Go Fly a Kite

Episode 60 of This Is Toronto is now available!

This latest edition features WindFest - Toronto's Waterfront Kite Festival.

www.thisistorontopodcast.blogspot.com

NEXT EPISODE: Sept. 23, 2011

Made In Your Neighborhood

Episode 32 of This Is Toronto is now available!!!

The Freedom Clothing Collective is an eco-friendly store that supports local artists and designers. However, it's more than just a clothing store.

www.thisistorontopodcast.blogspot.com

NEXT EPISODE: Aug. 27, 2010

Companies Responsibility Rated with Scryve

Want to know what a company is really like before you do business? Scryve is a new web site/tool to help you find out. Scryve rates companies on a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being the best) on their environmental and community responsibility.

So, for example Wal Mart rates a 3:

"Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Fossil fuels fuel their revenue. Their centralized inventory means that goods travel enormous distances to arrive at their final destination. That same system also means that there is very little likelihood of walmart stores being a significant supporter of local economic efforts with out a lot of effort and long term commitment to change. They dispose of materials in an unsatisfactory way..."

General Motors, despite some recent progress, still ranks a 2:

"In early 2008, the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) ranked GM as the 19th worst polluter in the US on its Toxic 100 Index. This organization is an independent branch of the University of Massachusetts and seeks to promote human rights and environmental sustainability with the use of research. Some of the criteria that are used to rank the Toxic 100 Index include the amount of emissions, the toxicity of the emissions and how close the plant is to large population areas."

And Starbucks ranks a surprising 6

"A significant proportion of this company's income is generated by goods that support a healthy environment. The environmental impact is clearly an important factor in their decision making process, and reduction of greenhouse gasses has been a priority. We see this as a strong step towards them becoming responsible stewards of this world. Starbucks Corporation Fossil fuels fuel their revenue; a lot of effort and long term commitment is the only way these guys will ever be green. They dispose of materials in an unsatisfactory way."

If you'd like to check the rating of the companies you do business with, or work for visit scryve.com. Scryve is a wiki, which means if you know alot about a particular company you can contribute and share your information. I'll try to include Scryve ratings as I continue the Truth series.

Chalk River Set to Spill Some More

From David Akin's blog On the Hill: While Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt is correct in saying that there has been no radio active leak into the Ottawa River (though it has leaked into the air) she is only correct in that it hasn't happened yet. It's going to though. According to documents tabled in the house (PDF) Chalk River is planning on dumping water into the river.

"In instances of handling water with tritium, which is not removed in the treatment process, concentration levels dictate whether the water will be stored or released. Releases from AECL's Waste Treatment Centre are carefully monitored and released at a controlled rate, subject to provincial and federal regulatory limits. AECL routinely monitors water in the Ottawa River for concentration of tritium. For example downstream from Chalk River Labs, at Petawawa, tritium concentrations in the Ottawa River are similar to the naturally-occurring level upstream of Chalk River, and negligible compared to the Canadian drinking water standard."

Again, the Harper Government which re-opened the plant over objections and warnings from regulators and then fired the regulators, bears full responsibility.

One Million Acts of Green (and one act of borrowing ideas)

The CBC is in a celebratory mood today, their Million Acts of Green campaign has reached the one million mark. It's great that they've done this and that people have pitched in to the extent that they have. What I've wanted to hear though, since they started this campaign, is a shout out to the people that they borrowed the idea from.

If you're on Facebook you already know I Am Green application. It asked people to commit to small acts of "Green" told everyone about what everyone else was doing and kept totals for individuals and collectively about how much of an impact was made and how much was saved in carbon emissions.

At about the same time that 'I Am Green' appeared the World Wildlife Fund in Canada launched The Good Life. It asked people to commit to small acts of "Green" told everyone about what everyone else was doing and kept totals for individuals and collectively about how much of an impact was made and how much was saved in carbon emissions.

