Opinion

Looking Back, Squinting Ahead

Some notes on 2009 and prognostications for the year underway.

By Rafe Mair, 18 Jan 2010, TheTyee.ca

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I know I'm a bit late. I was in London celebrating my birthday (my 39th Celsius). But this is still the season to take a bit of a look back, fortified with some prognostications.

First let me tell you a bit about Dec. 31, my birthday, which I spent at a lovely Italian restaurant in London with dear friends Geoff and Erin Chutter, she being one of my sidekicks on CBC Early Edition on Monday mornings. By talking excessively about sex and religion we managed to miss politics.

Having that birth date, I hate it when the year is a "9" going into a "0" as it just was. Led by a media that must have failed Grade One "number work," many people took 2009 as the end of the first decade of the 21st century, which it clearly is not. That will expire as Dec. 31, 2010 turns into Jan. 1, 2011. You can imagine what my year was like in 1999 when most of the world celebrated the millennium a year too soon.

Zero, standing alone, signifies no quantity at all and just as we don't start each month with January "0," etc., we start counting at day one of year "1." Somehow some people count years differently than they count bottles of single malt Scotch. However, if you can show me I'm wrong I will immediately send you "0" cases of your favourite tipple.

Political fortunes foretold

2009 was a terrible year for those who care for their environment and for public power, as the Campbell government won the May election which they will take as a mandate to continue destroying our rivers and the ecologies they support. They will take it as a mandate to continue forcing BC Hydro to pay independent power producers double what they can sell that power for. Hydro can't use this private power because at the time of year the produce it, the spring and summer months, Hydro has lots of power and full reservoirs.

The good news is that people all around the province are waking up to the fact that this power "plan" is hugely harmful, and are fighting back on all fronts, though it's a bit like locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen.

2010 will see the public getting angrier and angrier at Kim Il Campbell who will, in the Fall of 2010, bow out, saying it's time for new blood. After a short, decent interval, I think Campbell will move into a cushy six-figure salary in the energy field alongside his former colleague, Ralph Klein.

2009 saw the NDP butcher the election with the worst campaign I've seen in a lifetime of watching these things. Blame is placed on Carole James and leaders must assume responsibility for these things. The fault mostly lays with those in the campaign hot box who simply did not take advantage of the "power" issue. Indeed, from my observation, many of their candidates didn't understand the issue and used cutesy-poo slogans instead of arguments.

The NDP will move to dump James, but by the time any real decision is made they will have done nothing but divide the party on the basis of the "new" NDP -- led by James and supporters -- and the "old values" bunch which, like their British Labour Party counterparts, believe that it's better to lose on out-of-date philosophy than win with policies based on what's happening.

The result will either be an NDP led by a damaged leader (James) or by some derelict from campaigns past who will get full support from the union movement, which will give him/her the poisoned chalice of leadership. Then will come a certain electoral loss to a re-branded Liberal Party led by Mike DeJong who, as the barnyard droppings have hit the Liberal fan, has avoided the consequences.

The federal scene

Stephen Harper perfectly fits the wisdom of Mair's Axiom II, namely you don't have to be a 10 in politics, you can be a three if everyone else is a two. Harper is a three in a sea of twos. He will win an election next fall but will be denied a majority by British Columbia which will reject him and the Liberals and support Jack Layton -- if Layton takes the time to understand B.C.'s issues, especially the environment.

About the only interesting political watch will be the Liberal Party, which is privately urging Michael Ignatieff to go back to Harvard while publicly fearing a leadership blood bath to be won by Bob Rae.

The dreaded "C" word will be back for the first time since the 1992 Charlottetown Accord, which split the nation, leaving wounds still unhealed. The prime minister simply doesn't understand that an elected Senate, with the present make-up, would be disastrous. It would be disastrous for every province but Ontario and Quebec because it would give electoral approval to an upper house that is grossly skewed in favour of Central Canada.

Harper simply doesn't understand that if we're to change the way the Senate is constituted we must first construct a senate which gives regional balance to smaller (in terms of population) provinces against the unfairness of "rep by pop."

Bogged down in tar sands

The bigger problem will be Alberta and her tar sands. To Alberta (and to B.C. as well), provincial control over resources is an essential ingredient of the federalism which is Canada. The National Energy Program of the '70s will never go away and any attempt by Ottawa to gain control of the Tar Sands, either by taxation, power over exports or environmental moves will cause big trouble and seriously threaten national unity.

Finally on the federal scene, knickers from coast to coast are in a knot over Prime Minister Harper's proroguing of parliament. Wake up media and chattering classes! I've been on this issue for decades and now you finally notice that under our system the Prime Minister can do as he wishes when there is no procedure in the House of Commons to force a vote. If he has a majority even that won't stop him.

Please pay careful attention. MPs do exactly what they're told by the leader -- no ifs, ands or buts. Which raises this question: Suppose Harper had put this matter to a vote, does anyone really believe that Ignatieff or Layton would have forced an election? C'mon! They're brave as hell with shouts about Magna Carta etc. because they now have the "rum courage" that comes to politicians when they're out of danger of having to perform.

I will devote a column soon showing how MPs could be given the power and dignity they deserve with only one change in the Rules of the House of Commons.

