DrFrank

Joe Oliver Again

2013/04/25 By DrFrank Leave a Comment

Joe Oliver

Imagine that you and I are meeting face-to-face and you ask me, "Why are you laughing?" If I replied, "It's Joe Oliver again." Would you start laughing too? I'm betting you would. The Harper Government's Natural Resources Minister is undeniably entertaining, but only if you are able to completely dismiss the seriousness his portfolio actually deserves. This is, after all, Canada's Natural Resources Minister, but it's also the same guy who:

characterized environmental groups as having a "radical ideological agenda"
stated you'll be able to drink from tailings' ponds
recently appeared to dismiss climate science and global warming, but later allowed his office to issue a correction
just yesterday challenged the views of, perhaps, the world's best known climate scientist, James Hansen.

Given the preceding list, it might surprise you to learn that Joe Oliver didn't just fall off of a turnip truck. Joe:

is a lawyer
has an MBA from Harvard Business School
was CEO of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada
is an elected MP and Cabinet Minister.

It would be a huge mistake to assume that Joe Oliver's word selection and sentence construction is anything other than carefully chosen. I'm convinced this gentleman knows exactly what he's doing. Although I don't believe that he's related to Glenn Beck, he has a similar penchant for absurd, but payload-laden statements. Unsurprisingly, his hyperbole, apparently excites his Conservative friends.

We're not idiots Joe, it's obvious to almost everyone that you and your Harper Government colleagues are shills for Multinational Oil. Big Oil expects to earn trillions from Canada's tar sands. Bluntly, it's not a surprise that you're doing your level best to help them.

If I was given the opportunity to offer Mr. Oliver a little advice, I would use his own words, "Quite frankly, I think that kind of exaggerated rhetoric, that kind of hyperbole, doesn’t do the cause any good at all. People are sensible. Americans and Canadians are logical people."

News flash: Mr Oliver, we really are sensible and logical. A whopping majority of Canadians have grown weary of the Harper Government's 'Jobs and Prosperity' propaganda and are increasingly concerned about Canada's:

environment
middle-class
reputation
future.

Aside: Have you ever wondered how many of the Harper Government's 'Sycophants to Big Oil' will land cushy Corporate Oil jobs when their political careers have come to an end? Just wondering…

Filed Under: Canada's Environment, Canada's Politics Tagged With: Big Oil, Glenn Beck, Harper Government, James Hansen, Joe Oliver, Propaganda

Income Inequality in Canada

2012/10/09 By DrFrank

Most Canadians have a gut-feeling that something is wrong, a consciousness that we’re off course. There’s much less optimism than there was just six years ago. The Harper Government cheerleads their jobs and prosperity agenda, but we’re all aware of growing income inequality in Canada.

This Broadbent Institute video beautifully expresses, what most of us already sense:

Hopeful Canadians know that there’s something to hope for.

Filed Under: Canada's Politics Tagged With: Broadbent Institute, Harper Government, Income Inequality, Video

Organic Food Questioned

2012/09/04 By DrFrank

Organic food

Why was the consumption of organic food questioned again today?

A recent Stanford University study compared organic foods to non-organic foods. The study’s conclusions were responsible for generating a new round of anti-organic headlines:

Organic food ‘not any healthier’
Organic Foods Not Healthier or More Nutritious
Is ‘organic’ a waste of money?

implying to most folks, that it’s a waste of money to buy organic products.

Q: Organic food purchases make up less than five percent of retail grocery sales, so what’s the big deal?
A: It’s not a big deal, but the media understands that a controversial headline drives page views and TV viewership. Unsurprisingly, the headlines also served the agenda of mega-corporate farms and that’s probably good for the media’s ad revenue.

Why would anyone spend more for organic food? Here are five excellent reasons:

synthetic pesticides aren’t good for you, for your children or for our planet
antibiotics, frequently administered to non-organic livestock, encourage the growth of antibiotic-resistent bacteria
confining animals, on factory farms, has been responsible for some nasty disease outbreaks and remains a potential, pandemic threat
the Earth’s groundwater has been contaminated by pesticides, antibiotics and other food additives
conventional agriculture uses more energy than organic farming.