About a year ago Gerard Kennedy of the Liberals showed up at my door. He said he was starting a campaign for the riding where everyone would be asked to commit to small acts of green and individual and running totals would be kept so that the Conservatives would know that the neighborhood was serious about the environment. When I told him that the World Wildlife Fund was already doing that, his response (as I remember it) was 'well the more the merrier'.

That's true. Anyone who can get anyone to become more green helps overall and makes the world a better place, and kudos to Strombo and the CBC for doing this, but it wasn't their idea. Someone at the Ceeb must have known about 'I Am Green' or 'the Good Life' but there is no acknowledgement that the idea is borrowed, no links to other sites where you could get some ideas about going green. It would appear, reading the about page, that they thought it up all on their own - the CBC, George Stroumboulopoulos and Cisco:

"This season, CBC and The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos want to mobilize Canadians to do One Million Acts of Green. In partnership with Cisco, the idea behind the campaign is that one small act can make a big difference."

So while I do many things to try and make a difference and I'm a member of the Good Life and I Am Green I have largely ignored "One Million Acts of Green". To me it seems more like wanting credit for helping the environment as opposed to wanting to help the environment and I'm not interested in environmentalism as public relations campaign.

Personally I'd recommend The Good Life - it's a great site, it's been around for a few years and has alot of good suggestions, and information and you don't even need to have a Facebook account to use it. (Plus I generally give the WWF some credibility on environmental issues.) There is also a new WWF http://polarbears.wwf.ca/home.html

My Platform: Carbon Tax

Ok I said that I wasn't going to directly discuss the environment - because it touches on so many things that it will be involved in several of the things I'm going to talk about anyway, but I will say that I strongly favor the carbon tax over cap and trade. Proponents of cap and trade say that it's polluters and not consumers who should be taxed but everyone who pays any attention to industry knows that the costs will be passed along anyway - if we tax the polluters the cost of that tax will be passed onto us anyway but it will be invisible. It will simply be included in the cost of finished products without the consumer having any idea how much of the cost is due to environmental taxes.

With a carbon tax (done properly) the tax will be printed on the sticker. When you look at a product you will know how green it is based on the carbon tax. So consumers can make up their own mind about what it important. If they see a product that is cheeper than a competitive product because of the carbon tax then it's win-win, they can save money and the environment. This is good for local business and agriculture.

On the other hand they may see a product that, even with the carbon tax, is less expensive than a greener product. The consumer can then make a decision about whether it is worth the extra money to reduce the environmental impact. People are beginning to see that the financial cost of a product isn't the only cost. The long term environmental impact is also part what something costs. Most people though do not have time to spend hours researching everything they might want to buy. With a carbon tax the information they need will be printed on the price tag and then they can make whatever they feel is the best decision.

If they buy greener products it is better for the environment, if they don't choose green products they pay more in taxes and the government has more money with which it can pursue other ways of taking care of the environment.

---

Previous:
My Platform: Introduction
My Platform: Arts and Culture
My Platform: Poverty
My Platform: Business and Industry
My Platform: Crime

madelocal.org for local products

In order to be environmentally friendly you are supposed to buy local. This doesn't just mean local produce but local everything (or at least as much as possible). The basic idea is that the less shipping and transport that is required to deliver a product to your home the lower the carbon footprint of that product.

Part of the problem with this is that it is hard to know exactly what is made local. Very few products advertise where they are made. A new website called madelocal.org has launched to try and help people find local products and help local producers find products. Only a few products are listed on the site so far - (5 for Nova Scotia and 1 for Quebec) to be exact. So if you know of great local products, or if you yourself are a Canadian producer of stuff, go visit madelocal.org and click on the 'submit a local product' link at the top of the page.

Climate, Transit and Ticking Clocks

First off, how about that snowstorm? And the transit strike starting the very next day? I can't help but wonder if maybe After listening to Gwynne Dyer last night at St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts before heading out into the Bad Weather before the Labour Storm hasn't soured me a little on having sympathy for both sides of this.