We continue our fiscal policy of self-gratification and refuse to understand that the basic problems underlying the world's economy remain unsolved. Indeed those problems are aggravated by the fact that the mighty engines of corporate America and elsewhere) like the Bourbons, have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

They remain awash in debt with the only difference being that their major creditor is the U.S. government. The United States still has staggering trade deficits, national deficits and national debt. To confuse a recovering stock market with a recovering economy is a fatal miscalculation, and like other methods of self-gratification brings (so I'm told, at any rate) intense pleasure followed by intense letdown. This is particularly so for British Columbia, whose incompetent government was completely fooled by the prosperity prior to 2008, grossly miscalculated its budget requirements and now must bear the hangover of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

I offer no advice. I'm in no position to do so. Neither are the stockbrokers, they are the only ones assured of a profit whenever you buy or are forced to sell. I can only tell you that our modest savings will remain in cash as we watch those naïve enough to think that anything has really changed, suffer the traditional fate of fools.

Oh, yes. A very Happy if not Prosperous New Year in this, the last year of the decade. [Tyee]

Rafe Mair writes his column for The Tyee every other Monday.

64 Comments:

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  • Grumpy

    2 years ago

    I do think you are right

    Campbell will leave the Liberal Party when the mud from BC Rail Gate, run of river, etc. begins to stick.

    The other big Campbell program I see that will cut through Campbell like a knife is the massive Gateway highways project.

    Gateway makes a mockery out of the ALR, and supposedly Liberal 'Green Policies', espoused by gordo.

    Campbell has turned BC into a Corporatist State and Corporatist states are Fascist states, where the government empowers corporations instead of the 'people'. Campbell hates BC and all who live here and his sole purpose in politics is to enrich his Corporatist friends - hence the minimum wage. De Jong is another Fascist and I can see ugly protests in the future.

    The NDP are inept, stupid, and completely ignorant of everything, but I see to leadership potentials, Guy Gentner and Harry Bains. The NDP has been fractured since Clark and until that party reforms, they will forever snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

    That being said, I think the economy will pancake after the Olympics and BC Railgate will begin to stink like week old fish. Bill Boring will soon begone from CORUS and NW will become an infomercial station and in very short order be sold off as damaged goods or go the way of the old CJOR.

    It is the people not listening to NW, that will kill it, as it has become the main Corporatist radio station in the region, nothing more than a shill for the BC Liberals.

    It is the blog that will help shape the next election and watch for the powers that be, do all they can to stamp out freedom of speech as a Corporatist state has no freedoms at all.

  • Grania

    2 years ago

    Olympics

    In the past week; I have been told that New York hedge funds are pulling paper on Whistler/Blackcomb and that the resort is in receivership. I have read the Financial Post which puts security, at the Olympics, at 900 million which is "five times the original estimate" and Dr. Doom , today, talks of the Olympic curse on host cities. I want a comprehensive article that is well resarched, on these issues and I hope you are the man to do it!

  • Skywalker

    2 years ago

    No Grumpy.

    "The NDP has been fractured since Clark". Nope! It has been fractured since Moderate Mike began to worry about appealing to the Canwest propaganda machine.

  • Van Isle

    2 years ago

    Since we're squinting ahead,

    Since we're squinting ahead, I think Campbell will be gone before next summer and Harper some time next Fall.. People have alluded on Campbells demise but with Harper, that's another thing. Yea Rafe yer right, Harper isn't the sharpest marble in the bag. He has this knack of doing stupid things especially when their numbers are up in the polls. In about 9 to 10 months from now the global economy is going to take another hit and Canada is going to get it right in the crotch. We're going to be hit just like the former eastern block countries have been. Harper and his comical-side-kick- relief Flaherty, won't have any cred left.

  • Grumpy

    2 years ago

    Point taken

    Point taken!

    A good friend of Grumpy and a staunch member & supporter of the NDP, has withheld all donations and has resigned from all party appointments, until Carole James resigns and a credible leader is installed.

    It seems the NDP are rudderless, captainless, and in control of a bunch of radial zealots who would rather see the NDP be forever in opposition, rather than to modernize and bring itself into the 21st century.

    As it stands it is a doomed ship, a ship of fools, sinking into obscurity, while the Corporatist Fascists now running the province have nothing to fear - nothing at all.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Grumpy

    Actually its the other way around, the party is in the hands of a group of moderates.

    It'll be interesting to see how the NDP plans to win an election without the left-wing vote who sat on their hands last election.

  • Steppeup

    2 years ago

    Tar Sands

    I agree with most of your comments, but i see that you follow the same wording as most of the enviromentalists when you say "Tar Sands", which they use when they want to portray something in such a negative way. The proper saying would be "Oil Sands". As i am a new reader of yours i don't know if this was strictly intentional, or just an un-intentional slip.

  • Luke

    2 years ago

    Political Prognostications...

    Poor Carole James. She has also some kinship with former federal NDP leader Audrey McLaughlin, who everybody also tuned out.

    But who's gonna replace James? Nobody of any stature waiting in the wings that I can see and nobody is ever put forward as an heir replacement.

    And then Gordo will take his proverbial walk into the rain and be replaced by either Carole Taylor or Dianne Watts whose positions on the political spectrum are where most BC'ers reside anyway.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    Don't think so.

