Out of the frying pan and into the oil -- Alberta oil, that is.
That's where former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell found himself in one of his first official public appearances as Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Attending The Energy Roundtable's gathering of Canadian and European business leaders two days ago, the former premier found himself with a front-row seat to one of the more imaginative anti-oil sand protests I've seen -- the oil orgy.
Two protesters -- a man and a woman -- stripped down to their delicate under things and climbed atop a table at Lancaster House. The woman with underwear emblazoned with the maple leaf represented Canada. The man in Union Jack boxer shorts was Britain.
As they stood on top of the table, manhandling each other, the duo soaked themselves in molasses, to represent Alberta oil. Nobody seemed to know what to do at first about the sticky situation, so the duo pretty much took over the room for a minute or two.
The province of British Columbia's ex-premier seemed to get a quiet laugh out of the display. Then, as the protesters were taken away, he slipped back into diplomatic mode to discuss the matter at hand: Where does Canada's energy, including the oil sands, fit in the current world demand for energy?
What the former premier is going to find is that this is just a taste of the sort of protests he -- and Canada -- will encounter in Europe. The protesters on the other side of the Atlantic are organized and as determined as the environmentalists in British Columbia were in the 1980s and 1990s.
Here was part of their official statement of the UK Tar Sands Network, explaining the oil orgy to the rest of us:
"Protesters interrupted the Canada-Europe Energy Round table in London today, to expose the UK government's opposition to European legislation, which would label tar sands oil as highly polluting. The campaigners stripped down to Union Jack boxers and maple leaf underwear and covered each other with oil while kissing and groping in a provocative 'oil orgy'...
"We interrupted the Energy Round table today because the UK and Canadian governments flirtations are developing into friends with benefits. This seedy relationship puts profits for the oil industry and banks ahead of much needed legislation which will curb emissions from transport fuel in Europe..."
Welcome to the foreign service, Mr. Campbell.
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The tar sands are the worst though. Not only are the tar sands a waste of water but it actually takes more energy to produce the oil than the oil will produce. It makes Canada a shameful country which has no thought for the future of our children. It is a country where the taxpayer is meaningless - somebody who must accept the new order of a government where cabinet ministers don't talk to the press but the PM will only take three questions.
Mr. Harper, the Take back Wall Street movement is not a laughing matter. It is a sign of things to come. Revolutions occur when people have little to lose. The powers that be are kicked out and a new order begins.
You always seem to be shilling for industry and the promotion of corporate misconduct. Might I ask who you work for? None of the statements that you objected to were associated with this story or the protesters.
"Open pit mine the size if England."
"Three times dirtier than conventionÂal oil."
"Such the Athabasca dry."
It is the dirtiest oil on the planet.
"Open pit mine the size if England."
"Three times dirtier than conventional oil."
"Such the Athabasca dry."
Oh lord.