Don’t feel guilty if you can’t afford organic, the Stanford study reaffirms the nutritional value of conventional agriculture. That said, choose organic whenever you can, it’s always best to avoid pesticides and it’s better for our planet.

Filed Under: Canada's Environment Tagged With: Antibiotics, Conventional Agriculture, Organic Food, Stanford University, Synthetic Pesticides

We’re Being Played

2012/08/09 By DrFrank

When I woke up today, my local TV, morning news was highlighting the National Energy Board’s investigation of Enbridge and specifically their pipeline safety record. That’s good news for those of us who oppose the Northern Gateway Pipelines, right? It should be good news, because Enbridge is now infamous for their pipeline leaks. Unfortunately, I had trouble accepting the good news.

Q: Why wasn’t I happy about the news?
A: The sequence and timing of recent pipeline news releases has my gut telling me that we’re being played by Big Oil, Enbridge, the Harper Government and possibly even the NEB.

A classic sales technique is the ‘Feel — Felt — Found’ approach. When a salesperson encounters resistance, referred to as an objection, they will often counter with, “I know how you feel, I felt the same way, until I found…”. Stephen Harper and his merry band of Big Oil sycophants are well aware that there are very significant objections to the planned Northern Gateway Pipelines. To assuage British Columbians, they’ve, for the moment, strategically chosen to appear reasonable, even conciliatory; after all, there’s still plenty of time for them to achieve their ultimate goal of selling tar sand’s bitumen (heavy crude oil) to China.

Here’s what I see as the ‘Feel’ part of the Conservative’s plan:

“This project will not survive public scrutiny unless Enbridge takes far more seriously their obligation to engage the public.” – James Moore, Harper Government Cabinet Minister
“The only way governments can handle controversial projects of this manner is to ensure that things are evaluated on an independent basis scientifically, and not simply on political criteria…” – Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

The ‘Felt’ and ‘Found’ parts of Harper’s plan will only become evident when the NEB report is released. I’d be willing to wager that the National Energy Board will report that the Northern Gateway Pipeline’s potential financial benefits to Canada far outweigh the potential, minuscule, environmental risks to British Columbia. When that happens, Stephen Harper will be able to say, “I share the environmental concerns of British Columbians, but today I’m reassured, because independent, scientific analysis has concluded that the Northern Gateway project will be safe and will deliver enormous benefits to all Canadians. It’s a great day for our jobs and prosperity initiative.”

Now, suppose I’m wrong and the NEB actually surprises me by not endorsing the Northern Gateway Pipeline. I imagine that, at that time, Stephen Harper will be forced to reveal his carefully orchestrated agenda. Recall that the Harper Government’s Bill C–38 gave the federal Cabinet the power to overrule the NEB’s recommendation. If this government gets ‘bad’ news from the NEB, I’m convinced they’ll endorse the Northern Gateway Pipelines anyway.

Don’t be misled by their recent statements, everything the Harper Government has done, so far, points toward an ultimate outcome that is favourable to Big Oil, Enbridge, Alberta and China. I don’t trust the Harper Government and neither should you.

Filed Under: Canada's Environment, Canada's Politics Tagged With: Big Oil, Enbridge, Harper Government, National Energy Board, Northern Gateway, Stephen Harper

The Enbridge Northern Pipeline

2012/07/16 By DrFrank

Enbridge Keystone Kops

My first post on this website was ‘Northern Gateway Pipelines’, but since then I’ve commented about the potential dangers of the Enbridge northern pipeline again and again.

Enbridge was obviously concerned that environmentalists opposed to the Northern Gateway Pipelines were gaining a little traction here in British Columbia, so the Enbridge PR team was tasked to launch a $5 million ($5,000,000) pro-pipeline ad campaign. If you’ve missed it, so far, you really must have been living under a rock, the ads were and still are pervasive.

Q: Has the Enbridge PR team managed to sway public opinion in favour of the Enbridge northern pipeline?
A: Probably not.

Q: Why has their impressive ad campaign failed?
A: Enbridge was making news.

Enbridge news:

The USA’s National Transportation Safety Board recently referred to Enbridge as Keystone Kops/Cops. Here’s the NTSB’s Press Release regarding the 318,000,000 litre oil spill into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The ‘clean’ up* took two years and cost about $800,000,000.
The recent Enbridge Athabasca pipeline leak that occurred Monday, 18 June 2012.