    The term was always 'tar sands' until the blue eyed sheiks in Alberta decided that they wanted to play a little political footsie with the truth.

    Oil is what they squeeze out of the bitumen (tar).

    The Great Canadian Oil Sands Company (1953) started exploring the feasibility of separating oil from the tar sands. They developed what seemed to be an effective solution in 1962 when they approached the Alberta Oil and Gas Conservation Board asking for permission to construct an $110,000,000 oil sands plant on Tar Island 20 miles north of Firt McMurray. After receiving permission, GCOS hired Canadian Bechtel to develop a test plant, which operated between 1963 and 1965. Construction of the actual GCOS plant was started by Canadian Bechtel in 1964 and was completed in 1967.

    It's pretty clear that the term 'Tar Sands' is the correct one and only the politically correct or the manipulatively inclined would call them anything else.

    It's simply a matter of knowing the record and being willing to call a spade a spade.

    The Tyee's use is the proper one.

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    Don't be swayed by the negative ideologues; you are right.

    "The word 'tar' refers to the black viscous material obtained from the destructive distillation of coal and is chemically distinct from bitumen.

    In Canadian English, the word bitumen is used to refer to the vast Canadian deposits of extremely heavy crude oil,

    The Alberta oil sands have been in commercial production since the original Great Canadian Oil Sands (now Suncor) mine began operation in 1967. A second mine, operated by the Syncrude consortium, began operation in 1978 and is the biggest mine of any type in the world. The third mine in the Athabasca Oil Sands, the Albian Sands consortium of Shell Canada, Chevron Corporation and Western Oil Sands Inc. [purchased by Marathon Oil Corporation in 2007] began operation in 2003. Petro-Canada was also developing a $33 billion Fort Hills Project, in partnership with UTS Energy Corporation and Teck Cominco, which lost momentum after the 2009 merger of Petro-Canada into Suncor. If approved, Fort Hills Oilsands upgraders were slated to begin output in 4-5 years.

    The Athabasca Oil Sands (also known colloquially as the Athabasca Tar Sands, although there is no actual tar) are large deposits of bitumen, or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada."

    Tar Sands is an informal colloquialism that is pushed, for some reason, by all those opposed to their development.

    "Colloquialisms or colloquial language is considered to be characteristic of or only appropriate for casual, ordinary, familiar, or informal conversation rather than formal speech or writing."

    That's how you should take it, as casual chat by those unfamiliar with their mistake.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Wrong-way Luke

    What does it feel like seeing everything you believe in, economics-wise, turn out to be wrong?

    I hear they're going to tear down the U of Chicago's economics department because Friedman-ites are turning into Keynesians faster than a BC Liberal can break an election promise.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    Please excuse our resident pollyanna who goes by the name realisticman.

    He still doesn't believe BC is in deficit or that unemployment has increased.

    He's also one of only 3 people in BC that thinks the Olympics will make money.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    Don't take my word for it, by all means listen to someone who's actually an expat Brit. I was only born here, as were my parents.

    But, by all means, make up your own mind - have a look at this for a start:
    http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/tarsands/

  • G West

    2 years ago

    And by all means, don't forget to drop in to the National Post

    For a little of the kind of politically correct spin that you seem to prefer:
    http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/02/24/don-martin-national-geographic-delivers-a-pr-hell-to-alberta.aspx

    Just remember that it's National Geographic which is calling them the TAR SANDS too - not some bunch of crazed greenies.

    Again, the Tyee's usage is correct!

  • Steppeup

    2 years ago

    Tar Sands

    You can undestand anyone in their writing, or their comments to that writing. But you also have to understand that the meaning of words change through their use.
    There was a time when the word "smoker" just meant that you smoke. Now, it generally means you will be looked down upon as some kind of evil cretin. There used to be a time when you could discuss the pro's and cons of climate change. Now, if you dis-agree, you are a "denier". The same goes for the "Tar-Sands / Oil-Sands". The negative connotation or stigma has now been attached to the wording. Words spoken end up taking on the meaning of the connotation associated with them. The meaning of a word can be hi-jacked. When that happens, then you have to question in what way the author of an article meant for his words to mean. Did he mean the negative stigma of the hi-jacked word?

    I know the meaning of the re-buttal from G-WEST. As soon as he mentioned "Blue eyed sheik" it was quite apperent.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    What was apparent? That he read Peter Newman's book?

  • G West

    2 years ago

    And, in case you're not convinced

    Please remember that:
    In 1920 Dr Karl Clark, the man who unlocked the McMurray Tar Sands arrived in Alberta and with lab space in the basement of the Power Plant, began his experiments in oil sands extraction. There are those who ...One of the ghosts looks very much like Dr Karl Clark, the man who unlocked the McMurray Tar Sands. Karl Clark arrived in Alberta in 1920, and with lab space in the basement of the Power Plant (at the University of Alberta), began his experiments in oil extraction.

    During the 1930s, the Research Council of Alberta was suspended and Clark became a professor at the University of Alberta Mining and Metallurgy Department. In 1945, he was appointed head of the department, a post he maintained until he returned to the Research Council of Alberta as a consultant in 1954. The following year, Clark was the recipient of the Gold Medal Award of the Professional Institute of the Public Services of Canada for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Applied Science.

