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February 19, 2008
Being told by environmentalists that no more new tar sands projects should be brought on stream because the environmental and other impacts are already too severe to handle, Alberta Premier Stelmach argues you can't "shut down" the tar sands.
Actually nobody is demanding that the tar sands be "shut down" but Premier Stelmach is obviously concerned -- as are the oil companies -- where the slippery slope of any thoughtful, rationalized public regulation of the valuable, publicly-owed tar sands resource might lead.
Premier Stelmach asks "What are you going to do with the 600,000 new Albertans (who have come to Alberta to accelerate exploitation of the tar sands)?" You've got to give Premier Stelmach credit for that one. That's logic that goes around in a perfect, invincible circle. You need to keep accelerating exploitation of the tar sands to provide jobs for the people who've been brought to Alberta to accelerate exploitation of the tar sands.
And that doesn't even include all of those thousands of new Albertans who will need to be brought to Alberta to continue accelerating exploitation of the tar sands. What are you going to do with them if you don't keep accelerating exploitation of the tar sands?
More ominous than the potential unemployment of all of those people coming to Alberta to accelerate exploitation of the tar sands if exploitation of the tar sands is not continually accelerated is the prospect that some of these thousands of new Albertans being brought to Alberta to accelerate exploitation of the tar sands might actually think about the sense of what Premier Stelmach is saying instead of just accepting it as an article of faith in the religion of Alberta Conservatism. What are you going to do about them? That's the real problem.
Just feeding more unthinking bodies into the oil industry money-making machine isn't really a problem unless you're some kind of fuzzy thinking tree hugger. Having to bring new people into Alberta who might actually think about the precepts of the religion of Alberta Conservatism. That's the real worry.
Included below are a couple of news articles, one about protest against run amuck tar sands exploitation and the other about the political wildcard new Albertans hold in the upcoming provincial election.
Katherine O'Neill
The Globe and Mail
February 19, 2008 at 5:29 Am Est
Fort Mcmurray, Alta. — Back home, Dave Penney always voted Liberal.
But now that the 54-year-old is an Albertan, having moved thousands of kilometres west three years ago from Cape Breton to Fort McMurray to work in the oil sands, he's not sure where his political allegiances lie.
"Right now, I'm leaning towards the Tories. But there's really not much of a choice to be honest," Mr. Penney said, when asked which party he plans to support when Alberta goes to the polls on March 3.
"I don't like what the Liberals are offering. At least with the Tories in power," he added, the good times will keep rolling.
The Alberta Progressive Conservatives, which have governed the province since 1971, are seeking their 11th straight majority government.
While oil-rich Fort McMurray, 435 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, has been a magnet for many of Alberta's newcomers, other cities and towns have also seen their populations swell during the energy-fuelled economic boom that's transformed the province in recent years.
Political observers are now wondering if these thousands of newbies will also help transform its politics, which have a storied history of dynasties. Power has changed hands only three times since the province was born 103 years ago.
Chaldeans Mensah, a political scientist at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, said the new Albertans will be an unpredictable and "unknown factor" in this election.
Between 2001 and 2006, more than 225,000 people relocated to Alberta from other provinces. Last year alone, 70,000 people moved here. Overall, about 2.5 million people are eligible to vote.
Most of the newcomers eagerly flooded into the debt-free province seeking its jobs and prosperity. However, they have also experienced the boom's downsides: skyrocketing rents and housing costs, acute shortages of doctors and nurses, crowded roads and other daily hassles.
As a result, Mr. Mensah expects the newcomers might be more motivated to vote and could influence the outcomes of some races. The bulk of these people live in urban ridings, which are expected to be where most of the election's most hotly contested races will be fought.
Before the election was called, the Tories held 60 of the 83 seats in the legislature, with rural Alberta being its key power base.
Still, political parties such as the Alberta Liberals, eager to make major gains during this election, are already eyeing the new voters, hopeful they will embrace them as an agent of change at the polls. The Liberals haven't governed the province since 1921.
Jim Gurnett, executive director of the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, can't recall another election - at any level of government - that has attracted this much attention from its clients. "People are really interested. We are hearing lots of quite animated discussions," he said. The centre, which helps immigrants settle, has put together a non-partisan leaflet to help newcomers understand and gather information about the contest.