Because there's a third side involved here, and that's the side keeping this planet as liveable for ourselves as possible for as long as possible. And hopefully keeping ourselves sane while we're working on all the crap we've gotten ourselves into as a species. That latest book of his, Climate Wars is a bit of an eye-opener. Or "re-opener". Or maybe I should rip off Mr. Dyer's editor at Embassy and use the same label he did: "shit disturber".

Why not? It works, impolite as it is. And my discomfort with the phrase matters not a whit nor a damn.

I am beginning to think that this particular labour battle is a waste of time for both City Hall and the Amalgamated Transit Union's Ottawa local. Both camps are missing the point I referred to last paragraph, that point about the third side. We've got a ticking clock here, and one we can possibly still have some small hope of stopping before it reaches "midnight": a 2-degree rise in worldwide temperatures due to carbon particulate pollution. Whether or not we'll be able to cheat that clock, and Mr. Dyer suggested ways and means of doing that with an eye towards using that extra time to actually solve this problem and maybe another one coming on its own anyway no matter how much ecological harm we do over the next century...well, we don't know for sure yet.

But the sooner we get this transit labour dispute settled, that'll be one less fight we need to have and one more bit of climate derangement solving done.

Cut a deal, people.

Sidebar: If you want to hear what Dyer actually said, go here. It'll have links to all the needed files.

Confession: This was originally posted over at my LJ Blog.

The Economy is Tough But Don't Forget

The collapse of the U.S. economy was not unexpected but we certainly hadn't planned for it. Even with this unexpected challenge though we have to remember that there are two primary challenges facing us in this generation: the environment and poverty.

As I pointed out earlier this week, we are not doing well on the environment - far from leading the world our emissions are rising faster than any country outside of eastern Europe (to tell the truth we are even outpacing them.)

We also learned earlier this week that we are failing to make progress on poverty in Canada.

"

Canada's after-tax child poverty rate appears stalled at 11.3 per cent.

Nearly one out every nine Canadian children lives in poverty.

Forty per cent of low-income children live in families where at least one of their parents work full-time year round.

Children among visible minorities, and new Canadian and aboriginal families as well as children with disabilities are at greater risk of living in poverty.

Nearly one in four First Nations children continue to live in poverty.

"

I started this with the economy because it's the issue on everyone's mind and I've noticed that when the economy is down just about every other issue is off the table. This is certainly understandable but given that poverty rates are bound to get worse, in Canada and around the globe as the economic crisis deepens and the environment is in crisis and isn't going to get better on it's own while we do other things I think it's important to keep these issues on the table.

To this end I've created a Facebook group that will act as a newsletter as well as a place to share and discuss information: If you are interested please see http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36530163748.

Canadian Emissions Still Going Up

Everyone seems to be green these days, virtually every ad on television is about how green the company is. There are constant reminders of ways you can be a little greener, and everyone seems to be getting on board but despite our best efforts:

"They show that in 2006 emissions did actually fall by 0.1%, but the UN's climate change secretariat said that this tiny dip was statistically insignificant.
The overall underlying trend since 2000 is up, even though the countries in question had promised to cut their emissions.
The worst culprit has been Canada. Its emissions since 1990 have shot up 21.3% - they should have fallen 6%."

Full article at the BBC.

Now it can be hoped that the situation will improve a bit as US President Elect Obama forces Harper to be greener, and bans tar sands oil but even that will not be enough. Everyone doing their own little bit is no longer enough. It's simply not working - it is time for harsh government intervention and sacrifice. This should include a carbon tax and a cap and trade system. It should also include stronger emissions requirements for vehicles (with no grandfather clause - older inefficient vehicles should be banned from the roads), and other measures that would force individuals and industry to clean up their act. The voluntary Million Acts of Green type approach is simply not having an impact. (It should also be noted that the CBC 'Million Acts of Green' site was borrowed from the World Wildlife Fund.) For every little thing that you and I do to improve things there is someone out there (individuals or industries) who is going twice as fast in the opposite direction.

