A thoughtful reader recently compared me to a crazy uncle; someone worth poking at the dinner table because a deranged and/or laughable opinion is sure to burst forth. Since I uncompromisingly strive for accurate self-knowledge, a quick review of recent output indicated that he was not off the mark. On the other hand, beyond the sheer entertainment value of provoking curmudgeons, analyzing bombastic examples of these singular opinions can be valuable in pointing out the dangers of becoming too [Read more]
Two adversarial countries, a lawless bombed-out third, and a terrorist organization come together to build a pipeline, and Canada can’t
An Afghan, a Pakistani, an Indian, and a Turk..menistanian walk into a bar. No wait, into a pipeline meeting. No wait, this isn’t a joke, it’s…I don’t even know what it is. Perhaps just best to describe it as a profound illustration of how coagulated and paralyzed Canada has become. The group above - these four enemies/anarchies/survivors - found enough common ground to build a massive international natural gas pipeline at a cost of over $10 billion. It gets weirder; an elder statesman in [Read more]
Halo goodbye: Elon Musk’s planet-fouling rockets cover his golden aura with soot
Elon Musk has earned his stellar reputation from both an environmental and entrepreneurial perspective. He has done a spectacular job of creating original new businesses, particularly against the wave of supposedly educated opinions that continually label his schemes as hopeless. We forget how impossible it seemed to get the first Tesla car launched; most of the auto industry scoffed at his plan to use lithium ion batteries. His success made a lot of learned industry veterans look like [Read more]
The wine stopped flowing and the light went on – so that’s what economic consequences look like
For a brief moment in its history, Alberta’s list of unacceptable interprovincial baggage included two things: rats and BC wine. The rat trade has never amounted to much, what with Alberta’s natural borders and elite (but not over-romanticized) rat fighting forces, and BC’s admirable restraint in not exporting them. Fortunately, the wine blockade ended before similar liquor-sniffing border patrols were activated, but the halt in wine imports was around long enough to prove a point very [Read more]
Fellow citizens on the coasts: 50 million petroleum barrels move safely through global marine terminals every day; Canada is as capable as anyone
When I was a kid, my dad came home from his forestry job one day with an eye injury. A tree branch had attacked him and he showed us stitches on his eyeball. I was very young, but I still remember instantly feeling clammy and faint. For the rest of his life every time I looked him in the eye the scar was all I could see and I could feel myself turning pale, which, now that I think about it, may have been fairly annoying for him. For the rest of my life I’ve had random episodes of nauseousness [Read more]
Column: TransCanada’s baffling clumsiness is crushing some excellent natural gas producers
“Kindly let me help you or you’ll drown,” said the monkey, putting the fish safely up in a tree. Maybe TransCanada has been worn down by the demented pipeline approvals process. Maybe they’re an $80 billion dollar company that sees things differently than when Western Canada was of significance. Maybe they’re down in Phoenix, so calloused by the Energy East and Keystone fights they can’t hear anymore. They sure aren’t in Calgary in any conscious way, because if they were they’d be a [Read more]
From BC wineries to Canadian business to natives, Trans Mountain protesters are hurting us all with zero environmental benefits to show for it
There is a palpable sense of frustration building across the land at Canada’s inability to build anything. A snapshot of news headlines this cold wintry day lists this and this and this, from a variety of mainstream news organizations. The current BC standoff is, fundamentally, not up for debate. Federal jurisdiction over waterways is the law of the land. It is in Alberta, when a pipeline must cross a river, or any activity comes near a natural waterway. It is on the coasts, all of them, and [Read more]
Ontario greenhouse gas progress report: Selective observations from math deniers turn useful information into propaganda
An excellent article was recently posted on Huffington Post by an attendee of the Trans Mountain pipeline hearings in BC. The writer lamented the fact that despite being honest and heartfelt, most interveners really had no clue what they were talking about. Many were sincere nature lovers, or worried about a stand of trees near their house, or ideologically suspicious of the sincerity of profit seeking enterprises…but it was obvious that most had not even read the NEB submission and thus did not [Read more]
Saudi-Russian oil market collaboration – two wily media manipulators’ farcical drama should give pause for thought
Foreign policy is generally a pretty staid business. Things move slowly and cautiously because a lot is at stake, and rash moves can have huge repercussions. Some, however, utilize that cautiousness for tactical advantage, and two of the very best have now teamed up. Of all the instability in the world, you’d think the poster child would be Donald “The Walking Force Majeure” Trump, but his ability to fully flex his considerable craziness is marginally (but effectively) restrained by the US [Read more]
The US exports natural gas in every direction; Canada’s comatose single market strategy squanders a vital national resource
Legend has it that a well-known saying originated in an American inquiry into a major transportation incident. As the story goes, a farmer was testifying about an accident he witnessed while out working in the fields. A head-on collision between two trains occurred right in front of him. In trying to get to the bottom of exactly what happened, the farmer was asked what his thoughts were immediately following the accident. He said, “Well, I thought that’s a hell of a way to run a [Read more]
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