Good Sunday Morning!
You may be forgiven for wondering if I ever have a theme in mind when I start writing. Some Saturday mornings yes; others, not so much. Today I do. This letter could be headed “Your tax dollars at work!” From childhood, I remember those proclamations on billboards, usually at roadside in construction of public works. Increasingly, I see wasted dollars accelerating the climate crisis, often covered in a green-washing sheen. Your tax dollars at work – LNG billboards on the Pat Bay highway, Liberal and NDP campaign slogans and building the pipeline.
I had a rare chance this week to speak for twenty minutes in the chamber, uninterrupted by heckling. The occasion was the days’ long debate on a matter of privilege. Which is the archaic and unusual procedure when the Speaker finds that the House of Commons as a whole has had its rights violated by the government. This debate was over the failure of the government to turn over documents related to the scandal within a previously effective arms-length fund called Sustainable Development Technology Canada—founded under Chretien’s government and only recently descended into a mess of conflict of interest and run-of-the-mill grifting.
Of course, the Conservatives have seized on this as a “Liberal Green slush fund.” It was not that, but it does deserve a full airing and investigation, which is what I tried to explain in my speech. I identified three kinds of “corruption.” First is the one everyone first thinks of—using public funds for personal enrichment. There is not much of that in this story. The second is of a breakdown in government oversight as to how funds are dispersed—your basic “value for money” question. There is a lot of that in the SDTC mess. The Auditor General has already exposed that part of the story. And lastly, what most in this debate are missing, the corruption that wants public funds spent in an ongoing propaganda campaign to defend spending public money in disguised subsidies to Big Oil. The spending of hundreds of millions of dollars going to the oil sands industry for the fraud known as “Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage.” There is a lot of that kind of corruption in the SDTC recent mess. I broke down all three of these elements in my 20 minutes. It is a lot to watch, but if you have time, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBstu7wii44
The other elements of your tax dollars at work that came to light this week are two more egregious examples of our Crown corporation-owning pipeline company—Trans Mountain— wasting tens of millions of dollars more. First exposed by the Narwhal, contracting McKinsey to help “save” money: https://thenarwhal.ca/trans-mountain-paid-mckinsey/
Trans Mountain paid McKinsey over $32M to save money as pipeline costs exploded.
And even more offensive, if such is possible. Without any fanfare and posted on the Burnaby municipal website, a $20 million bribe to shut down their criticism of the threat to public safety posed by TMX. https://globalnews.ca/news/10791697/burnaby-trans-mountain-agreement/
I agree with Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch that this should not be legal in Canada.
This from the Global news article: “Among the commitments is an agreement that the parties to the deal will cease ‘any negative public communications’ about one another; whether based on fact or opinion or otherwise; and; including any communication regarding past disputes.’ The parties must also send any press releases that reference each other to the other party ahead of publication, and the City of Burnaby must remove all negative public communications about Trans Mountain from its website.
Meanwhile in real climate news Hurricane Helene has devastated much of North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida and still right-wing politicians embrace conspiracy theories that the Democrats “control the weather.” https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/marjorie-taylor-greene-they-control-weather-hurricane-helene-rcna174107
The science behind how the hurricane did so much damage over so many states is explained here:
Meanwhile, in Parliament we have nonsensical debates in which Conservatives attack Liberals claiming the Jasper fire was the fault of Parks Canada and taunting them with “carbon taxes don’t put out fires.”
A federal election could come sooner than I last thought, but right now the strongest climate action signal possible is for the BC Greens and NB Greens to pick up lots of seats in the two October elections.
In other news, I am sad to share John’s press release that he is not on the ballot. He is still down with Covid, but feels on the mend.
Press release:
“I was looking forward to challenging the other candidates on their parties’ lack of initiative on climate change, a growing cause of damage and heartbreak all over our region, and to presenting solid Green policies for housing, health care, drug addiction and rural community support.” Kidder said. “I was so confident about getting the necessary signatures that I left it until the last possible week, and getting sick made it impossible. I am very sorry to have let down my friends, colleagues and supporters. I apologize to the citizens of Cariboo-Chilcotin for my failure to provide them with an option to the polarized old-line choices they are left with.”
“I did not intend to recommend either the NDP or the Conservatives to voters who no longer have a Green option. Both continue to promote fracking and exporting methane, now both want to get rid of the price on carbon, and among many other failures, both have regressive positions on helping people with drug poisoning. No good choice there.” said Kidder. “But this morning’s revelations that Mr. Rustad would repeal the landmark BC legislation adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples tips the balance. He is not suitable to be premier. The Conservative candidate in our riding is a fine hard-working representative, but he does not deserve his leader. Nor do the people in Cariboo-Chilcotin.”
As John pointed out, pushing LNG boosts GHG emissions, evidence buttressed by this new study, here covered by Mother Jones:
I hope you all have a good week ahead. Tomorrow will be shrouded in the grief of the anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas on civilians in Israel. It is without doubt a horrific tragedy for which an illegal terrorist organization is responsible. But the shock waves of retribution and its aftermath of spiraling violence has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of more innocents. Pray for peace, stand in solidarity against all forms of hatred—whether against Jews, Palestinians or Muslims. None of this must be allowed to stand or be justified.
Love and thanks!
Elizabeth