Ontario elected Ford. It's only a matter of time before we do something similar on the national level.
Yeah that's the biggest danger.
People who just want a change, to "shake things up".
That's what led to Trump.
Ontario elected Ford. It's only a matter of time before we do something similar on the national level.
Yeah that's the biggest danger.
People who just want a change, to "shake things up".
That's what led to Trump.
When it comes to climate hypocrisy, Canada's leaders have reached a new low
A territory that has 0.5% of the Earth's population plans to use up nearly a third of the planet's remaining carbon budget
Americans elected Donald Trump, who insisted climate change was a hoax – so it's no surprise that since taking office he's been all-in for the fossil fuel industry. There's no sense despairing; the energy is better spent fighting to remove him from office.
Canada, on the other hand, elected a government that believes the climate crisis is real and dangerous – and with good reason, since the nation's Arctic territories give it a front-row seat to the fastest warming on Earth. Yet the country's leaders seem likely in the next few weeks to approve a vast new tar sands mine which will pour carbon into the atmosphere through the 2060s. They know – yet they can't bring themselves to act on the knowledge. Now that is cause for despair.
The Teck mine would be the biggest tar sands mine yet: 113 square miles of petroleum mining, located just 16 miles from the border of Wood Buffalo national park. A federal panel approved the mine despite conceding that it would likely be harmful to the environment and to the land culture of Indigenous people. These giant tar sands mines (easily visible on Google Earth) are already among the biggest scars humans have ever carved on the planet's surface. But Canadian authorities ruled that the mine was nonetheless in the "public interest".
Here's how Justin Trudeau, recently re-elected as Canada's prime minister, put it in a speech to cheering Texas oilmen a couple of years ago: "No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and leave them there." That is to say, Canada, which is 0.5% of the planet's population, plans to use up nearly a third of the planet's remaining carbon budget. Ottawa hides all this behind a series of pledges about "net-zero emissions by 2050" and so on, but they are empty promises. In the here-and-now they can't rein themselves in. There's oil in the ground and it must come out.
This is painfully hard to watch because it comes as the planet has supposedly reached a turning point. A series of remarkable young people (including Canadians such as Autumn Peltier) have captured the imagination of people around the world; scientists have issued ever sterner warnings; and the images of climate destruction show up in every newspaper. Canadians can see the Australian blazes on television; they should bring back memories of the devastating forest fires that forced the evacuation of Fort McMurray, in the heart of the tar sands complex, less than four years ago.
The only rational response would be to immediately stop the expansion of new fossil fuel projects. It's true that we can't get off oil and gas immediately; for the moment, oil wells continue to pump. But the Teck Frontier proposal is predicated on the idea that we'll still need vast quantities of oil in 2066, when Greta Thunberg is about to hit retirement age. If an alcoholic assured you he was taking his condition very seriously, but also laying in a 40-year store of bourbon, you'd be entitled to doubt his sincerity, or at least to note his confusion. Oil has addled the Canadian ability to do basic math: more does not equal less, and 2066 is not any time soon. An emergency means you act now.
In fairness, Canada has company here. For every territory making a sincere effort to kick fossil fuels (California, Scotland) there are other capitals just as paralyzed as Ottawa. Australia's fires creep ever closer to the seat of government in Canberra, yet the prime minister, Scott Morrison, can't seem to imagine any future for his nation other than mining more coal. Australia and Canada are both rich nations, their people highly educated, but they seem unable to control the zombie momentum of fossil fuels.
There's obviously something hideous about watching the Trumps and the Putins of the world gleefully shred our future. But it's disturbing in a different way to watch leaders pretend to care – a kind of gaslighting that can reduce you to numb nihilism. Trudeau, for all his charms, doesn't get to have it both ways: if you can't bring yourself to stop a brand-new tar sands mine then you're not a climate leader.
I think people striving for constructive change will always be a good thing. That said, there's nothing more dangerous than manipulated people, and people wanting change just for the sake of change without knowing enough.
I mean, look at what happened to the UK
Guess Lecce was too busy hazing classmates at St Mike's to pay attention to math class. Maybe he should've gotten a proper education at a public school.
One mother, who asked to remain anonymous, said she only expected $65 dollars because her two children have only had one strike day so far at their Toronto elementary school.
However when she checked her bank statement, she had received $320, $160 for each child.
Focus on lowering consumption of fossil fuels not production.
As consumption falls, the business case for new fossil fuel projects becomes worse and worse.
Especially for expensive extraction like the oil sands.
AB should look into lithium mining, that's a more future proof resource.