    Once Clark finally retired it was 1964, he was 76 years old and he and his wife Dora moved to Saanichton, British Columbia. He died two years later in Victoria.

    Clark’s process for separating oil from sand was a revolutionary moment in Alberta innovation. It was this process that laid the groundwork for the methods used today.

    You can read more about Clark, and trace the evolution of the politically correct movement from words that are descriptive to words that are manipulative, in Mary Clark Sheppard's short bio of her father in the Albert Online Encyclopedia. That is, if you're really interested.

    And, a little later:
    In 1949, when the Athabasca 'oil sands' were just a gleam in Clark's eye, J. Howard Pew, chairman of Sun Oil picked up a file labelled Athabasca Tar Sands and showed it to George Dunlap. "I believe the tar sands will, some day, be of great significance to the needs for petroleum in North America," according to reports at the time relayed by historian Earle Gray...

  • Steppeup

    2 years ago

    Tar Sands

    That being said, i am still left to wonder why the Tyee used "Tar Sands".

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Tar sands

    Because that's the term most people use.

  • kootenay

    2 years ago

    Tar vs Oil

    If 'Tar Sands' presents a negative connotation, than isn't the opposite true if you call them 'Oil Sands'

    Historically the deposit has been known as the 'Tar Sands". It is only recently the name changed to 'Oil Sands'. Do you really believe this was unintentional?

  • Steppeup

    2 years ago

    Tar Sands

    That's the term enviromentalists use to deride our sister province. I don't think enviromentalists are "most people". So again, as a new reader to the Tyee, i am just trying to understand the Tyee, and figure out where the Tyee is coming from. One article will not explain everything about the man. Is the Tyee a "crazed greenie"?? I guess i will find out as i read more.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    One final point

    There is no doubt that tar sands is a pejorative - has become one in fact as a result of the actual consequences flowing from the processes involved in extracting usable oil from the matrix of sand and clay in which it naturally occurs.

    Why would any opponent of the degradation to the natural environment 'not' use the appropriate terminology?

    Are you, or are those who attempt to whitewash the actual consequences of this extractive activity, unwilling to address the costs - both economic and environmental, of continuing along this course of action?

    Because it seems to me that, as a general rule, the manipulation of language that's going on here isn't particularly helpful. In fact, I'd suggest it's entirely disingenuous and dishonest.

    The label 'tar sands' was good enough for folks before the environmental disaster got up to speed - why do you need to change it now?

    Further, I'd make the irrelevant but personal point that I belong to no environmental ginger group but that I do have an affection for the proper and unambiguous use of the English language.

    And, furthermore, as Frank points out, the sobriquet 'blue-eyed sheik' is and has been pretty much a common place for Alberta oilmen (and women) for a generation.

    If you study the history of the oil industry in Alberta, you'll come across it frequently - and not just in Peter Newman's work.

    And so, I'll continue to use what I see as being the appropriate and proper language to refer to the tar sands - and make no apologies or accept any brickbats for doing so. The Tyee would be wise to continue its current practice as well.

    Cheers.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    But as GWest has pointed out, the term "tar sands" predates your environmentalists. Therefore its the term "opil sands" that should be looked at with a cynical eye.

    As for the Tyee, I think its moderately left-wing but others, and the Tyee itself, may disagree.

  • Luke

    2 years ago

    Frank the Bradmeister...

    Quote:
    That he read Peter Newman's book?

    Nahh, that was Peter Foster's book. Personally I found the book on King Farouk much more entertaining.

    As for oil sands/tar sands, how about the oil seeping out of Graham Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands? (BTW, I'm still gonna call it that despite Gordo's decree).

    An early "oil shale" pilot plant, constructed circa 1915, reported that the black oily shale yielded about 20 gallons of crude oil per ton of oil shale. Yeah that's "oil shale" deposits in the QCI.

    Extensive oil seeps continue unabated up there particularly in the King Creek area.

    That said, do we define same as "oil shale" or "tar shale", which term no one has utilized before?

    PS. I'm still awaitin' your response as to who the new messiah will be that will replace Carole. ;)

  • Luke

    2 years ago

    Steppeup ...

    Quote:
    So again, as a new reader to the Tyee, i am just trying to understand the Tyee, and figure out where the Tyee is coming from.

    Put it this way, the two posters Frank and G West believe that Carole James and the provincial NDP are too right wing for their tastes.

    Perhaps that better frames your answer.

  • Steppeup

    2 years ago

    Tar Sands

    Tar Shale doesn't quite grab the headlines, does it?? And heaven forbid we look at our Ontario "Coal Plants".

  • BC Mary

    2 years ago

    Tar sands bad, very bad ... but

    Canadian mining companies are leaving a trail of devastation world-wide. We gotta start fixing these messes!

    I stumbled across a Tadesco property near Williams Lake, while reading 250 NEWS from Prince George. They seemed to be ecstatic about the Prosperity (haha) copper/gold mine having received environmental approval from Gordo's Government.

    Without a shiver, it reported the corporation's intention to use FISH LAKE and LITTLE FISH LAKE as tailings ponds. Apparently that would be fine and dandy with Gordo's Government, because the Tadesco company would build two new lakes before departing.

    Yeah. Sure they would.

