Thursday, August 13, 2015

New column day

Here, expanding on this post as to how we should be criticizing the politicians who are wilfully misleading the public about the future of Canada's oil industry - and not the ones who are willing to keep living in reality once a campaign is on.

And if Stephen Harper comes out of hiding today, it might offer a particularly opportune time to explain why he's in agreement with the "decarbonisation of the global economy", along with what his government plans to do to achieve that goal. 

For further reading...
- Again, Justin Trudeau's comment on the need to get beyond the oil sands is found in Macleans' debate transcript. The G7's declaration on the need to decarbonise is here (PDF). And Mark Carney's acknowledgment of the need to keep substantial oil reserves in the ground is reported on here.
- Linda McQuaig's original point to the same effect was discussed here. Brent Patterson discusses Nature's findings as to how many of the oil sands can viably be exploited here. And Bob Weber reports here on the inevitability of some resources staying in the ground.
- Martin Lukacs reports on the Cons' secret lobbying for the oil sands, signalling that we're in fact stuck with a government which is spending our money distorting markets in favour of its oil backers. 
- Finally, plenty of others have weighed in on the absurdity of the attacks on McQuaig, including Seth Klein, Barret Weber, and Michael Laxer. And Michal Rozworski points out what the attacks say about who's really being served by the Cons' and Libs' economic policies.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:44 a.m.

    On Steven Harper in hiding -

    What a difference from a real leader. Love him or hate him, or give him the finger, but old P.E.T. ate this guys lunch. Harper would be too terrified to mutter the term fuddle duddle.

    Do you honestly think that Harper has the balls to stare down the separatists like Trudeau did at the infamous winter parade...

    Nah, but he has no problem sending his foot soldiers in to do the dirty work while he hides in the closet.

    Bemused Lurker (What a choice, Harper reminiscing on how he could have Joined George W in Iraq, Trudeau figuring Bill Blair is a worthwhile candidate and Mulclaire doing what everyone else is doing, ignoring war crimes because it's convenient).

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    1. Of course the Cons' assumption is that leadership matters less than branding - hence Harper's preference to be kept in a bubble rather than getting anywhere near a situation where the former could be tested at the expense of the latter.

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