The end result is that, right now, everyone seems to be writing off the pipeline, saying it’s dead. Whoa, stop, hold on, let’s not forget that the Harper Government devastated environmental and fisheries laws specifically to ensure approval of the Enbridge pipeline. The Cabinet can still approve this thing. Most people have a very short attention span and short memories is what Stephen Harper always relies upon. Unfortunately, we still can’t assume the Enbridge northern pipeline is dead.

Here’s the Enbridge northern pipeline parody video:

*Can diluted bitumen (heavy crude oil) be cleaned up? The following, unconfirmed, video suggests that spilled heavy crude returns to it’s original state, leaving Michigan with their own mini-version of Canada’s tar sands courtesy of Enbridge and Big Oil.

Filed Under: Canada's Environment, Canada's Politics Tagged With: Athabasca, Enbridge, Harper Government, Kalamazoo, Keystone Kops, Northern Gateway, NTSB, Parody, Pipelines, Stephen Harper, Video

Oil Sands are for Canadians

2012/07/05 By DrFrank

I chose the title ‘Oils Sands are for Canadians’ because, strictly speaking, this is not just another diatribe about Canada’s oil sands, rather it outlines a very exciting paradigm shift.

My thesis is that we’ve all been viewing tar sands’ development from Big Oil’s (the Harper Government’s) perspective. Big oil:

doesn’t mind wasting Canada’s water and natural gas
has no interest in refining heavy crude oil here in Canada
encourages cheap foreign labour to increase their profits
isn’t troubled by toxic tailings ponds, CO2 emissions, pipeline leaks, oil spills and supertanker disasters.

Multinational oil and gas corporations are driven by profit and nothing more than delivering money to shareholders. They’re happy to sell Canada’s oil to the highest bidder wherever they might be. Big Oil pockets hundreds of billions of dollars from Canada’s natural resources and Canada is forced to settle for whatever is left.

Environmentalists:

would love to see all of our tar sands oil left in the ground

What if we decided to proceed with tar sands development in a balanced and sustainable fashion? What if we focused on the idea that our oil sands are for Canadians?

What if we decided to:

stop squandering our precious, raw natural resources
scale back bitumen production
treasure our fresh water because it will be the key to our future
make better use of our natural gas
refine heavy crude oil near the source, right here in Canada
produce just enough oil to satisfy the Canadian marketplace’s needs
gradually eliminate most, if not all, existing long distance pipelines
say no to the Northern Gateway Pipelines, Keystone XL Pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
invest in massive upgrades of Canada’s railways
develop railcars with best-in-class safety standards to transport oil
use rail instead of pipelines to transport our oil to all of Canada’s Provinces and Territories
use Canada’s oil profits to fund our transition to green technologies, to eliminate our deficits and eventually to eliminate our debt?

My suspicion is that we would:

create hundreds of thousands of well-paid Canadian jobs
vastly improve Canada’s transportation infrastructure, benefiting all Canadians
dramatically reduce pollution of our air, land and water
create a balanced Canadian economy ensuring a prosperous future for our grandchildren and future generations.

Big Oil’s Profits
Must Not Drive the Canadian Government’s Decisions.

The Harper Government and their corporate backers have taken us a very long way down an exceptionally risky road in their misguided attempt to generate short term profits. Canadians need better governance. We need big ideas and those ideas rarely originate in the boardrooms of multinational oil and gas corporations.

Canada’s oil sands are for Canadians, they’re not for Big Oil’s shareholders.

The “path to our future” is not a pipeline, it’s better ideas, ideas that focus on Canadians, not corporate greed.

Senate energy committee backs sending western oil east

Filed Under: Canada's Environment, Canada's Politics Tagged With: Big Oil, Canadian, Harper Government, Multinational Oil and Gas, Oil Sands

The Conservatives’ Biggest Lie

2012/07/03 By DrFrank

Q: What is the conservatives’ biggest lie?
A: The conservatives’ biggest lie is, “I’m better than you are!”

Money, Alone, Is Not the Measuring Stick
of a Successful Life.

“I’m better than you are!” is the lie many financially successful conservatives whisper to themselves. They rarely utter this one in public, but it’s a big part of who they are and unbeknownst to them it’s obvious to everyone they meet.