Thanksgiving: What Will Future Generation Be Thankful For?

For most people the election will be put on hold tomorrow as everyone sits down for Thanksgiving dinner. It is unlikely though that most dinner tables will totally avoid the taboo topic of politics. If yours drifts in this direction, take a poll around the table. Ask people what your children and grandchildren and great grand-children will be thankful for when they site around their Thanksgiving tables in the future.

Will they be thankful for a reduction in greenhouse gasses, cooler temperatures, clean air and clean water or will they be thankful for a 2 cent reduction in diesel fuel prices?

Will they be thankful for a strong national health care system or will they be thankful that 14 year olds are getting life sentences?

Will they be thankful for a stronger more diverse national economy, and revamped infrastructure or will they be thankful that corporate board rooms got a big tax cut?

Will they be thankful for a strong public education system and a chance for everyone to go to university or will they be thankful that the $100/month day care credit was adjusted for inflation?

Will they be thankful for a strong, vibrant Arts and Culture sector, for music and film and literature that talk about them and their lives and experiences or will they be thankful that they didn't get a PM with a French Accent?

Obviously the Conservatives represent one side of this equation and (while they may have differences on the details) the Liberals, NDP, Greens and even the Bloc (if you're in Quebec) agree about the other side.

This election is actually shaping up to be very, very close. According to CPAC/Nanos the numbers currently look like this:

Conservatives 32 (-1) Liberals 28 (+1) NDP 22 (no change) BQ 10 (no change) Green 8 (no change) 18 % of people remain undecided

I know that other polling firms are showing different things, but in the last election Nanos was pretty close to right on the money. The table below will show you their final polling numbers compared to the actual result.



The other thing to keep in mind is the 18% undecided. There is a gulf in ideology between the Conservatives and the other parties. If people were going to vote Conservative they'd vote Conservative. It's far more likely that they are contemplating which of the Center/Left parties to vote for (Liberal/NDP/Green etc).
Although I don't have actual nationwide numbers on this at this point this example from the Winnipeg Free Press shows what they have found locally.

"What's more, voters who remain undecided going into the campaign's final weekend -- about seven per cent -- are leaning heavily to the opposition parties. About 30 per cent are seriously considering the NDP, 25 per cent are leaning to the Liberals and 16 per cent to the Greens, compared to 26 per cent who are leaning Conservative."

So, by their numbers anyway 71% of the undecided are going to break to the left on voting day but, due to the divisions, if we are going to take out the Tories we need to be motivated, we need to get our friends and relatives and neighbors and co-workers motivated and we need to vote strategically. Check out Anyonebutharper.ca or voteforenvironment.ca for information on strategy.

You Have A Choice

Canada: Do The Right Thing

I pointed out yesterday that voting strategically is a win-win-win situation. Today, at least to an extent Elizabeth May has agreed with that assessment and I feel the need to expand a bit on what we gain this time through strategic voting. As I said yesterday, strategic voting means more seats for the NDP than they would otherwise have, it means at least 1 seat for the Greens which they would otherwise not have, and it means a Liberal minority government. With only 5 points (and a margin of error of about 3 points) separating the Conservatives from the Liberals this is do-able. I know that many people find strategic voting objectionable, but this is no time for that kind of sentiment. There is too much at stake and everyone in Canada, except the Conservative Party, would gain from it.

On the Environment: If you have grown up in the last 50 years you have heard that the environment is important. That we need to do something to protect it, reduce emissions, stop global warming ... but it has always been something we should do someday, eventually, in the next 10 years or 20 years. Well the time has come to do something, not someday but next Tuesday. Stephen Dion's carbon tax plan is actually modest by carbon tax standards, but it's a start. I know Mr. Layton prefers 'cap and trade' but environmentalists and economists almost universally support the carbon tax model to get the most benefit while doing the least harm. If you'd like a few examples - try Al Gore, Kenneth Green (of the American Enterprise Institute), David Suzuki, Elizabeth May and of course, as of yesterday, 230 of Canada's top economists.

