This is exactly what we mean when we say Stephen Harper is not a conservative. This is exactly what we mean when we say Stephen Harper is an enemy of democracy. Just as the news breaks of a long list of Enbridge pipeline leaks in Michigan and Wisconsin that causes public outrage and forces Christy Clark to question the Enbridge pipeline through northern BC, Stephen Harper removes BC’s say on the matter.
The Harper government moved Friday to streamline the review and decision-making process for the proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline. That government also formalized new rules that for the first time give the Harper cabinet the final word on whether the pipeline should go ahead, even if the arms-length NEB-led panel concludes the project is environmentally unsound.
So now he proposes on building an environmentally risky pipeline through BC and he completely removes any say BC has on the matter. That is evil but that’s not all. There’s another pipeline in the works called the Trans Mountain pipeline. That one will go right through Surrey and we have no say on the matter. This is not democracy. Right through Chuck Cadman’s riding. The guy they tried to bribe with an insurance fraud scam.
Canada hasn't been a democracy in a good long while. I'm sure you've heard of an "Order in Council".....
ReplyDeleteCanada never really had "States (Provincial) Rights", the western provinces have been getting ass-raped for years by Ontario and Quebec who as we all know have many more MP's in Parliament than they do. Parliamentary majority rule = everyone in the west gets told what to do by folks on the other side of the continent in addition to being forced to pay the bill for them. IIRC BC gets a much smaller percentage of it's taxes back than eastern provinces do.
The Free Rebublic of Cascadia will be free from the global dictatorship if you think its just harper that wants this your insaine every government ndp libral whatever the pipeline will be built unless the Yukon and B.C are set free. No need for pipelines build a couple of refineries have cheap gasoline here not in china!
ReplyDeleteHarper just changed the wording and removed our say. That is wrong. Instead of separating from the rest of the country I think we need to elect a new prime minister. But I do agree we should refine the oil before we pipe toxic tar sands oil all over the province.
ReplyDeleteFuck China. Everything we do that helps them helps a repressive dictatorship. There doesn't need to be a pipeline out to BC at all, the only reason to build a pipeline is if it goes south from Alberta, and Obama is standing in the way of that one. Apparently North America can get all it needs from "alternative" energy.... :rolleyes:
ReplyDeletejon doe nails it, there is no reason (other than market control and manipulation) why anyone living where oil is produced should be paying an artificially inflated price for gas. Do you think they pay $4.00 a gallon in the Middle East? They do not. You can fill your SUV's tank in Kuwait for under 3.5 KD (Kuwaiti Dinar) which is about $11. That's right, $11. Why? Because they refine that crude all the way down to it's consumer product right there in a country smaller than Vancouver Island.
Those guys may have got rich by being lucky, but they didn't keep those riches by being stupid.
Now you had to go and use the g word. I bought gas in Abbotsford yesterday at $1.20 a liter. In Surrey it’s $1.34. That is messed up. Abbotsford has all the provincial carbon taxes. They just don’t have the extra lower mainland gas taxes. Canada letting China buy their oil rights is bizarre.
ReplyDeleteWhile you and I often are not in complete agreement, we are on this one, Canada selling China the rights to Canadian oil does not serve Canada's national interests.
ReplyDeleteBut who says that these people in the government truly serve their countries interests? Selling off oil rights, selling off BC Hydro, it's a Canadian resource fire sale, everything must go!! These whores will do any deal, with anyone, if it turns they and/or their friends a buck. Everyone likes to get paid, but one needs to have some scruples too.
I submit that these things could not have happened 40 years ago. Do you want to know why they can now? It's simple. Look at what has changed in Canada in those four decades. That is why they can happen, the first why. The second why is, why did those changes happen? The answer is, so that things like this can occur with no effective resistance.
K, you're a conspiracy guy. Here's a real conspiracy, right in your own back yard. The conspiracy of how to gain and keep political power, the conspiracy of how to dis-unite/splinter/change a national population the better to rule them.
Go wild.
The majority of the problem doesn't lie within the government... they are the easy ones to blame. The root of the problem lies with the people. People who are still walking around with their blinders on. Canadians have allowed their government to become this dictatorship because they still believe the government works for them.
ReplyDeleteNow I can't comment on the last 4 decades, as I am only in my early 30's... but many many years ago I was awakened to reality. The walking sheep call me a conspirator... it's a term I take pride in.
The major problem with society, is we are so busy fighting each other... we couldn't focus on what the government is doing long enough to care. The government has done a wonderful job pitting people against people. Many years ago people started losing touch with the sense of community and started building their lives in a me oriented world. We became greedy, selfish and materialistic. The idea of the simple life is now obsolete... the personal greed of man has allowed the government to run a muck.
Do you think the people of Alberta care about the potential damage to BC? Nope... it's not in their backyard. It just means more money for them. Bigger trucks, bigger houses, bigger toys... all at someone else's expense. I used to be Albertan (we just moved out of Canada) and I can honestly say... what the oil mentality has done to Albertans... they should hang their head in shame.
A united front is a governments worst nightmare... we live in a country with a democratic system... why are people afraid to stand up for their rights?
Exactly, divide and rule. Nothing new, rather it is remarkable for the consistency of application and desired effect in human affairs. History is your guide to truth in human affairs, EVERY TIME. Got a question? Look at historical example. There's nothing new, just the same stories/outcomes repeating over and over. Santayana's quote about history applies full force here.
DeleteThe more diverse the group, the less united they are. The more the members of the group are denied the tools and the right to defend themselves by a government/elite that wants more power/money,(the government and it's agents having a legally enshrined monopoly on the use of force)the more dependent on the government they are for their safety, which it then doesn't (CAN'T) provide, even though it keeps charging ever increasing amounts for the (non) service.
("The Police-When seconds count, we're only minutes away"....)
To one degree or another, the G screws up everything it touches. How can it not, accountability is easily diffused to the point where no one can be functionally held accountable, and that is the point when all the folks with other agenda's than the good of the nation can operate virtually unimpeded.
Standing up for your rights, huh? How exactly does that happen? Writing letters to your MP? Going to a protest with a sign? People don't freaking get this, IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY DON'T CARE. If they don't care, your efforts are worthless, on top of which you have just self-identified as the squeaky wheel to get greased.
When you give up your right to say no and to be able to back it up, you're done. It's just a matter of the timeline. When you quit knowing your neighbor to your left and your right, whether it's because you can't effectively communicate (language) don't have a similar outlook born of a similar background/ancestry (blood ties are the strongest) or the social isolation born of other factors such as technology or the modern social model, you're done. It's just a matter of the timeline.
"When you give up your right to say no and to be able to back it up, you're done. It's just a matter of the timeline." Exactly.
DeleteMy husband works overseas, and he works with a lot of people from the UK... they have flat out told him the people over there revolt when the government does something they don't like. They stand up for what they believe in... why can't Canadians?
DeleteThere is a really good book, it's called "Suicide of a Super Power", mainly written about the US but the same can be said for Canada, that I highly recommend people read. It's a little out there, but if you can look past that and into the message the book makes sense.
Canadians have a worldwide reputation for being very polite. But the flip side of that is when people are coming to you with some serious BS that's not in your interests, that politeness manifests itself as being hesitant to say anything like "Fuck off, that's not happening". Which is exactly what's needed in that circumstance. And so that lack of response is taken for "we won't resist". You have to be willing (and able, an opinion doesn't impress anyone willing to use force to gain their ends) to put up some resistance, and the first step of that process is a verbal one.
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