands Bashing - Poll

A Harris Decima poll has he New Democrats edging ahead of the Conservatives 34% to 30%, while the Liberals are steady at 20%.  With a 2.2% error margin this is nearly a statistical tie between the Opposition NDP and the governing Conservatives.

The Conservative Party has lost some political capital with its botched figures on F35 fighter jet procurement, the omnibus budget bill, which includes significant change to environmental laws and regulations and the recent privacy bill.  The apparent lack of respect, demonstrated by some members of the Conservative party, of taxpayers money has been perfect fodder for the opposition.

Add to this the unreported real cost of the war in Libya and the NDP is in perfect position to cash in on the fears and  doubts of Canadians.

There is also considerable opposition by environmental groups to oilsands development and Thomas Mulcair, Leader of the Official Opposition jumped right in to condemn the success of resource development.

Although Mulcair said in March that he would never be heard speaking against oilsands development,  he has jumped fully into condemning Harper's resource based policies on the economy as the "Dutch disease," referencing the Netherlands find of natural gas, which caused a decline in that countries economy.

Mulcair, speaking on a CBC radio program last weekend said that the oilsands are artificially inflated the Canadian dollar and hollowing out the country’s manufacturing sector, a similar comment made by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty earlier this year.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  One only needs to look south of the border, where the manufacturing industry has declined in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, despite a lower valued U.S. dollar.  A lot of it has to do with the business environment, burdening regulation and lower labour cost in Asian countries.

Regardless of how one views the oilsands development the remarks were inappropriate from a leader of  a party that aspires to gouvern Canada.   Mulcair, a former liberal member of the Quebec National Assembly should be well aware of federal transfer payments that assure Quebec can afford $7 a day daycare and the lowest tuition fees in the country.  With the ongoing student strikes in Quebec, the Charest government has given in to the students, with the solution being to ask for more transfer payments, funded by revenues from the oilsands.

Mulcair's remarks drew angry remarks from Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.  Wall called the comments divisive for one that aspires to lead the country and said if Mulcair thinks the oilsands are a disease, he wants to know what the NDP thinks the cure is.  Saskatchewan has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country with the help of resource development of potash, uranium and oil.

Newly elected Alberta Premier Alison Redford also reacted stating that she is not sure if Mulcair's comments were well informed or just his opinion. She continued that she hopes he explains his motivation because she says someone looking to lead the country one day needs to understand just how important the oilsands are to the entire country.

Mulcair's remarks will fare well in southern Ontario, Quebec and probably in British Columbia.  So one has to ask if this is a calculated move that Mulcair made in order to get the edge on the Conservative government.

Mulcair, however, would do well to come out with a vision for the Canadian economy, rather than pitting one part of the country against the other.  It is no secret that the oilsands have played a big part in the recovery from the 2008 recession.  Maybe the NDP leader should rethink his position, after all his party only holds one seat in the prairies.  This is not the way to make friends or influence people.

The Politics of Oil - Green Energy Alternatives

The new buzz word in the green movement is "sustainable energy.  According to anti-oil sands lobbyists oil is evil and stopping the development of the Alberta oilsands will avert a global disaster.  The process has been politicized both in the United States and Canada.

The  XL Keystone Pipeline, was put on hold earlier this year by President Obama claiming environmental concerns, specifically the Nebraska Sandhills.  Congress attempted to force the President's hand by including the approval of he pipeline in various bills, which prompted the President to reject the pipeline outright.  A Presidential permit is required when pipelines cross international borders.

Obama's rejection came after weeks of anti-oilsands protests in Washington, including high profile Hollywood celebrities.  Hollywood is a major supporter of the Obama campaign, with George Clooney  committing to raise $12 Million in a fundraiser on Thursday. 

Add to that the voice of Robert Redford, who claimed that the rejection was a spectacular blow against the oilsands and would change the world.

