It's too bad the Athabasca River doesn't feed Calgary's water system. If it did, you could be damned sure there wouldn't be any Tar Sands, the filthiest fossil fuel on the planet, bar none.
Mercury, Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium - despite the Alberta government's rank denials, these toxic contaminants are all winding up in the Athabasca due to the Tar Sands development. A research study released today shows that, even without a tailings pond spill (as of yet), Tar Sands effluent is reaching the Athabasca river and watershed in levels that render the fish stocks dangerous. The report was prepared by University of Alberta scientists, hydrologist Dr. David Schindler and Erin Kelly.
The Alberta government funds its own agency, the greatest environmental hoax ever. Alberta's Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program gives the Athabasca a clean bill of health. Schindler said the RAMP monitoring and findings "violate every rule" of long-term study and his research showed the opposite.
The spineless TarHeads of Parliament Hill, including Ignatieff and Layton, will probably give the report a pass lest they get dragged in to the myriad environmental calamities posed by the Tar Sands.
Right on MoS, except that Layton is no TarHead.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting LMA. What exactly has Jack said about shutting down the Tar Sands? I'm guessing he's come out with the standard greenwash about cleaning up carbon emissions, carbon sequestration, etc., but so has Iggy.
ReplyDeleteI also remember Layton turning on Dion over the Green Shift initiative, an act that pretty much defined Layton's environmental bona fides.
As I recall Layton called for a moratorium on Tar Sands expansion during the last election campaign. The NDP Climate Change bill also pretty well ruled out escalating Tar Sands pollution.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall Iggy ever mentioning a moratorium, quite the opposite. There is no way on earth you can compare Layton to Iggy on environmental issues.
Granted, Layton has said nothing recently about the moratorium, but if the NDP were ever to change their position, I would no longer support them.
As far as the Green Shift, the NDP realized that Canadians would not vote for a carbon tax with an impending recession. Too bad the Liberals didn't, as the election outcome might have been vastly different.
You could pipe the Athabasca (down stream)directly into Calgary homes and you wouldn't hear a peep from Canwest, Sun or any of the myriad of hard, hard right wing radio. These folk wouldn't hesitate to kill their own mothers for, "the party".
ReplyDeleteFoot'
Sorry LMA but I can't let Layton off the hook that easily. If he was going to take a clear position on the Tar Sands he would have done that by now - loud and clear. As far as I'm concerned Layton is as much a greenshitter as Iggy.
ReplyDeleteWell then, we agree to disagree. However, even if Layton does turn out to be a TarHead, he will never be the TarBall that Iggy is.
ReplyDeleteNo argument on Ignatieff, LMA. He's the one who sees the Tar Sands as the engine of Canadian prosperity for the 21st century. That would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes think the only way one can remain Liberal these days is to work very hard at trying to ignore Ignatieff's world view and his vision for that party.