    So I commented: "Wouldn't it be better to build the two new tailings ponds first ... and NOT to poison the two god-given lakes which are in the community watershed?"

    Well ... 50% of the readers went ballistic ... they wanted mines, mines, more mines at any cost. The other half thought maybe we could do without most of these toxic mines (using arsenic) in favour of clean water ... and trout.

    Next I am reading that Canadian mines are inflicting themselves on environments around the world ... and I think the problems being created as our national legacy are HUGE.

    A side benefit? Seeing our struggle for BC Rail - a public asset which was taken by questionable means - as essential to understanding the future.

    BC Rail Case is back in court tomorrow, Jan. 19, by the way.

    http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Wrong-way Brad

    "PS. I'm still awaitin' your response as to who the new messiah will be that will replace Carole"

    When did you ask my opinion?

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Wrong-way Luke

    "the two posters Frank and G West believe that Carole James and the provincial NDP are too right wing for their tastes."

    I can only speak for myself when I say that's true. James (and her mentor Harcourt) has been pretty clear over the years that she wants Liberals to vote for her. They don't.

    So I get a kick out of people like Harcourt who claim they can win an election without us on the Left.

    They've had 3 tries... As Brooke Ward would say, "How's that working out for ya?"

  • Intention Pure

    2 years ago

    Sick of the Hoaxs and False Flag BS

    "To confuse a recovering stock market with a recovering economy is a fatal miscalculation".

    Absolutely and equally powerful and important is realizing corporate loss and gain is not community loss and gain. Communities need to protect their environments in priority over "creating jobs/money". Defend nature from the massive corporate infiltration that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

    The next leader of the NDP is the caucus member who can grab the mike with enough courage to start telling the people of BC and all Canadians the TRUTH. A little truth can go a VERY long way.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    A tiny bit of advice for you. Since you say you're new you'd be wise to exercise a bit of caution when disagreeing with the odd old poster around here - especially one from the 'right-wing' persuasion who now labels him or herself with a biblical handle.

    Some such posters - and their previous incarnations (both here and elsewhere) - have a well-deserved reputation for extremely nasty personalizing of their writing without ever actually 'discussing' anything.

    In fact, this particular individual has gone so far in the past as to get himself banned for making scurrilous and hatful personal comments about another poster (who bravely used his real and identifiable name) with whom he/she had a disagreement.

    Why the management ever permitted that person to return here is a much better question than why the editors (and journalists here) have chosen to modify their references to the particular sands we've been talking about with the term 'oil' or 'tar'.

    Ask around why Rod Smelser hasn't been allowed to return or why the offending party never apologized for his behavior - those are good questions too. Especially for a newbie who's trying to gauge the 'lay' of the land as it were.

    You may not agree with Frank or G West, (in fact, we don't always agree with each other either) but you'll get real discussion and no invective from us.

    As for the NDP, there's no doubt the party needs a change - but, bad as they are, they hold nothing like a candle to the operation the current Premier runs off the side of his desk...Campbell is, without question, the worst Premier in this province in at least the last 80 years.

  • onthebay

    2 years ago

    ponderings

    Unfortunately, some people can be whacked over the head with the truth and still go on believing something else. Also, unfortunately, there is so much of our existence wound up in the global corporate economics that it's going to take much to unravel it, and probably a lot of sacrifice, which many are unwilling to do.

    While we are squinting into the future, what’s this with the government a“greed”ing to rebate a large chunk of the PST portion of HST to a couple of government funded entities, such as school districts? And here we thought this wasn’t going to cost us more because businesses would lower their prices ;). If my calculations are right, using the 87% rebate to school districts, the anticipated increase in the costs of the PST portion of the HST is something like 7 times the current cost.

    And still no provincial or federal discussion about addressing inequities for rural and small town folks who will pay more through the nose for HST because of already higher base prices.

    By the way, that which we call a petroleum product by any other name smells as........

  • Steppeup

    2 years ago

    Tar Sands

    G-West, if we always agreed with each other, there would be no point of reading or commenting on any editorials or articals. There would be no point to leaving a comment and starting a discussion.
    Thats what leads to being informed and having a belief. A good discussion, even when there are wide differences of opinion.
    If anyone wants to drag down my opinion to such a level, they will not get my participation. A respected discussion is much preferable. Name calling i can do without.
    Although i seem to dis-agree with your opinion regarding our brief discussion, at least i respect your approach to it.
    Maybe one day i will actually get you to say "Oil Sands" and mean it. Until then.... keep up the debate.

  • mjscox

    2 years ago

    Since we're prognosticating

    Since we're prognosticating here, Rafe, I'll throw in my two bits worth:
    1. Full body scans, x-rays, infrared, ultraviolet, sonic and other invasive means of detecting Things We Shouldn't Bring on a Plane will not prevent another aircraft being used as a weapon. It may be they forget to check the dog, or it may be the cleaners put something in the toilet. Anyway, the upshot will be more hand-wringing by security services which will mean they get more funding and we lose more of what little privacy remains, and those who value violent means to promote their political ends will consider they've won, even though they have only added to their own people's misery.

    2. The Olympics will not turn a profit. We already know that. THEY know that. But the reality of it will hit us between the eyes when the audits trickle in and we see what we're on the hook for in taxes diverted from the arts...oh, wait a sec, they've already used up all that, haven't they.