Let’s use a couple of people as an example: Is there any doubt in your mind that Mitt Romney and Donald Trump think that they’re better than you are?

Ask yourself a simple question, “Would your life, today, be different if you had attended the best schools that money could buy and then had many millions of dollars deposited into your bank account”?

Background: Mitt Romney’s dad, George, was Chairman and President of American Motors Corporation (today’s Chrysler), Governor of Michigan and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Mitt is said to have inherited millions and millions of dollars. Donald Trump’s dad, Fred, was a very successful real estate developer and left young Donald assets valued at about two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000).

Both Mitt and Donald have absolutely no idea what it would be like to start from zero and compete on an even playing field. They selfishly seize all of the credit for their successes and they demand your envy. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that their very privileged backgrounds have skewed both Mitt and Donald’s views of the poor and the middle class. Neither is altruistically attempting to serve, they’re both constantly seeking media attention and power. Both men ooze phoniness. Their persona betrays their conviction that they are better than other people. Can’t you just feel Mitt and Donald wondering aloud, “What’s up with the Occupy Movement?” completely failing to grasp the very real frustrations of folks who work for a living?

Mitt’s disdain for those who are not super rich would lead to more:

tax breaks for corporations and
tax breaks for the wealthy.

Referencing the USA, did you know that:

“in 2010 the average salary for CEOs on the S&P 500 was over $1 million and climbed to over $11 million when all forms of compensation were accounted for”
“… tax rates on the super rich are now lower than they’ve been in three decades”
“corporate profits now constitute the largest share of the economy since 1929”?

Interestingly, if the USA’s gross national income were divided evenly across the entire population, every household would be classified as middle class. Unfortunately, instead of even a little fairness, we have the 1%—2% with all the money and then the rest of us.

Canada Under Harper

2012/06/28 By DrFrank

I hope my title for this post, ‘Canada Under Harper’, wasn’t as bad for you as it was for me. A psychiatrist could write a pithy journal article about the nasty movie-clip that just played in my head.

To understand where the Harper Government is planning to go, you have to know where Stephen Harper has been. About ten years before his minority government first assumed power in Canada, Stephen Harper said, “Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it.”

“Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it.”
– Stephen Harper 1997

Knowing that this is one of Harper’s core beliefs, it’s not at all surprising that the Harper Government’s 2012 Budget and the now infamous Budget Implementation Bill C–38 included changes to OAS (Old Age Security), is it?

Q: What’s next for Canada under Harper?
A: Could it be the your healthcare, specifically the Canada Health Act? After all, the Harper Government has already mucked with Health Transfer Payments to the provinces and territories, so we can’t rule out even more sinister changes. Is the Harper Government already encouraging a two-tiered system, one for the rich and another for the rest of us? Will they… ?

Healthcare is very expensive, so it’s a natural target for Stephen Harper’s bean counters, but privatization and a two-tiered system is definitely NOT the answer.

Q: What is the best way to deal with rising health care costs?
A: Canadians would be best served if our government:

focused on community-based, wellness promotion and prevention
established multidisciplinary, diagnostic clinics, led by nurses, to offer help when prevention has failed and lastly,
allowed doctors and hospitals to do what they do best, but doctors should be the last step, not the first.

We should also consider dumping fee-for-service, but more on that another time…

What’s Happened to Canada?

Filed Under: Canada's Politics Tagged With: Canada Health Act, Harper Government, OAS, Privatization, Stephen Harper, Two-Tiered

Senator Patrick Brazeau’s Judgement

2012/06/27 By DrFrank

Senator Patrick Brazeau photo

Q: Is it fair to question Senator Patrick Brazeau’s Judgement?
A: I won’t weigh in on Senator Brazeau’s Senate attendance record, but his Tweet, in response to Jennifer Ditchburn’s article, was ill-advised and definitely calls into question his maturity; so, yes, in my opinion, it is fair.

Background: Who the heck is Patrick Brazeau? Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau is just one of a total of forty-three Senate appointments made by Stephen Harper. He is an Algonquin from the Kitigan Zibi Reserve, near Maniwaki Quebec and previously served as the National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. He is still in his thirties and is not due to retire from the Senate until November 11, 2049.

