Twelve Days, the scientists, world leaders, are going to meet in this UN sponsored event, to try and come up with a Global Climate Plan. Uh huh, and like you can put two leaders in a room, and get five different views. Unless of course you are Stephen Harper & whoever is the US President.  Then you get whatever the US President says.

I don’t understand how any leader, of a relatively robust nation such as Canada, can be so willing to bend over backwards, to appease a bully like the United States?  Granted, Obama isn’t anywhere as bad as Bush was, but still, you’d think we’d have some original thinking. I guess though, when you are basically bought and paid for by your Corporate Sponsors, original thinking is the last thing on your mind. Least that’s the case with Stephen Harper.

Still, the idea of Climate seems to be once more, something people are leery of. I mean is the climate changes, due to us, or is it actually a natural occurrence? Does history show these radical shifts or not?  And yet, it makes sense, to be environmentally conscious, but we ignore that, because Business certainly can’t see the profit in it, so they attack it.

“I think a lot of people are skeptical about this issue in any case,” the UN’s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, told The Associated Press. “And then when they have the feeling … that scientists are manipulating information in a certain direction, then of course it causes concern in a number of people to say, ‘You see I told you so, this is not a real issue.”‘ ( source – CBC News )

In my mind, YES many scientists do indeed fudge things, or give a view that is perhaps not scientifically accurate.  I think that the mix of business with science is dangerous, and that too much is slanted, in order to appease the sponsors of the research. Grants from huge corporations rarely seem to generate contrary reports that are harmful to those sponsors. So naturally one becomes skeptical.

Then there is the Puppets of these Corporations, who attack any Scientist who offers a theory that contradicts a corporate line. Such as the Oil Industry and research into the effects of carbon into the atmosphere. The Tobacco Giants who managed to muzzle the scientific community for ages, and yes, the drug companies as well. Politicians & Scientists rely too heavily on those corporate donations, and that always comes with a price tag.

Those political parties that rely on Unions are no different, and so it does make the public wonder. Is there a need for change, or not. Is the damage irreversible or not? Can we actually make an impact on preserving our climate, our earth, by recycling, by lowering emissions?

This is the result of too much interference in the Science community, by politicians, by labor unions, and by corporate sponsorship. There is a bias, and even the Media helps foster that, by its inaccurate reporting.

You have to love how well politicians lie, to make a sellout seem a good thing. Then there is the Politician that tells you how great it is to share such an open border, and how good of a friend you are, while at the same time killing tourism in your country, and putting the blame for their own incompetence onto your shoulders.

Hats off to both Conservative Cannon, our Foreign Affairs dufus, and Hilary Rodham Clinton, the US poster model for failed political hacks, for their stellar performance in announcing that the Great Lakes Water Treaty of 1909 will be renegotiated, as merely a way to update how we preserve the environment. 

“We have to update it to reflect new knowledge, new technologies and, unfortunately, new threats,” Clinton said.

“The rivers, the lakes, the streams, the watersheds along our boundary do not belong to one nation, they belong to all of us,” she said at celebrations overlooking the falls.

“The friendship between Canada and the United States is a model for the world,” said Cannon. ( CBC News )

Funny how Clinton makes that sly remark, about it not belonging to anyone, course the fact that it is her country who pollutes the lakes faster than one can say ‘defeated candidate’, and is the one who thinks we are a third world country,  doesn’t come into play, now does it?

After all it is her Government that is trying to steal the Northern Waters of Canada so they can legally send their warships through the passages, and their oil tankers, without meeting our tougher restrictions on pollution. Mind you, our lovely fair haired boy, Stevie, is doing everything he can, to reduce those restrictions, those protective services. After all, he’d like nothing better than to be the Governor of the 51st USA State.

And you have to love how they talk about free exchange of goods, through NAFTA and the cross border shopping, while it it is the USA who constantly tries to deny Canadian Industry a role in the US Market. Or how their new regulations, requiring anyone over 16 to have a passport in order to enter their land of plenty.

And our eager and willing stupe, Cannon, plays right into it, extolling the virtues of a country that has led the world to economic ruin, because of its greed. Course it is his same boss, that is allowing Mining Companies to dump toxic waste into our streams, so they can make huge profits. And too, in all fairness, so that Canada will be just like the United States, a dumping ground for polluters. After all, wouldn’t be fair to have pristeen lakes, clear and clean water, when our gentle giant of a neighbour has nothing but sludge and ooze in its lakes & rivers, from the same practice of dumping and pollution.

Now would it?

When Harper brought in his budget, one of the things he changed, was the authority for environmental reviews. A lot was in the news, then & earlier, about how he was moving to allow Mining Companies, many in British Columbia, from dumping their toxic waste, into our lakes & rivers. The claim was, that they weren’t really toxic, that much, and that it was vital for insuring the economic viability of these companies.

“The performance of the B.C. mining industry amidst a crashing economy in the later part of 2008 was nothing short of outstanding”, said Michael Cinnamond, a partner in PwC’s mining practice and co-author of the report. ( source – CBC News )

Setting aside, the environmental issue, the biggest argument put forth, was that it was vital to keep these industries growing, to insure their economic survival in tough times.