    3. After a mild winter, Vancouver will finally wise up to water restrictions and the necessity of metering to control our spendthrift ways with this precious resource.

    4. Real estate prices will continue to climb so that downtown Vancouver becomes more Manhattan-like, and the people who serve, entertain, and clean up after them will be forced further into the suburbs, thus making the "livable city" a city of chic little dogs and their self-absorbed owners.

    5. Environment: what environment? Green is so yesterday. It's every man, woman and child for him or herself. Gas up! We're going to drive like it was '65!

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Not likely but I agree with your intent

    And I promise not to get personal with you or call you names.

    On the other hand, I really don't think there is much of a debate about what's going on in Alberta.

    As Shakespeare puts it, 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'

    Mutatis mutandis, I think that applies pretty well to this discussion. Whether we call them oil sands or tar sands, the effect they're having on the environment and Canada's reputation (pace Copenhagen late last year) and notwithstanding the role they play in our economy is not insignificant.

    You may think it's okay for our country to win the boobie prize every time there's a meeting to discuss the state of the world's environment, I don't like it one bit. I remember a time when I was proud to be a Canadian...now, not so much!

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    Talking about previous incarnations and double dealing, what out for anyone using the handle 'Alcibiades'. 'G West' used to post under both, pumping it up for his side when it seemed weak. Don't expect your comments on everything to be acceptable either, unless you are a native born Canadian. As he once reminded me; "I don't expect too much from you though r’man, coming here as an immigrant doesn't give you the proper perspective nor the depth of experience necessary to appreciate the actual conditions the vast majority of First Nations families have lived and are living in.".

    A man's gotta know his limitations.

  • Steppeup

    2 years ago

    G-Man

    G-Man,

    Don't tell me you really believe that farce they called Copenhagen?? You don't really look at Canada as being the great evil of the enviroment do you?

    Give us all the "boobie" prizes you want. If it makes you feel better. But at least have the fortitude to point the finger at the "BIG" poluters.

    And don't even mention cap and trade. What highway robbery that is turning out to be over in Europe.
    I laugh whenever people say we need to follow Europe on this. Europe is now saying oh my god, what happened here.

    I say "Thank You Canada". For not following the UN Nutbars. Or are you a fan of the Ghadafi's of the world? Please. Ashamed of Canada???? Come on now.

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    Quite right, even Paul Ekins, the director of Britain's Green Fiscal Commission praised Gordon Campbells' BC carbon tax.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/carbon-tax-the-best-route-academic/article1431892/

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Hey r'man

    Your buddy Wilf is on his 3rd alias (misspelling his favourite prime minister apparently) and Luke goes by at least 4 other names on various sites. He's on his 2nd on this site.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    Were you as equally offended when enviro-nuts like Tzeporah Berman bestowed King Gord with the prize for best-dressed enviro, or something like that?

    Or was that a good Copenhagen photo-op?

  • G West

    2 years ago

    I didn't hand out any prizes Steppeup

    And never suggested I did...But I think I'll let someone like George Monbiot speak for me about the pathetic tatters Canada's reputation is in. I'll let you look him up yourself. It’s almost as bad as the UK’s reputation – and that’s saying a lot.

    If you think Canada has a good reputation on any climate file or as an honest broker on any file these days then I guess you really do belong on the same side of this debate wih the people I mentioned earlier who seem to pride themselves on getting personal.

    As for Europe, I'll let you argue with Paul Krugman on that file because I think he's made the comparison very aptly...

    I'll sign off by saying, with emphasis, that I am ashamed of my country and its behavior; ashamed at what we've done to the First Nations of this continent; ashamed at who we've let into this country for their money and who we've kept out because they had none; ashamed at who we've voted into power and who we've allowed to grab power and hold it; ashamed at how we've reversed the progress of my grandparents' generation and adopted a kind of milquetoast colonial existence little better than when we were a vassal of the British Empire...as for Gordon Campbell's Carbon Tax, it's not a tax it's a money laundry and it hasn't reduced the production of GHG by one gram and never will.

    Oh, and by the way, the name is G West, not G-Man. You expect to be treated civilly - then you're going to have to reciprocate. And I suppose you’ve noticed how quickly wha I said would happen has actually come to pass…

    And yep, I did post here as both Alcibiades and G West for exactly one year and I'm very proud of that record.

    However, I'll let someone else who posts here from time to time sum it up for me.

    This is from Chris Bouris, written on the 6th of March, 2007 - right here at the Tyee:

    Quote:
    G. West, what I see in all the rabid, "harrumphed" and perennially slandering "nom de plumes", all full-up with their "indignant" bluster as to "identities" et al, are all are trying to smoke and mirror away from the real issue they have with you: You can intelligently argue their pathetic, morally bankrupt, "I'm all right jack, lets cut the rope" arguments - right into the ground, with wit and grace, every time.

    Thanks Chris, and g'night Steppeup! Hang around for a while and form your own conclusions.

    Cheers.

  • Skywalker

    2 years ago

    After all that squinting to the left and right.

    Glad you're back Rafe.

  • salty dog

    2 years ago

    Not so fast Rafe....Breaking news,new NDP Leader

    There is a new Bold NDP Leader...Maybe the Scotch has got you a little fuzzy,like your beard!

    http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2010/01/breaking-newsnew-ndp-leader.html

  • salty dog

    2 years ago

    What Happened to the Tyee?