"The decision to shelve the proposal, gushed Hollywood activist Robert Redford, “represents a victory of historic proportions for people from throughout the pipeline path and all across America who have waged an uphill, years-long fight against one of the most nightmarish fossil fuel projects of our time.” Ethical Oil.org

In Canada, the environmental  lobby has turned up the heat on the Harper government.  The assessment and approval process for pipeline projects have been dragged out over years, with lobby groups signing up to testify in front of commissions, more often than not repeating the same testimony over and over again.   The Harper gouvernment is seeking to streamline the process by limiting the process to two years.  In its 2012/13 budget the Canadian gouvernment has included major revisions to environmental policy.  One third of the budget contains changes to environmental policy and legislation.

The gouvernment, which claims that some charities foreign money from foreign environmental groups to advocate against the oilsands, has put policies in place to take away their charity status.  To say the least the heat is on.

Thomas Mulcair, not unlike the Premiers of Quebec and Ontario, has claimed that oilsands development has ruined the manufacturing base of Central Canada due to raising the value of the Canadian Dollar.  Yet the prosperity of Alberta's and Saskatchewan's resource industry has funded the very social programs so dear to the New Democratic Party.

Alberta recently re-elected the Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Premier Alison Redford.  Redford has promised that she would work with the federal government and the provinces to develop a National Energy Strategy.  Significant improvements have been made over the last decade to reduce carbon emissions to bring them in line with emissions of  conventional oil production.

Green energy, such as wind and solar, are not ready for prime time and affordable alternate energy is still a few years away.  Of course environmentalists will never discuss the real estate required for solar panel farms or wind turbines nor the fact that thousands of birds get killed by wind power.  Solar power is very expensive and for now can not sufficiently provide the energy required to run a household.  As an example, an Edmonton solar company is offering to rent solar panels to home owners.  The panels, which require an initial investment of about $1000 can only provide 18-30% of actual power required.  Home owners must remain on the grid.  The savings in energy costs are minimal.  The biggest part of an electricity bill in Alberta are the riders and fees and not the actual energy used.  The lease contract is long term.

To make a long story short, whether we like it or not, oil will still be around for decades.  Sending oil to the United States and Asian markets will reduce our dependence on Middle East oil.  Coal,  which is currently used in power plants in China is a much larger emitter of carbons.

Even President Obama knows that Canada will develop the oilsands

The president made that much clear in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine. He said he had “respect” for certain anti-oil sands crusaders, like James Hansen at NASA who said approving Keystone XL would mean “game over” for the climate. But, Obama said, his decision on whether to allow the pipeline into the U.S. actually wouldn’t change a thing.

“But it’s important to understand that Canada is going to be moving forward with tar sands, regardless of what we do. That’s their national policy, they’re pursuing it,” Obama said.

Trans Canada Corp has reapplied for the approval of the XL Keystone Pipeline. Although TransCanada Corps hopes to start construction by 2013,  don't expect that approval prior to the election.   It will just not happen.

The State Department released a statement on Friday, stating that it would consider the pipeline on its merits.

"We will consider this new application on its merits," the State Department said.  "Consistent with the Executive Order, this involves consideration of many factors, including energy security, health, environmental, cultural, economic, and foreign policy concerns."

The pipeline will not only transport oil from the Alberta oilsands, but will also deliver oil from the Bakken Basen, which has oil from Mantioba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota.  The $7.6 Billion pipeline is a job creator, with high paying union jobs, provides energy security, with the volatility in the Middle East.

Trans Canada CEO,  Russ Girling, said in a statement on Friday that the pipeline would boost the U.S. economy, once completed.

"The multi-billion dollar Keystone XL pipeline project will reduce the United States' dependence on foreign oil and support job growth by putting thousands of Americans to work, Keystone XL will transport U.S. crude oil from the very large Bakken supply basin in Montana and North Dakota, along with Canadian oil, to U.S. refineries," Girling said.

While there should be an "all of the above" strategy and efforts should be made to develop alternative energy, we also need to get into touch with reality.  Oil, coal and natural gas are still primarily used to produce energy and will for some time, especially in developing economies like China.  Even the often touted green Germany has had to cut back on the tempo of green energy.

Instead of demonizing the oilsands, we should continue to move ahead with the development of green alternatives, improve the environmental standards for emissions, strictly enforce them and assists developing economies like China to clean up their act on coal.

It's time to cut back on the rhetoric and get real.  This constant wrangling is counter-productive.