Well here is the proof, that what Harper & Our Mining Minister claimed, was utter, and complete BULL. While the environmental issue is before the courts, still not being acted on, these poor desperate companies are posting record profits, while the world economy is in the toilet.

Tell me again Mr. Harper how we need to protect their profits, at the expense of our lakes, rivers, and wildlife?

It was a major headline in our local newspaper today. A local grocery chain, announced that it would end giving out plastic bags for shoppers, and that is a whopping 27 million bags per year, it says. Of coure it also said, it wouldn’t be totally implemented until Mid July of this year, but hey, it is a start right?

Problem is, we are also having a provincial election, and guess where the party policies on the Environment are listed?  Like I couldn’t find it, but hey, the free plug for the grocery chain was front page news.  And to be honest, it is a scam.

First off, it coincided with their weeks specials, and guess what they are selling on special?

Why environmental bags of course, where you buy one, get one free. Now isn’t that interesting, and there too is the rub. They don’t charge for the plastic bags, which is why people use them. Who wants to remember to bring along a ton of bags, when you aren’t sure how many you will need?

Then there is the added wait in the checkout line, because the staff they hire, aren’t very good at packing those new fangled bags. Heck, they really can’t pack the plastic ones, but these take them much longer. So, again, it is the environment that suffers, because let us admit it, we are creatures of comfort, not responsible creatures.

I can see it now too, how they will force an added expense of these bags on people, who have forgotten theirs, and soon we will all have a collection of environmental friendly grocery bags, instead of plastic ones. Our garbage pails will now be lined with expensive cloth bags, because they are harder to get rid of, than the plastic ones.

Just one more example, of corporate incompetence.

An interesting story is out, about some of the ‘lesser known’ aspects of the recent Budget that we know will create a $30 Billion deficit.  And this little known aspect, makes me wonder what else is hidden among the volumes of text, and how much our country is going to be screwed for generations to come. The part is the small change to the ” Navigable Waters Protection Act “.

While the law itself has remained nearly unchanged for 130 years, it was, until now, a way for Government to not just insure we have clean waters, but that we can control and limit, if necessary, expansion along those waterways. Now some will argue that it is archaic, in need of change, because it basically sets that any waterway that a canoe can navigate, comes under this act.

At the time of writing the act, river transport was a major means of transporting goods, and yeah, canoes were the chosen method. Sure, some of these little streams, rivers, are no longer used for that, but they still all feed into the major lakes and waterways.

What changes is that no longer does the PUBLIC have a guaranteed input into changes along those waterways. Construction along the banks no longer need to have environmental impact studies, and the argument is that why should they. Course, the fact that it can erode the quality of the water, or the ability of nature to combat pollutants is set aside in that argument. After all, it is only a small river, a minor little stream, and so can’t have any real impact, right?   WRONG!

The decision should not be taken away from the people, nor should the real impact of development be made without knowing the facts. To now let a single minister make the decision, is wrong, and we already can see how this Administration has no concern for the environment. After all, they are quite willing to let the Mining Companies dump toxic waste into our lakes, for the sake of improved profits.

Now they have carte blanche to do it anywhere they want, because they also get to determine what is, what isn’t a major waterway.  Maybe they’ll say the St. Lawrence is no longer a major waterway, or how about your favorite lake? Maybe Slave Lake in Alberta will become a minor tributary so that oil sludge and stuff can be dumped into it?

I don’t understand this Conservative desire to rape and pillage the country. To give unchecked controls to people who shouldn’t have absolute power, and yet they seem to be rushing to do just that. From giving every police office the power to put anyone in jail, wihtout due process, without even an iota of fact to back it up, they can toss you into jail and throw away the key, under the new Tory Terrorist Bill.

They have gutted our food safety programs, to where it is totally understaffed, and the rules for inspectors are so convoluted, no one knows what they can or cannot do. Food manufacturers like Maple Leaf Foods, self regulate, with limited oversight, from people who can’t step in, or stop what might be unsafe practices.

Mining companies get the right to dump toxic waste, at a Ministers decision, and it is the old Navigable Waters Protection Act that has put that on hold, that has forced the Mining Companies to provide an environmental impact study, and has forced the Tory Government into court to provide that information.   NOW THAT IS CHANGED.

Those who support this RAPING OF OUR ENVIRONMENT say that this change is not what it means, that while it is simple a POSSIBILITY, it doesn’t mean it will happen. So, what, we wait until the lakes are polluted, then spend a few billion to clean it up? Like how is that being fiscally responsible?

Isn’t the idea of preventing this crap from happening, more economical in the long run? And can’t we see that our method of protecting the environment hasn’t worked, and that to do so now, is going to cost us tens of billions of dollars, when it would have cost a fraction of that, if we had done it just five years ago?

All of these changes do have one thing in common. They protect the profits of giant corporations, at the expense of the National Good. And today, the Harper Tories use the economy as an excuse, saying that by unrealistic regulations, we are hampering economic growth. Yet at the same time, they claim that the majority of the affected rivers, streams, are in rural areas, where there is no need for protection from developers.

If true, why change the law?

If true, how does the current law hamper economic development?

Obviously, the Harper Conservative claims are just LIES.