    Where are the hard hitting stories about the Environment being raped?

    Fish Lake must be saved!!!!!

    http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2010/01/say-goodbye-to-fish-lakeforever.html

    For God`s sake people...Friends of Nemaiah Valley need our help,are you in or are you out?

    http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/open-pitminings-legacy-of-shame.html

    Cheers-Eyes Wide Open

  • salty dog

    2 years ago

    Sorry about that second link....

    Read about the New Banana Republic, British Columbia

    http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2010/01/open-pitminings-legacy-of-shame.html

    Death by Cyanide!!!!!!

  • crankypants

    2 years ago

    Great article Rafe

    First, I have to say that your take on the end of the decade is wrong. If you use birthdays as an example, you have lived one decade on the day you turn ten years old, not on your eleventh birthday. For your argument to be true then we would be one year old the day we are born, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather continue to be known as sixty-one rather than sixty-two as of today.

    I agree that Campbell will either leave on his own or be forced out within the next year. Carole James should suffer the same fate if the NDP are ever to become serious contenders. The BC Liberals have given the NDP so much ammunition that the so-called opposition can't seem to find the right gun to put it into.

    As for the economy, the recession is far from over. Until the unemployment rates start dropping in meaningful numbers, there will not be enough economic activity to carry many businesses and those that are barely surviving will fall by the wayside. There has to come a time when the governments must face reality and realize that they cannot keep increasing their debt loads to stimulate a false economy. There is still a lot of hurt ahead of us no matter what most of the economists and politicians say.

  • smudgersmith@shaw.ca

    2 years ago

    Rafe Mair and haiti

    Listening to his comments on CBC Vancouver this morning, it is obvious Mair knows nothing about Haiti, and hasn't exercised himself to find out. Please replace this bumbling idiot with the shameful past.

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    I'm sure that you know the G-Man's specially selected spokesman for Canada, the Englishman George Monbiot, his notoriety is news lately primarily due his flipping on the IPCC file. The worshipers at the Church of Self-Loathing hear this in the sermon:

    "So amazingly destructive has Canada become, and so insistent have my Canadian friends been that I weigh into this fight, that I've broken my self-imposed ban on flying and come to Toronto.

    So here I am, watching the astonishing spectacle of a beautiful, cultured nation turning itself into a corrupt petro-state. Canada is slipping down the development ladder, retreating from a complex, diverse economy towards dependence on a single primary resource, which happens to be the dirtiest commodity known to man. The price of this transition is the brutalisation of the country, and a government campaign against multilateralism as savage as any waged by George Bush.

    Until now I believed that the nation that has done most to sabotage a new climate change agreement was the United States. I was wrong. The real villain is Canada. Unless we can stop it, the harm done by Canada in December 2009 will outweigh a century of good works..."

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/nov/30/canada-tar-sands-copenhagen-climate-deal

    Toronto's Heather Mallick is a fellow self-loathing traveler.

    "George Monbiot wrote a real porcupine of a column this week, excoriating Canada on its failure to act on climate change. The headline read, "Canada's image lies in tatters. It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling."

    Brilliant! Just what smug Canada needs, a real seeing-to by an environmental wise man. Monbiot, a hero of mine... a nation can't decide on a government and lets a rightwing minority, quivering with hate, have just enough power?

    Catastrophe, that's what.

    Countries supposedly get the government they deserve. I'm not sure Canada deserved Harper. Canadians can agree with Judge Monbiot's assessment..."

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/02/embarrassing-canadian-corrupt-petro-state

    Aside from the fact that resources are securely within the domain of the provinces which renders a considerable chunk of these enviro-jihadists squealing moot, the insignificance of Canada's globally measured impact renders these affluent chattering scribblers slurs to be nothing but fringe soap boxing.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Steppeup

    When you've finished reading the above, I hope you'll take the time to consult another favourite Brit mag - in this case The Economist - to read just exactly what they have to say about Pee Wee's current prorogation schottische..

    http://tinyurl.com/y96p8jm
    The irony of course is rich because it was the same BritLad Mag which coined one of the right-wing's favourite labels for Paul Martin: Mr Dithers...

    As for the point of jurisdiction it hardly seems necessary to remind the reader that such arguments are the usual ones trotted out when fascist regimes attempt to justify their appalling behavior. Thank heaven there are still a few individuals who have not drunk the neo-con Kool Ade and actually care about the degradation that such governments inflict upon their citizens in the name of a foolish economic orthodoxy.

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    Could be worse

    Nevertheless; "9 Oct 2006, TheTyee.ca

    Just a year ago, The Economist named Vancouver "The World's Most Liveable City." It has features other cities can only envy: a breathtaking mix of ocean and mountain, a vibrant multi-ethnic population and a culture of innovation and eco-sensitive practices and policies."

    As we have seen in plenty over the past week, the government of Canada is working - and working hard. This includes all the ministers and especially the Prime Minister. Who will really miss about 25 days of our MPs yelling at each other across the aisle in Parliament?

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Of course

    The fascists who think it's nice to live in a dictatorship will be fine with Harper - it was ever thus.

    I wonder how many folks from the DTES they polled.