I know people will say that the timing isn't right, what about the economy, etc. but if you'll notice the timing is never right to do something about the environment. If they economy is strong they say 'you'll sink the economy' when the economy is weak they say 'not right now, wait for the economy to improve.' The reality is we've already put this off for far too long, this is a revenue neutral plan which means that the average Canadian won't pay any more than they already do (they'll just pay in a different way) and many will actually save money. The time to do something about the environment is Tuesday.

Beyond the Environment, Mr. Dion has stated that the Liberals would
restore and increase arts and culture funding, boost higher education, provide funds for infrastructure improvement (helping Canadian cities and boosting the economy by creating jobs), provide funds to re-invigorate manufacturing, provide 1.2 billion to help farmers modernize and improve efficiency, and he has said he'd move quickly to insulate Canada as much as possible from the coming economic storm.

This may not be everything on the wish list of the NDP and the Greens but it's a pretty good list and far better than we'd get under Harper. The reality is that neither the NDP nor the Greens are going to form the next government (unless it's by coalition) The NDP (as of this morning) is 13 points behind, and the Greens are 20 points behind and no party has ever covered that kind of ground in 5 days. But the NDP and the Greens can both be in Parliament, with a larger number of seats, helping to craft legislation IF and only IF enough people do the responsible thing, vote strategically and get Stephen Harper and the Conservatives out of office, otherwise we do nothing on the environment (for who knows how long) and everything that I listed above is off the table.


Below is a Widget from anyonebutharper.ca to help you vote strategically. If you don't like this one have a look at voteforenvironment.ca and see what they have to say.

Contrasting Dion and Harper

However it comes out this is turning out to be a great election to analyze. As a thinking person it is becoming more impossible by the day to support the conservatives. Yesterday while listening to CBC Radio I heard from the Liberals and the Conservatives. It was on one of those breaks where they allow the parties a little air time.

For the Liberals Stephen Dion talked for the full time alloted about his environmental record and the liberals Carbon tax plan. It was interesting, informative and well thought out.

Then the Conservatives came on and it became clear that they don't even care about smart people. They want dumb people and/or scared people. They used their time to play 30 second ads, one of them they played twice (just for repetition value). Each of the Ads featured comments from 'voters'. The comments all basically said the same thing 'Dion bad', 'more taxes', 'doesn't seem like a leader to me' and all of them ended with the same conclusion 'not worth the risk'. The ads were so repetitive that they almost turned into a chant "not a leader, not worth the risk". There was no substance, no real arguments (just insults), no analysis, nothing to counter Dion's plan.

As an aside, the reality of Dion's plan is that it will probably not raise your taxes. The idea behind the carbon tax is to shift from income tax to consumption tax. There is a nice quick outline of what such a plan might look like on the Green Party's website http://www.greenparty.ca/en/background/06.06.2007b. So your income tax would go down and then carbon tax would be added to various products depending on the pollution required to produce them. So if you live even a semi-green lifestyle your overall taxes go down. How much you pay in taxes depends on the decisions you make - if you buy recyclable or recycled products your taxes go down, if you take public transit or carpool your taxes go down, if you walk or ride a bike sometimes you taxes go down, if you buy a more fuel efficient car or energy efficient appliances for your home your taxes go down etc., The basic idea here is that it would encourage people to use products that pollute less, and use less of products that pollute. So according to the calculator on the LIberal website my family's taxes would go down by about $1500 a year. All I can say is, check out the actual plan and find out what it means for you before you start chanting with the Harperites.

