Dead ducks, indeed. Five hundred of the poor defenceless birds trapped in a oily toxic tailings pond north of Fort McMurray at Syncrude's Aurora mine site. They had been innocently and peacefully following their ancient migratory route coming home for the summer. They stopped for a well-earned breather and perhaps some liquid refreshment and were swallowed up in the muck. Oh, the humanity! For all we know, Donald, Louie, Huey and Dewey may be among them.
But it gets worse. A bright light Syncrude security adviser - one Tim Gray - soon added himself to the list of those who perished. He Emailed a memo directed to Syncrude employees entitled 'Extra Vigilance,' which called for more patrols of the site, and the reporting of activity around the pond as well as low-flying flights. One wonders about the low flying flights. Is Syncrude going to blow them out of the sky, or is there a danger that because of the toxins the pilots may spiral into the pond and join the ducks?
Ah, but it doesn't end there. For those who thought that Ed Stelmach was forever past his Special Ed learning curve, well, think again. Alberta Environment - headed by the Medicine Hat genius flower shop proprietor Rob Renner - say there will be no pictures of the calamity released by the Government. They say they "don't want to prejudice any court case by releasing photographs." Furthermore Renner said, given that the incident took place on private property, there were privacy issues to consider. The opposition is screaming 'Coverup!' with good reason.
Bush's pal Steve Harper, not one to miss a chance to pile on even his friends for a few cheap votes at their expense - true to form - piled on. He saw it as a "terrible tragedy" which is unacceptable to Canadians and would hurt Alberta's environmental image as an energy superpower. Amen to that.
Even the usually deft Deputy Premier Ron Stevens jumped into the Keystone Kops paddywagon. He had been in Washington earlier in the week beating the drum for the oil sands to convince Americans that what was going on in northern Alberta was all very environmentally sustainable and safe. In what may be described as a moment of badly timed exuberance coupled with horribly bad judgement, in describing his multi million dollar flim-flam mission Stevens quoted the five year old words uttered by the moronic President of the United States about the Iraq War - "Mission Accomplished!"
As the major international media began to hover over the toxic pond and Alberta Legislature, Special Ed was back to his pre-campaign communication skills. Said Ed, the dead ducks were not a black mark on Alberta's green record, but rather a chance to show the world that Alberta "means business' in protecting the the environment. The sorry saga continues.
Showing posts with label Rob Renner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rob Renner. Show all posts
Friday, May 02, 2008
Saturday, March 31, 2007
ROB RENNER: GENIUS AT WORK
Environment Minister Rob Renner has been the MLA from Medicine Hat for 14 years. He was born in Medicine Hat. He will probably die there. He knows his City well and where it is on the map. He operated a family florist business there - which probably qualified him to be green enough for Fast Eddie to appoint him as his Environment Minister.
Renner's Legislative Assembly biography tells us that during the Dark Ages of the Klein years, he served as a Member of the Government's Agenda and Priorities Committee. Time has shown us, sadly enough, that the Agenda and Priorities Committee during that empty era had neither an agenda nor priorities.
The biography also states that during those Klein years, Renner served as Chair of both the Government's Health Professions Act Implementation Steering Committee and the Health Workforce Rebalancing Committee. His success in those jobs can be guaged by the acute shortage of Doctors, Nurses, and other trained medical staff that has plagued the Province now for at least a decade with no respite in sight.
The effectiveness of these Committees may be found in graveyards across the Province. It may also be observed in incubation treatment centers in Saskatoon caring for Calgary babies who can not be treated at home because of lack of facilities. So too it can be observed upon seeing expectant mothers miscarry in emergency wards while awaiting treatment, or being forced to carry dead foetuses in their bodies for days because of lack of space and service to treat such cases on a timely basis. Good work, indeed.
But there's more. Renner was Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Community Services. Its success in resolving issues such as homelessness, the availability of affordable housing or adequate funding for AISHE recipients, and the like is - well, to put it kindly - massively underwhelming.
And there's more. Renner was Co-Chair of the Automobile Insurance Implementation Team. In that capacity, he championed the cause of taking away the rights of citizens to receive reasonable damage awards for certain personal injuries by limiting awards to $4000 for pain and suffering, arguing that this would reduce automobile insurance premiums. The result: premiums have gone up and insurance companies have earned increased profits. The insurance companies got the mine. The little guy - as always during the Klein years - got the shaft.
So Fast Eddie, being obviously impressed with Renner's great record of success, made him Environment Minister.
