The Globe and Mail is reporting that Alberta was the worst polluting province in 2005. Alberta contributed 40% of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. Ontario ranked second (28%) and Saskatchewan third (8%). Alberta's number is excessively high considering the province only accounts for about 10% of the Canadian population. Ontario accounts for about 39% of Canadians, meaning we polute less than would be expected. Saskatchewan also overpolutes by population - only about 3% of Canadians live in that province.
Of more interest in my region (Southwestern Ontario), the Lambton Generating Station (a coal powered generating station) was the fifth worst polluter in Canada. Every once in awhile the Ontario Government suggests it is going to close LGS, and everytime that happens Sarnia-Lambtoners go haywire. The argument is that LGS has been retrofitted with clean technologies (apparently not though) and eventually the government backs down. Last time this happened even local MP Roger Gallaway stepped in to defend LGS (in his defence, we were nearing a federal election and he had his job to worry about). LGS provides a lot of jobs in the area, but surely we can phase out the station and bring a new industry to replace it. I know this would mean a lot of people would need to retrain, but that's just industry. I'm campaigning for the closure of LGS. I don't care if Sarnia-Lambton doesn't like it.
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Conservative Environment Minister John Baird (Ottawa West-Nepean) says his government wants "to be part of, and provide leadership around the world for, negotiation of a new pact that will go farther than Kyoto in the years ahead." According to the Globe and Mail article, Baird also wants to bring the US, China and India into the process. Sounds great John, but here's a translation for those not so fluent in Tory-speak. "In the years ahead" means not now, but maybe before the next new millenium scare starts. "Be part of, and provide leadership around the world for" means we want to take the focus of our inaction by pretending to talk to other states. Finally, by saying they want to bring the US, China and India into the process, Baird means he wants to be able to blame his failure on someone else. Kudos John - way to lower the price of talk.
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Here's a message I got on Facebook from Stephane Dion (that's right, we're friends):
I will be in Toronto for St. Patrick's Day, hope you can join me for a green drink. Below are details for the event:
Date: Saturday, March 17
Location: Ram in the Rye Pub at Ryerson
Address: 63 Gould Street
Time: 4-6 PM
Now this is a leader I can get behind! Any politician who likes to pound back the green suds on St Paddy's Day has my full support! The only question: Why only for two hours? Come on Stephane, you can't drink enough in two hours! ...or can you? Challenge accepted.
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Ho-hum: Palestinians announce new cabinet, Israel refuses to work with it. In Israel's defence, the new cabinet (according to the Globe and Mail) still has representitives of the terrorist organization Hamas.
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No political alliances in the next election for Dion and the Liberals. No problem, we'll win anyway.*
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The great Ken Dryden (York Centre), who helped the greatest sports team in the history of the universe to 6 league championships in only 8 seasons, is now trying to save Darfur. Good luck.
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That's it for now. I'm cutting this short because my interest has been pulled elsewhere. Hope you enjoyed!
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* Political trash talk starts here, but, admittedly, is not as cool as other forms of trash talk, like sports-related trash talk.
Next time you see your friend Stephane, can you please ask him why he tries to take credit for naming his dog "Kyoto" when his predecessor Mr. Anderson, in 1999, was the one that did it first? Also, I believe Mr. Dion has a rather big, large-size dog, whose dung probably emits as much CO2 as does a small-size SUV! Am I missing something about climate change?
ReplyDeleteWill you ask your parents why they try to take credit for naming their son "Patrick" when someone long ago was the one that did it first?
ReplyDeleteAs for Mr. Dion's dog's dung: does dung emit CO2? If so, does the dung, which acts as a fertilizer (I'm assuming it does, like cow manure does), negate its negative impact by helping trees grow larger and therefore breath more CO2 and exhaust more oxygen?
Finally, yes, you are missing something about climate change...not really certain what it is, but I think with proper co-operation and dedication, we can figure it out. What do you say?
I can almost see the outcome now: right-wing Conservative works with hard-core Lefty-Liberal in an attempt to understand and solve climate change, and end up discovering there is indeed life on Mars!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure dung emits something -- ask a Greenie and I'm sure you'll be told it's bad for the environment. With everything being GHG and climate change these days, I just assumed that somehow, dog dung was emitting a gas that was polluting our environment!
If we end up discovering life on Mars I think that will be a good sign we're looking in the wrong place. Of course, if there is life on Mars, they've been hiding for eons, so they're probably pretty smart. That could mean they have the secret we're looking for. I guess in that respect Mars might not be a bad place to start afterall. I like how you're thinking outside of the box!
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