Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Even the NDP Has Jettisoned the Left

Rick Salutin says what's been obvious for some time - the New Democratic Party has ditched the Left in favour of liberalism thus helping the "conservative-lite" Libs help Harper achieve his paramount goal of permanently shifting Canada's political centre well to the right.

3 comments:

Troy said...

Allo, MoS. It's been some time.
I'm sorry to comment off-topic, but I'm certain you'll be a bit cheered by the news I bring.
Just today, a band released a press release, which does contain their contact info:
United We Shall Win the Battle against Enbridge
I actually don't know anybody directly from this band, and I don't really know if I indirectly know anyone, either. I hope to get some more information as to what is happening with the bands.

Troy said...

Oops. I forgot to include my name, Troy Thomas.

The Mound of Sound said...

Hey Troy, good to hear from you. Thanks for the link. The Wet'suwet'en release is terrific and I hope it encourages other First Nations to stand with them.

Troy, you really should go through the Northern Gateway report released at the end of November by Pembina, the National Resources Defense Center and the Living Oceans Society. It's linked at Pembina's web site.

The report exposes a plethora of dangers in the Enbridge proposal and presents a picture of corporate indifference and duplicity. It's as though everything is being pushed through on the cheap and no threat so great it cannot be ignored.

As I suspected, the most overlooked part of this is the nature of the diluted bitumen itself. It's laced with abrasives, acids, carcinogens and heavy metals.

Wave action (we're told) will break down ordinary crude oil as it floats on the surface. Bitumen, by contrast, is persistent. Sunlight fixes it in a gooey jelly state that sinks. The waters around Kitimat can reach 400-meters or more in depth. A tanker spill would be irreparably devastating to the north coast.

Then there is the BC territory the pipeline would have to cross. The report shows Enbridge has routinely understated the seismic and slide risks. Most of the pipeline is to be buried. It's mind-boggling. The high pressure needed to push this sludge combined with the abrasives and corrosives in the bitumen increase the incidence of pipeline failures dramatically.

This damned business has to be stopped before it can ever become operational.