All posts by Common Sense Canadian

Keystone XL Protest Arrests Include Former Obama Campaign Writer

August 31, 2011Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Tar SandsAlberta Tar Sands, Keystone XL, Oil and gasCommon Sense Canadian

Read this article form the Huffington Post on the arrest of Elijah Zarlin, a former new media writer for the Obama campaign, at the protests in Washington, DC over the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to the US Gulf Coast.

“Like many of the 2,000 volunteers who have signed up to participate in
the White House sit-ins, Zarlin, who now works as a campaign manager at
CREDO Action, is calling on Obama to block approval of TransCanada’s
Keystone XL. The oil pipeline would run from the Canadian tar sands in
Alberta to refineries on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.” (Aug 30, 2011)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/30/keystone-xl-pipeline-protest-obama-writer-arrested_n_942523.html

Vancouver Sun: Province Changes Mind, Agrees Salmon Farm Audits Should be Public

August 31, 2011Oceans, Salmon Farming and AquacultureAquaculture, cohen commission, SalmonCommon Sense Canadian

Read this story from the Vancouver Sun’s Cohen Commission reporter, Gordon Hoekstra, on the Province’s u-turn from opposing the release of salmon farm audit records.

“The environmental groups, including the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon
Society and the Raincoast Research Society, had argued the audit
information was important to make public because it would give more
insight into what types of diseases are occurring at salmon farms. Symptoms
of salmon diseases like marine anemia, sometimes called a leukemia, are
described in the audit data, environmentalist and commission
participant Alexandra Morton said Tuesday during a break in the inquiry.” (Aug 31, 2011)

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Province+allows+release+salmon+audits/5332306/story.html#ixzz1WcNOeHOy

Gerry Hummel Cartoon: Private Power Thieves

August 27, 2011Canada, Politics, WATER, Western CanadaCartoon, ipp, Politics, private river power, Water and EnergyCommon Sense Canadian

In the wake of the panel report on BC Hydro and the media firestorm over costly private power projects we plainly don’t need, our cartoonist Gerry Hummel gives us his take on the robbery of taxpayers and ratepayers this program represents.

Rafe & Damien on EVOTV (Part 2)

August 23, 2011Canada, Politics, WATER, Western CanadaPolitics, Salmon, Video, Water and EnergyCommon Sense Canadian

Watch part 2 of Rafe and Damien’s discussion on Shaw’s EVOTV, with host Irma Arkus. In this episode, the pair talk wild salmon and aquaculture, private power and environmental politics in BC. Damien Gillis: “This isn’t free enterprise – it’s piracy. It’s a bunch of people looking out for their pals – global corporations that have taken over our whole system of governance; and it’s about whether we’re going to get back to common sense, public-oriented policy.” (30 min – taped in late July) Watch Part 1

Tanker Free BC Part 1

August 17, 2011UncategorizedCommon Sense Canadian

EVO TV presents a panel discussion headed by Irma Arkus, with Ben West, Rex Weyler, and Christianne Wilhelmson.

Rafe & Damien on EVOTV (Part 1)

August 15, 2011Energy and Resources, Oil&Gas, Pipelines and Supertankers, Tar Sands, WATERAlberta Tar Sands, BC Oil Pipelines and Supertankers, Enbridge, KinderMorgan, Oil and gas, rafe mair, Salmon, Video, Water and EnergyCommon Sense Canadian

Rafe Mair and Damien Gillis discuss The Common Sense Canadian and their coverage of key environmental and public policy issues in BC and Canada on Shaw’s EVOTV, with host Irma Arkus. The three cover a wide range of issues in the half hour program – from private river power and the state of BC Hydro to oil pipelines and supertankers on our coast, natural gas fracking, coal mines, salmon farms and the Cohen Commission into disappearing Fraser River sockeye. (Aug 8, 2011)

Gov’t spending $100,000 plus on PR site renovations

August 11, 2011Canada, Politics, Western CanadaPoliticsCommon Sense Canadian

Article by Sean Holman at Public Eye Online. “According to records obtained by Public Eye via a freedom of
information request, Pennsylvania-based After6 Services LLC. received
$55,441 to setup the software powering the new ‘Digital Hub BC
Newsroom.’

“Another $43,085 will go to Liberal-connected Backbone Technology Ltd.
That includes the $16,685 the company has already received to design
the hub and another $2,000 per month to host the site.

“Backbone Technology is the same firm that has worked for the BC
Liberals since 2001, setting up a private intranet for its executive, as
well as the party’s Website.”

Are You a Banker or a Gambler?

August 10, 2011UncategorizedfisheriesCommon Sense Canadian

Article by Jennifer Langston at Sightline Daily. “Not every commercial fisherman is convinced that curbing carbon
emissions is necessary to stop global warming. But the evidence that
fossil fuel pollution is making the oceans more corrosive—and removing
basic building blocks of the marine world—starts to get their attention.”

Where the caribou roam

August 9, 2011Uncategorizedspecies at riskCommon Sense Canadian

Editorial from the Ottawa Citizen: Environment Minister Peter Kent has acknowledged that only a drastic
recovery plan can save some of the threatened herds of woodland caribou
across the country. Kent, calling growing environmental concerns about
the migratory animals legitimate, says the federal government is
responding. A recovery plan is expected in the next few weeks.

UBCM “Best Practice” and “Excellence awards” are for CAO’s

July 25, 2011Canada, Politics, WATER, Western CanadaPolitics, Water and EnergyCommon Sense Canadian

The Union of BC Municipalities is a powerful bureaucracy, forging education, political policies, directives and awards for excellence. Good intentions have resulted in unintended consequences because ‘best practices’ and ‘excellence awards’ are not community based decision making, and the benefactors are not the communities, but chief administrators.

How? Can you imagine how much prestige and awe you would accrue, if you could format or implement ‘best management practices’ and obtain a $10 Million grant for your community? You might be in demand to obtain millions for other small towns all over BC and possibly across Canada, find yourself receiving ‘excellence awards’ and happily implementing more ‘best practices’ elsewhere.

But wait a minute… ‘Best management practices’ are in the Request for Decision regarding Cayoosh Creek campground in 2011. Would anyone put that parched brown and almost empty campsite into the ‘best practice’ in any category? The treatment of the previous campsite operators with a promise of a new lease for over a year? Putting forth District plans to the Chamber of Commerce prior to alerting the operators of their loss of home and livelihood? The LRA find nothing excellent in this.

The $10,127,000 ‘water’ tax grant? We have already published details for everyone’s scrutiny in ‘Not One Thin Dime’, Lillooet News, July 6, 2011.

The 2010 tax assessment comparisons (available online) show per capita costs for Ashcroft $293, Barriere $256, Cache Creek $112, 100 Mile $281, Oliver $184, Pemberton $284 and Lillooet at $336. Lillooet proposes (per the $10,127,000 grant) to increase $250 per year, along with water metering charges. What is ‘best practice’ when it chases gardeners away from their growing paradise? What is ‘best practice’ when increasing our carbon footprint with more pumps for water delivery?

The intention of the UBCM ‘best practices’ and ‘awards for excellence’ with respect to certain matters fall far short of beneficial to Lillooet.

On another note, the Premier’s office is contemplating a new bureaucrat or bureaucracy called ‘Municipal Auditor General’ and ‘best practices’ were referenced in conversations. One comment stated emphatically ‘the new municipal auditor general should be at arms length from the UBCM.’ Those on the feedback side seemed to be in accord on that point.

The only way to work for change in any community is by voting in councilors with the entire community at heart.

Anne-Marie Anderson
Secretary/Treasurer
Lillooet Ratepayers Association