Recently, in response to a Canadian Press article questioning his Senate attendance record, Senator Brazeau Tweeted the CP reporter, “@jenditchburn while u smile Jen, others suffer. Change the D to a B in your last name and we’re even! Don’t mean it but needs saying.”

Senator Patrick Brazeaus Tweet to Jennifer Ditchburn

Although my wife’s uncle was also a Canadian Senator, I’ve frequently questioned the value of the Senate. For whatever reason, it has proven difficult to reform the senate, I wonder if it would be easier to abolish it? Stephen Harper has set a record by appointing forty-three (43) Senators. Compare that to Pierre Trudeau’s 5, Brian Mulroney’s 14, Jean Chrétien’s 26 and Paul Martin’s 15 (one of Martin’s 15, was Conservative). I could have sworn that the Harper Government campaigned stating that it would save the taxpayers’ money and reduce Government costs. The base, annual salary of a Canadian Senator is $132,300 (2010) and the benefits package is apparently very impressive. Abolishing the Senate would save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars every year and it would also streamline Canada’s governance.

Humorous note: Perhaps the Harper Government’s Senate appointments were part of Stephen Harper’s ‘jobs and prosperity’ initiative and not patronage.

Harper Government Political Patronage

Filed Under: Canada's Politics Tagged With: Harper Government, Patrick Brazeau, Reform, Senate, Senator, Stephen Harper

Mulcair’s NDP Video

2012/06/25 By DrFrank

Tom Mulcair photo
Photo courtesy of Reuters – Wattie

The Harper Government’s attack ad, ‘Mulcair’s NDP’ makes it glaringly obvious that Stephen Harper is, figuratively, wetting himself, again. Mr. Harper has a long history of nervous incontinence. Mulcair’s NDP video isn’t the Harper Government’s first attack ad, you’ll recall their mean-spirited ads attacking Stéphan Dion, Michael Ignatief and then, most recently, Bob Rae.

Here’s the ‘Mulcair’s NDP’ video:

Q: Ask yourself, “Why is the Harper Government so nervous?”

A: Although, it’s true that Tom Mulcair and the NDP bested the Conservatives in a recent nationwide popularity poll, that’s not the Harper Government’s biggest worry. They’re most worried about a simple but very powerful idea. Canada’s natural resources should benefit all Canadians and Canada’s environment is not for sale. The Harper Government sides with multinational, corporate greed. Tom Mulcair and the NDP side with Canadians.

The Conservatives are also well aware of a trend that poses another significant threat to their power. A growing number of people don’t like the Harper Government’s style of governance. I’ll bet you’ve heard some of the descriptive words folks are using when they mention the Harper Government. I’ve listed some of the polite words here, but I’ve also written an entire post about the Arrogant Harper Government that you might find interesting.

I won’t critique the Harper Government’s attack ad except to say:

“Risky Theories” like putting Canadians and Canada’s environment ahead of multinational oil and gas corporations, pipeline corporations, foreign workers and China is not a reason for concern. There’s certainly nothing risky there, in fact, Tom Mulcair’s ideas are a breath of Canada’s fresh air.

The Conservative’s biggest pitch is always, “We can’t afford… (insert opponents name here)”, they want you to be nervous when you walk into the polling station. Have you noticed the Conservatives are always fear mongering? It fits their agenda, that’s why they’re always yammering on and on about guns, jails and fighter jets.

When you walk into a polling station in 2015, or sooner, you won’t need to be worried about things like the Harper Government’s scary, petro-state, guns, jails and greed-focused agenda, instead, you can smile a big smile and think about Stephen Harper wetting himself. Then you’ll be able to vote for a positive vision of Canada and hope.

Canada is blessed with an amazing abundance of natural resources, most, if not all, of the rest of our world would love to be in our position. It’s time for Canadians to benefit by electing leadership that has a hopeful, altruistic vision and a solid plan. In the next election, vote NDP.

Update 20120710: Here’s the NDP’s initial response to the Harper Government’s Mulcair’s NDP video attack ad.

On carbon pricing, the Tories aren’t just battling Mulcair

Filed Under: Canada's Politics Tagged With: Attack Ad, Harper Government, Multinational Oil and Gas, NDP, Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair, Video