Whose land do you think they are going to trespass on/what people do you think are going to be exploited for those mines? I'll give you three guesses as to why that's a bad field to transition Alberta's economy to, given the combination of what's happened/happening in various South American countries and recent court rulings in Canada pertaining to "consultation", to say nothing of prior incidents.Focus on lowering consumption of fossil fuels not production.
As consumption falls, the business case for new fossil fuel projects becomes worse and worse.
Especially for expensive extraction like the oil sands.
AB should look into lithium mining, that's a more future proof resource.
According to previously undisclosed contracts reviewed by The Washington Post, one lithium company, a joint Canadian-Chilean venture named Minera Exar, struck deals with six aboriginal communities for a new mine here. The operation is expected to generate about $250 million a year in sales while each community will receive an annual payment — ranging from $9,000 to about $60,000 — for extensive surface and water rights.
...
Possibly worse than being excluded from the mineral bonanza, some indigenous people say, is the possibility that the lithium companies could exacerbate existing water shortages. Already, the area has suffered a drought of several years.
...
In Susques and other indigenous areas, the fight has strained relations in a place dominated by a communal way of life that extends even to land rights. Families have been fractured, too. Half of the Guzmans favor the mines; the others are members of Colectivo Apacheta.
"There has been division in the community," Carlos Guzman said. "Doubts, distrust, loss of respect."
Don't pin this all on us, blame the awful FPTP system for bringing us the cover model for 2018's "Failing Upwards" Smarmsuit Edition....and the 39% of people that voted for a mid-level drug dealer with the temperament of a drunk badger and an equally unpleasant platform.Ontario elected Ford. It's only a matter of time before we do something similar on the national level.
Whose land do you think they are going to trespass on/what people do you think are going to be exploited for those mines? I'll give you three guesses as to why that's a bad field to transition Alberta's economy to, given the combination of what's happened/happening in various South American countries and recent court rulings in Canada pertaining to "consultation", to say nothing of prior incidents.
P.S. extraction of lithium is also a resource-intense process a la oil sand extraction.
Don't pin this all on us, blame the awful FPTP system for bringing us the cover model for 2018's "Failing Upwards" Smarmsuit Edition.
We both know that this is not how things will simply go in practice. Again: Where do you think several of said ponds holding these valuable resources reside and what do you think said companies will do to access them in practice? Moreover, what do you think is going to happen to these indigenous communities and nations if something goes wrong like spilling of toxic materials into a source of drinking water? With all sincerity, I have no reason to believe that this will turn out any differently than it did a few years ago.As I just posted, they theoretically don't need to open any mines -- reprocessing the tailings ponds should yield a lot of lithium along with a lot of other useful minerals and byproducts.
Yes, it will be energy intensive, but they stand to reclaim lots of parkland (and possibly good PR).
Jacinda Mack will never forget the day the tailings pond collapsed at the Mount Polley mine in her nation's traditional territory, spilling an estimated 25 million cubic metres of contaminated waste into Quesnel Lake.
Once a source of drinking water and home to nearly a quarter of the province's sockeye salmon, Quesnel Lake is still laden with the toxic tailings that spilled into its depths that August day in 2014. An underwater deposit of tailings, estimated to be about 600 metres long and a kilometre wide, rests on the lake's floor where local residents worry it may be disturbed by upwelling.
For Mack, the accident marked an irrevocable change to the world she knew and transformed how she saw not only the Mount Polley mine but British Columbia, which she recognized for the first time as under siege by one of the world's most powerful industrial forces.
At the time of the spill, the B.C. government was on a renewed mission to fast-track permits for new mines — some of which require tailings facilities many times the size of Mount Polley's to be maintained in perpetuity.
There are lessons to be learned from the Mount Polley disaster that so far have fallen on deaf ears, Mack fears. Those who stand to learn the most from her experience are the small and mostly Indigenous communities currently being courted by mining companies across the province.
We both know that this is not how things will simply go in practice. Again: Where do you think several of said ponds holding these valuable resources reside and what do you think said companies will do to access them in practice? Moreover, what do you think is going to happen to these indigenous communities and nations if something goes wrong like spilling of toxic materials into a source of drinking water? With all sincerity, I have no reason to believe that this will turn out any differently than it did a few years ago.
Can I get cryogenized until Bill 21 is no longer a thing?
E-ve-ry sin-gle day it's all that is being talked about in Quebec. The same fucking op-eds in JDM and Le Devoir.The same replies in La Presse and The Gazette. The same fiery debates on TV and on radio. The same conspiracy theories about bought judges.
