With every tar sands operation approved -- almost weekly -- this dose rises, sending more acid rain over the border. And Brad Wall is doing absolutely nothing to stop it. On the contrary, he's out stumping in the U.S. for increased tar sands growth, which will lead to even more acid rain falling on Saskatchewan.
Just because something is a bit complicated, it doesn't mean you can ignore it, especially when it's hurting you. Thanks to increased oil production, we now have a petro-dollar that rises and falls with the price of oil. And, with oil being a finite commodity, its price will only rise, taking our dollar and manufacturing jobs in Ontario and Quebec along with it.
This just in! I've got a yet-to-be authenticated advance copy of Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver's "streamlining" plan for hearings on things like Enbridge's proposed tar sands pipeline that would bring supertankers to B.C.'s coastline to take bitumen to China.
For those of you looking for a simple way to represent these ties, here is a graphic that tries to capture some of the main ones uncovered so far. Please pass it around so that some daylight shines into this dirty business.
The tar sands industry now faces legal challenges from First Nations, low carbon fuel initiatives in California and the EU, opposition to its pipelines in the U.S., in British Columbia, and in Eastern provinces and states. Are all these people crazy? Is it still you, not me?
When Stephen Harper visits Chinese President Hu Jintao next month, he can rightfully argue that he is now fully engaged helping Beijing get the pipeline it's been after for quite some time, and that he's deploying his best bully-boy tactics to get it.