But getting Alberta's newest residents out to the polls could be a challenge. For example, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, the sprawling northeastern Alberta riding that includes Fort McMurray, has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the province.
In 2001, voter turnout was 38 per cent. In 2004, it plunged to 26 per cent when Tory incumbent Guy Boutilier beat out the Liberal candidate by close to 2,500 votes.
"I haven't heard one person talk about the election," said Guy Lear, who runs a mobile seafood shop out of a truck in the parking lot of Fort McMurray's Wal-Mart.
Most of his customers are transplants from Atlantic Canada. So is he: originally from Newfoundland, he moved to Calgary during the last boom in the 1980s. His best sellers are cod and cod cheeks and tongues.
Mr. Penney also hasn't heard much election talk. "You aren't hearing it, at least on the work site. People are busy - busy making money."
He wants the Tories to address one of his key election issues: the environment.
"The oil sands are the biggest polluter in Canada. I know I make my money off it, but they are killing the rivers that flow north," he said. "I love the outdoors, but even I won't hunt or fish up here. I always go south or somewhere else, away from here."
But he wouldn't even consider voting for the Green Party of Alberta because he considers it a "wasted vote" in a province where one party seems to have such a lock on power.
Shukri Maskhut is hopeful Alberta's future as the country's economic powerhouse emerges as an issue during the final days of the 28-day campaign.
The 37-year-old moved to Fort McMurray from Toronto last year because he feared Ontario's economy is becoming "too unstable and troubled." He originally immigrated to Canada from Libya 17 years ago.
"This is the place to be," said the construction worker, as he shopped at a busy Mediterranean grocery located in a strip mall on Franklin Avenue, Fort McMurray's main street. "But it's not the Tories policies that have done this. It's the oil."
Mr. Maskhut is concerned the Conservatives have no real plan for the province and its enormous wealth.
He's eager to cast his first vote as an Albertan. "I will vote Liberal," he said. "I voted for them in Toronto. I will do the same here."
By Brookes Merritt
Sun Media
February 19, 2008
Greenpeace has Eddie's number.
The environmental group ambushed the premier for a second time on the campaign trail yesterday, dogging him over the Tory plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 14% over 42 years.
'Better Balance Needed'
"Albertans have repeatedly told this premier that we can't put any more tarsands projects online. That we need better balance and that the impacts are already too severe for Albertans to handle ... in terms of their air, water and quality of life. But it's something he has completely ignored," Greenpeace protester Mike Hudema, 31, said, pausing briefly from using his bullhorn.
He said global warming experts advocate reductions of as much as 90% by that time.
Waving placards denouncing oilsands projects, Hudema and other protesters were set up outside the office of Castledowns MLA Thomas Lukaszuk, where Stelmach was making an education announcement.
About 200 Conservative supporters gathered to hear Stelmach promise limits on tuition increases and cuts to student loan rates.
They cheered at his comments about strong Conservative values but remained silent when he shared details of the education plan.
The real fireworks took place outside as Stelmach walked back to his tour bus, where the protesters waited.
An elderly Tory supporter heckled Hudema as Hudema heckled Stelmach.
"You say we're going to kill 10 million people. Alberta's air is the cleanest in the world. All other cities have stinky air that tastes disgusting," the senior citizen screamed at the Greenpeace protesters.
His rant continued, at times louder than the bullhorn.
Stelmach once again defended his environmental plan as "achievable and realistic.
"To simply say shut (the oilsands) down ... what are you going to do with the 600,000 (new Albertans working) here?" he said.
The premier has thrown out the 600,000 number before while defending his plan, but has yet to cite a source for the figure.
Meanwhile, the NDP dismissed Stelmach's promise to reduce student loan interest rates by 2.5% and limit tuition increases to the rate of inflation.
Mason Weighs In
Leader Brian Mason called them "nickel and dime" proposals.
The Tories say an average student would save about $250 in interest payments in their first year after graduation.
"I just scratch my head. How does (Stelmach) think $250 is going to make a difference to students graduating over $10,000 in debt?" Mason said.
"We are calling for tuition fees to be cut, meanwhile the premier is promising to let them keep rising."
The Liberals have promised to reduce tuition by up to $1,000 per year.
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