This week in a speech given to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Renner was the Government's messenger respecting Alberta's growing contribution to Global Warming. As might have been expected, he stated what everyone - except the few remaining deniers, who in another lifetime would have argued that the earth was flat - already knew: that Alberta's greenhouse gas emissions are multiplying to the extent that by 2020 they could be 64% above the Kyoto benchmark, even taking into account expected technologically driven rate reductions. Therefore, intoned the Minister, government, industry and ordinary Albertans all have a role to play in reducing emmissions.
To further drive home his point Renner, obviously struggling for an analogy that his audience could grasp, resorted to something he knew something about - Medicine Hat and its hot summer climate. By 2080, said Renner, because of Alberta's continued belching of emissions, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray would have similar temperatures as Medicine Hat. And so, because of that fact, the emissions problem could no longer be ignored. Ah yes, it was a meaty speech indeed.
The only response from Fast Eddie's Government to the growing emissions problem is the reduction of intensity levels. Renner would explain it this way to his constituents in Medicine Hat: if one barrel of oil produces 10 units of emissions, then we are making headway if we can reduce that to one barrel producing say 8 units of emissions.
But if production is tripled to 3 barrels of oil from one, those 3 barrels produce 24 units of emissions instead of 8. Production increases by multiples are what is expected to happen in the oilsands over the next several years. In the Green Age, intensity level reductions as a solution to the emissions problem is not acceptable either to most Canadians or most of the rest of the enlightened world.
Now, just what are the chances of this Minister of the Environment spearheading a solution to the emissions problem?
About the chances of the survival of a snowball in Medicine Hat on a hot July day.
Renner's Legislative Assembly biography tells us that during the Dark Ages of the Klein years, he served as a Member of the Government's Agenda and Priorities Committee. Time has shown us, sadly enough, that the Agenda and Priorities Committee during that empty era had neither an agenda nor priorities.
The biography also states that during those Klein years, Renner served as Chair of both the Government's Health Professions Act Implementation Steering Committee and the Health Workforce Rebalancing Committee. His success in those jobs can be guaged by the acute shortage of Doctors, Nurses, and other trained medical staff that has plagued the Province now for at least a decade with no respite in sight.
The effectiveness of these Committees may be found in graveyards across the Province. It may also be observed in incubation treatment centers in Saskatoon caring for Calgary babies who can not be treated at home because of lack of facilities. So too it can be observed upon seeing expectant mothers miscarry in emergency wards while awaiting treatment, or being forced to carry dead foetuses in their bodies for days because of lack of space and service to treat such cases on a timely basis. Good work, indeed.
But there's more. Renner was Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Community Services. Its success in resolving issues such as homelessness, the availability of affordable housing or adequate funding for AISHE recipients, and the like is - well, to put it kindly - massively underwhelming.
And there's more. Renner was Co-Chair of the Automobile Insurance Implementation Team. In that capacity, he championed the cause of taking away the rights of citizens to receive reasonable damage awards for certain personal injuries by limiting awards to $4000 for pain and suffering, arguing that this would reduce automobile insurance premiums. The result: premiums have gone up and insurance companies have earned increased profits. The insurance companies got the mine. The little guy - as always during the Klein years - got the shaft.
So Fast Eddie, being obviously impressed with Renner's great record of success, made him Environment Minister.
This week in a speech given to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Renner was the Government's messenger respecting Alberta's growing contribution to Global Warming. As might have been expected, he stated what everyone - except the few remaining deniers, who in another lifetime would have argued that the earth was flat - already knew: that Alberta's greenhouse gas emissions are multiplying to the extent that by 2020 they could be 64% above the Kyoto benchmark, even taking into account expected technologically driven rate reductions. Therefore, intoned the Minister, government, industry and ordinary Albertans all have a role to play in reducing emmissions.
To further drive home his point Renner, obviously struggling for an analogy that his audience could grasp, resorted to something he knew something about - Medicine Hat and its hot summer climate. By 2080, said Renner, because of Alberta's continued belching of emissions, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray would have similar temperatures as Medicine Hat. And so, because of that fact, the emissions problem could no longer be ignored. Ah yes, it was a meaty speech indeed.
The only response from Fast Eddie's Government to the growing emissions problem is the reduction of intensity levels. Renner would explain it this way to his constituents in Medicine Hat: if one barrel of oil produces 10 units of emissions, then we are making headway if we can reduce that to one barrel producing say 8 units of emissions.
But if production is tripled to 3 barrels of oil from one, those 3 barrels produce 24 units of emissions instead of 8. Production increases by multiples are what is expected to happen in the oilsands over the next several years. In the Green Age, intensity level reductions as a solution to the emissions problem is not acceptable either to most Canadians or most of the rest of the enlightened world.
Now, just what are the chances of this Minister of the Environment spearheading a solution to the emissions problem?
About the chances of the survival of a snowball in Medicine Hat on a hot July day.
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