    I wonder how many young families trying to buy a house on two incomes in Vancouver they asked.

    Liveable my ass - but I do like the view of the green slopes over the north shore these days...let's hope the warm weather continues - my daffodils are already poking through the ground.

    Vancouver is fine for smug elites - and a nightmare for anyone else.

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    Right on Brother

    How can anyone listen to the drivel that magazine spits out?

    How do you like the new Harvard-educated President of Chile?

  • G West

    2 years ago

    God help poor Chile

    http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-19/chilean-president-s-pinochet-ties-revive-friedman-style-economy.html

    One US backed dictator and murderer and now a neocon Pinichet junior who bought the election from a popular left winger who couldn't run because of term limits.

    Nothing good will come of it. Sadly, my Chilean friends deserve better...than another session with bought and paid for fascist scum.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    errata

    That's PINOCHET - dictator and murdered and Nixon/Kissinger puppet for those who might think I meant someone else.

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    A South American shocker

    I would have thought that after Pinochet Chile would be 'left' for at least a couple of generations.

    Term limits are probably a good thing.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    r'man

    Why would you have thought that? He was one of your guys so I would have thought you'd think the people of Chile would want more of Pinochet for generations.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Guess someone didn't notice

    How popular the fellow who wasn't allowed to run again actually was - and how much Chileans don't feel the least bit fondly about the past...

    You can buy most anything if you're a billionaire - ask my Italian friends....

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    An Observer

    "And a victory for Piñera on Sunday would mean that the many Pinochet-era wounds have finally begun to heal.

    Moreover, Piñera will provide Chile with the change it desires. He plans to boost economic growth by 6% and create 1 million jobs between 2010 and 2014, contrasting Frei's big government platitudes. Chile is ready to increase its productivity, which has plunged from an annual average growth rate of 5.9% in the 1990s to 0.9% this decade. The country has also lost ground in the World Bank 2010 Doing Business Survey, which ranks business-friendliness in 183 countries, falling nine places in one year to 49th place, embarrassingly surpassed by Colombia, which climbed 12 steps to 37th place.

    Despite Chile's growth deceleration, the nation continues to be an example of reform for the region and world. But countries seeking to follow the Chilean Way may find reform difficult. Its recipe for success has demanded integral changes deep enough to be sustained over time, explains Hernán Büchi, who led the finance ministry from 1985 to 1989. According to Büchi, any of the reform processes in other Latin American countries that have failed were partial, incomplete plans that lacked an understanding of the main conceptual challenges of the economy.

    Unfortunately the Latin American pendulum has swung left. "[T]hey seem to be reverting to the same failed economic policies that had harmed us in the past," writes Büchi. "Many of the policies they pursue, while appearing on the surface to favor the poor, are in fact based on ideologies, technically ill-conceived or simply driven more by pressure groups than by the majority." Nonetheless Chile's elections and upcoming ones in Colombia and Brazil may tilt the region rightward. "If Piñera wins, it could be a revival of center-right ideas. And hopefully it will mark the beginning of Venezuelan Hugo Chavez and company's radical leftist ideas' decline," states Ecuadorian economist José Luis Castillo, who works in the Chilean public sector."

    Silvia Santacruz. Forbes.

  • realisticman

    2 years ago

    Frank

    "He was one of your guys".

    You just don't know how wrong you are.

  • ShortSummer

    2 years ago

    Unions voting NDP

    Well folks, this here union member has dropped his NDP membership. A long time ago.

    I believe in welfare, in livable minimum wages, in universal health care, in public education (and no public money supporting private education), in taxes that support a society. I believe that we need to protect the planet from ourselves.

    The real, actual 21st century "NDP" do not believe in these things beyond lip service, and they do not have my vote. Too bad that there is no party that reflects my beliefs.

    Too bad those who control the NDP still do.

    The future is bleak to say the least. Rome is burning, and we're playing the violin and eating grapes.

    Enjoy.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    I'm wrong?

    My view :

    Nixon-Friedman-Pinochet-Realisticman

    Debs(?)-Keynes-Allende-Frank

    Like I said, from my perspective Pinochet is definitely on your side as far as economic and social policies go.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    ShortSummer

    You're not alone in that view however the NDP believes they don't need you, that Luke, Wilf and realisticman are all going to vote NDP instead because they've moved to the Right.

    Regardless, I've always supported James because the NDP are still better than the alternative in my opinion.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Nope - HE IS ONE OF YOURS

    “That’s when we said, ‘We can win this,’” Izquierdo says, banging his fist on his desk at campaign headquarters in a Santiago mansion. “It’s money on the table. When he feels like he’s going to lose, he stops investing.”
    By yesterday’s runoff election, Pinera had spent at least $13.6 million on the campaign and the bet paid off.

    Just another asshole who thinks money can buy everything - poor Chile.

  • sicntired

    2 years ago

    the experts on everything

    so now it's south american socialism/communism.I thought this was about BC?Carole James has more problems than her philosophy and ideology.The poor woman has even got the feminists pissed off.She's been a total disaster from day one.I don't know who's in charge of the NDP these days but they have the knack of keeping their base at home on election day to a science.I can still see that helicopter looking for that power project in a hurricane with no idea where to go.This in the age of GpS.what a circus.

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