Showing posts with label The Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Environment. Show all posts
Looking at Canada from Mother England
... another perspective on Canada and the Harper regime,
but in this one nobody gets called "a piece of sh*t"....
The Guardian view on Canada’s elections: is the Stephen Harper era over?
It is the second biggest country in the world, yet sometimes it seems
almost invisible. Often ignored by its powerful neighbour, regarded
with only distant affection by the two European countries from which
its settlers came, and taken for granted by many nations who should
be more grateful than they are for its help and mediation in the past,
Canada ploughs a lonely furrow. Now it is heading toward an election
that will determine whether it will continue along the predictable
rightward course set by Stephen Harper as prime minister over the
past decade or whether it can recover some of the verve and originality
that once marked its politics, not least under Pierre Trudeau, whose
son Justin is one of the contenders.
Under Mr Harper, Canada has not only moved to the right in almost
every area of policy but has entered an era of highly calibrated,
money-driven negative campaigning at odds with the courtesy that is
one of the most attractive of Canadian qualities. So the result matters,
obviously for Canada itself, but also for a world that has long been
missing the special role it used to play on the international scene.
You'll find the rest of this interesting perspective right here!
*
but in this one nobody gets called "a piece of sh*t"....
The Guardian view on Canada’s elections: is the Stephen Harper era over?
It is the second biggest country in the world, yet sometimes it seems
almost invisible. Often ignored by its powerful neighbour, regarded
with only distant affection by the two European countries from which
its settlers came, and taken for granted by many nations who should
be more grateful than they are for its help and mediation in the past,
Canada ploughs a lonely furrow. Now it is heading toward an election
that will determine whether it will continue along the predictable
rightward course set by Stephen Harper as prime minister over the
past decade or whether it can recover some of the verve and originality
that once marked its politics, not least under Pierre Trudeau, whose
son Justin is one of the contenders.
Under Mr Harper, Canada has not only moved to the right in almost
every area of policy but has entered an era of highly calibrated,
money-driven negative campaigning at odds with the courtesy that is
one of the most attractive of Canadian qualities. So the result matters,
obviously for Canada itself, but also for a world that has long been
missing the special role it used to play on the international scene.
You'll find the rest of this interesting perspective right here!
*
Meet Your Conservatives: Joe Oliver - Min. of Natural Resources
On May 18, 2011, Joe Oliver was sworn
in as the Minister of Natural Resources
and soon earned a reputation as a classic
Conservative pit bull in his defence of the tar/oil sands at home and abroad.
Like other Harperian ministers, he was not about to let
the facts come between him and his proselytizing.
He brought the party line to audiences of US and Canadian
energy industry executives, informing them that Canada was
“emerging as a 21st century energy superpower.”
Minister Oliver quoted statistics alleging that there is a
downward long-term trend for greenhouse gas emissions
per barrel in the Canadian oil sands, and that Canada is
taking significant steps to reduce its overall emissions.
Inevitably, there were other audiences who were
less inclined to take these pitches at face value and
whose questions would reflect those doubts.
If anyone else dared to suggest the Minister was incorrect
or that perhaps there might be other factors to be considered
they would, in the Conservative tradition, be attacked.
In January 2012, he wrote a letter to the Globe and Mail
about some of his enemies...
"Unfortunately, there are environmental and other radical
groups that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify
our trade. Their goal is to stop any major project no matter
what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth.
No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams.
These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve
their radical ideological agenda. They seek to exploit any loophole
they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that
delays kill good projects. They use funding from foreign special
interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest."
Read the whole letter at the Globe and Mail.
On March 19, 2014, Oliver was appointed to replace Jim Flaherty
as Minister of Finance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)