“The Harper government’s budget cuts to scientific research at Environment Canada have compromised the department’s capacity to crack down on cancer-linked pollution and its mandate to enforce clean air regulations, say enforcement officers in a collection of internal emails obtained by Postmedia News.” (Read More)
“The RCMP, the national police force, and Canada’s spy agency CSIS are increasingly conflating terrorism and extremism with peaceful citizens exercising their democratic rights to organise petitions, protest and question government policies, said Jeffrey Monaghan, a researcher with the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.” (Read More)
The Harper government seems to spend almost all of its time working on ways to boost resource development in Canada, with no concern to any potential cost. They should know that absolutely everything has a cost that should be weighed and not ignored. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to believe the environment is worth thinking about. Their goal seems to be to create a small number of jobs for this generation and increase the profits of already-wealthy industries.
More jobs is always good, of course. And I have nothing in particular against anyone trying to earn a living, though I think something has gone wrong somewhere along the line to lead to our current bottom-line-above-all-else mentality. But this seems very short-sighted to me. And besides which, it doesn’t appear we will have all that many jobs or that they will last very long at all. (Keystone XL: The benefits and costs of a controversial pipeline)
So the Harper government is fighting tooth and nail to remove environmental regulations and brand environmentalists radicals out to destroy our economy so that it will be easier for big industry to do its thing. What is really in it for Canadians? Is it going to be worth the environmental harm? You don’t have to be a radical environmentalist to care about your lakes and rivers and trees and fresh air. Are you a hunter or fisher or hiker or camper? How important are those things to you? Are you willing to lose them so that corporations can get wealthier? Hmmm. I’m not.
And what are the alternatives? There are always alternatives. Why is the Harper government not looking into them or explaining why they won’t be good for us. It seems he never bothered to find out what our best options are but just dove head-first into resource development. I believe Canadians are better and smarter than that. What are other ways we can increase our revenues? Tourism? Entertainment? I’m sure we can come up with something.
But the pressure is probably coming from the oil industry itself. Every year, the Canadian government gives billions of dollars in tax subsidies to oil, coal, and gas companies. (Read More). I think the industry is also short-sighted. Do they not realize that the future will not be as dependent on oil as we are now?
There is no way we can continue using non-renewable fuel indefinitely. That is the definition of non-renewable. There is a limited supply and when it’s gone, it’s gone. And so are the oil companies. So why aren’t they investing in their own futures? I would think their sense of self-preservation would be driving them to come up with the next big thing for us. I wouldn’t think they should need to be pushed by the government if it is the market that will be calling for a stable and sustainable alternative. If they want the profits, they should be looking for ways to supply the demand. However, if we’re going to be giving them billions of dollars in subsidies, should we not require that it be spent on finding environmentally-friendly solutions that will help us beyond this generation into the future?
Even if you don’t believe in climate change, there can be no disputing the harm these industries cause to our planet. Oil will be gone one day and we will be left with nothing really to replace it. What a mess that will be. Better to prepare ourselves before this happens.
Calling environmentalists radical and extremist and treating them as terrorists just to sway the public away from caring about the environment is a smokescreen of unbelievable betrayal from our government. Canadians should be rewarded for loving Canada and its beauty, not punished. I am outraged by this manipulation. Aren’t you?
canadaforever 