The Health implications in terms of these projects are vast, and not just the deadly explosions and industrial accidents that happen in production-—from reported increases in rare forms of cancer downstream from tar sands production to the pollution of fresh water leading to poisoned diets (fish, moose and plant toxicity)—-direct links are hard to establish but impossible to either rule out or ignore, especially where tarsand operations constitute overwhelmingly the greatest change to the environment in most corners of the continent effected directly by tarsand infrastructure.
Georgia Straight April 3, 2008
The coming food catastrophe
By Gwynne Dyer
This is the new face of hunger, said Josette Sheeran, executive
director of the UNs World Food Programme, launching an appeal for an
extra $500 million so it could continue supplying food aid to 73 million
hungry people this year. People are simply being priced out of food
marketsWe have never before had a situation where aggressive rises in
food prices keep pricing our operations out of our reach.
Whale risks rise in Robson Bight
Times Colonist
Monday, April 07, 2008
Governments' poor performance in dealing with a truck full of diesel fuel on the bottom of Robson Bight raises concerns about proposals for more tanker traffic and offshore oil and gas development.
The federal and provincial governments have expressed support for both, although the Harper government has not lifted the offshore drilling moratorium in place since the early 1970s. Both governments promise tough environmental controls as part of any change.
Oilsands opponents emerge
Group seeks exploration permit freeze; Environmental assessment needed during exploration phase, society says
Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix
Published: Wednesday, April 02, 2008
A Saskatchewan environmental group has asked the provincial government to freeze oilsands exploration permits until a regional environmental assessment is completed in northwest Saskatchewan.
Iraq War
Five years of war in Iraq have hit home in Edmonton
DAVID BERRY / david@vueweekly.com
The further we get away from the actual date, the better Canada’s decision to not get involved with the US invasion of Iraq looks. Five years after the US launched its ill-conceived assault on the Middle Eastern nation, there aren’t many—except perhaps those in the highest offices of the American government—who consider the situation anything but a quagmire.
Clip from the article below:
He said Alberta, because of its ongoing labour woes, has become "ground zero" for the Temporary Foreign Worker program, which has expanded into "a huge social and economic experiment that's in the process of going horribly wrong."
**
Contamination threatens the North Coast way of life
Iain Hunter, Special to Times Colonist
Published: Saturday, March 29, 2008
I'm told that when other people in British Columbia turn off a few lights at 8 p.m. today to observe Earth Hour, the folks in Hartley Bay are making a bit more of a sacrifice by shutting down the town's only generator.
It's said to be a dry run for the day when they can close the thing down for good and switch to greener and safer hydro generation, for they've been reminded what could lie ahead.
Tar Sands Exploration in Saskatchewan: The Environmental Impacts
Global Research, March 31, 2008
Saskatchewan Environmental Society
ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL FOR FREEZE ON OIL SANDS EXPLORATION PERMITS
Alberta hit with 800 complaints from foreign workers
Accommodation, unfair wage deductions cited
Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Just a day before a House of Commons committee meets in Edmonton to discuss the issue of temporary foreign workers, the province revealed it has received more than 800 complaints from foreign labourers in the past 31/2 months.
The most common complaints revolve around perceived unfair wage deductions, fees charged by recruitment agencies and accommodation issues.
Groups slam foreign worker program
By BROOKES MERRITT, SUN MEDIA
Alberta's temporary foreign worker program has no oversight and is mired in so much bureaucracy that employers are allowed to treat hopeful immigrants like indentured labour.
That's what a federal committee travelling Canada to examine immigration issues heard in Edmonton yesterday, during a lengthy meeting in which several interest groups blasted the provincial and federal governments.
'INHERENTLY EXPLOITIVE'
Tar sands: environmental justice and Native rights
"The river used to be blue. Now it's brown. Nobody can fish or drink from it. The air is bad. This has all happened so fast."
by Clayton Thomas-Müller
March 25, 2008
The application of treaty rights as a legal strategy implemented by the First Nations themselves must be the key focus in efforts to challenge Big Oil in Alberta.