That little shit disturber Frederic Bastien constantly putting oil on the fire in the hope of being noticed and becoming PQ leader, and instead of telling him to take a hike, they constantly apologize.
It's no longer about religious signs, if it ever was. It's all about political opportunism. They want it to get overturned. They want the constitutional crisis. Getting the populace foaming at the mouth over this is a better result than actually preventing teachers from wearing a hijab.
All of this over something inconsequential for 99% of the population...
ACAB, and shame on the colonizer indeed ✊🏻
ya know i'm beginning to think that quebec is like alberta a political lost cause 😞
i know right fuck la CAQ/PQ it's fucking depressing that there's no hope for them to get voted out and even if they did there's no good left alternative
On the other hand, it could inspire the NDP to be a lot braver.
Can I get cryogenized until Bill 21 is no longer a thing?
E-ve-ry sin-gle day it's all that is being talked about in Quebec. The same fucking op-eds in JDM and Le Devoir.The same replies in La Presse and The Gazette. The same fiery debates on TV and on radio. The same conspiracy theories about bought judges.
That little shit disturber Frederic Bastien constantly putting oil on the fire in the hope of being noticed and becoming PQ leader, and instead of telling him to take a hike, they constantly apologize.
It's no longer about religious signs, if it ever was. It's all about political opportunism. They want it to get overturned. They want the constitutional crisis. Getting the populace foaming at the mouth over this is a better result than actually preventing teachers from wearing a hijab.
All of this over something inconsequential for 99% of the population...
I read La Presse everyday, only time I hear about Bill 21 is in this thread.
We're finally on the same page. 😜If the current NDP are too centrist then the Liberals and Conservatives are basically right-wing neoliberal facists. lol
The judge stuff wasn't much conspiracy though since eventually recordings came out proving their point. In a trial you don't make "jokes" about going to work for the defense or helping their case when you retire when you are a judge about to retire. It's like very basic stuff. I think people are slowly starting to realize that judges are human like them with their own bias and prejudices and they are not taking it well.
Marxist-Leninist Party is the one true party of the people!
Yes, a lot will be blocked. But there are some that he can just do outright. Like say Student Loans. The President already has a couple different abilities that allow them to authorize forgiveness on Student Loans. They do it once a year already in order to clean up bad debt, debt for public workers or ect. But there is nothing that says it has to be used in that way.It's the US, what are the chances Bernie can pass any of his bills past the House and Senate? Without majorly watering them down like Obamacare?
Some of his own party will even vote against them.
The RCMP continues to remind us how thoroughly entrenched colonialism and white supremacy are in Canada, to the point where they are the reason why they were formed to begin with.
The RCMP continues to remind us how thoroughly entrenched colonialism and white supremacy are in Canada, to the point where they are the reason why they were formed to begin with.
It needs to be abolished. Full stop.
What would you replace it with?
Monkman's paintings are always so striking in their rhetorical simplicity.I am sure we can figure out a modern institution that has the role of Federal police without the racist baggage or being the strong arm of oil companies and colonialism.
This painting by Ken Monkman shocked me by it's violence, but it's an indelible part of our history. The idea that this institution still exists today and is still doing the similar shit is nauseating. If you are unfamiliar with his work, I recommend everyone look him up, some really incredible, subversive stuff.
That sounds just like a reform though.I am sure we can figure out a modern institution that has the role of Federal police without the racist baggage or being the strong arm of oil companies and colonialism.
If you want my honest answer instead of "here's how i'd reform Canada's justice system (greater focus on rehabilitation for street crimes instead of punitive sentencing, repealing Harper's minimums and allowing judges to employ more flexible sentencing, massively increasing sentencing for white collar crimes, among other changes)"...I wouldn't, certainly not if we're talking about forming a new institution with the same goals as the RCMP, because said goals are a combination of terrorism and reinforcement of the status quo for the most marginalized people in Canada/people who do not consider themselves to be Canadian or a part of Canada but a sovereign nation altogether who are nevertheless subjected to violence and thrown into a justice system that further disenfranchises and disempowers them.
Last week, federal correctional investigator Ivan Zinger reported that Indigenous inmates now account for more than 30 per cent of federal prisoners — and 65 per cent of inmates in federal institutions in Saskatchewan.
A provincial ministry spokesperson said the demographics have been consistent in Saskatchewan's adult jails for about the last five years.
The ministry also provided a one-day snapshot of the provincial jail inmate population on Jan. 28. 2020, which showed that Indigenous people comprised about 76 per cent of both sentenced and remanded inmates.