Now, back to the topic at hand, Harper's mantra for this election is 'not a leader, not worth the risk'. But both of these things can easily be said about Harper. Shortly after Mr. Dion became the leader of the Liberals the Conservatives ran an ad with Dion saying 'It's not easy to set priorities' or something like that, but Mr. Dion has, in fact, made his priorities clear so far they include, first and foremost the environment, but also aid for farmers, assitance in gaining and maintaining manufacturing jobs, repairing crumbling infrastructure across Canada, help for those in poverty and higher education, improved child care assistance and helping Canadian cities. Pretty good priorities I think.

On the other hand, what are Mr. Harper's priorities? He hasn't really said. Sure he's pledged small sums of money here and there, but not enough to really solve anything. His plan seems to be primarily to bash Dion without committing to anything himself. He has essentially offered no plan on the environment, no plan for cities, no plan for farmers or manufacturing jobs. He has not said whether or not, if McCain is elected in the U.S., if he will follow McCain into Iran. Perhaps this is because he has been too busy apologizing for things his team has done and playing down new scandals.

But Harper's past record certainly does not recommend him for the job for which he is reapplying. His record on the environment is intolerable, he has not run an honest, transparent government but a secretive, dishonest and corrupt one, he has openly attacked Canadian arts and culture and his record on the economy is, by any reasonable standard, weak outside Alberta. The corporate tax cuts he's so proud of have not created any jobs, and the 2 cent reduction in the GST has helped the average family very little.

The truth is we live in sad times. We have one Candidate who doesn't come across well on television but has good policy positions on things Canadians care about and we have one candidate who looks good on TV but doesn't really care about the average Canadian or Canada's future (unless we're talking about oil futures) and the guy who looks good on TV is winning.

So, here are a few alternate takes on Dion and Harper

Stephen Dion







Stephen Harper

Time to Unite Against Stephen Harper

In his speech at the Democratic convention Barack Obama laid out plainly the choices before Americans, pointing out the failure of George Bush neo-con policies on almost every front. Canadians will soon have a similar choice to make. Stephen Harper is, perhaps more than Bush himself, a George Bush style neo-conservative. Harper's policies are essentially the same as those of George Bush even when those policies benefit the US and harm Canada.

Since taking over as Prime Minister Stephen Harper has waged a non-stop attack on Canada and everything Canadians value. He has repeatedly assaulted Canada's natural environment right down to allowing Canadian lakes to be used as toxic dump sites at no cost to polluters.

Although he promised open accountable government, Harper has lead one of the most secretive, authoritarian governments in Canadian history.

And while he was elected in part due to corruption on the part of the Liberals, Harper has lead one of the most deeply corrupt governments in recent memory. From the in-out scheme to the Cadman affair and beyond.

He has waged a relentless assault on the arts from attempts to kill the Canadian film industry, to a copyright bill that is good for big media companies but bad for artists and that would make most Canadians into criminals to his rejection of a Heritage Committee recommendation that would have strengthened and improved the CBC and most recently his cuts to export subsidies for the arts.

He has been no friend to Canadian cities, he has bungled the economy (one of the few areas the Tories are supposed to be good at) and may soon take us back into deficits.

He reneged on his promise not to tax income trusts, costing many small investors - including retirees small fortunes, because Harper had promised not to tax these trusts many were buying them until days before his announcement.

Finally he has done considerable damage to Canada's reputation abroad. From refusing to attend the world aids conference to insulting the Chinese people (and Canadian athletes) by his absence from the opening ceremonies. His administration has interfered in foreign elections by leaking private information and left classified documents with girlfriends. The have also damaged Canada's reputation as a refuge from wars and war crimes by deporting asylum seekers.

In short Stephen Harper's government has been inept, corrupt, incompetent, immoral and staunchly anti-Canadain on almost every important issue. So, like the Americans, Canadians have a choice to make between the failed policies of the Bush Administration (echoed by Harper) and a reversal of that course.

Stephen Harper and his Tories have never enjoyed more than about 35% support in Canada, yet they manage to cling to power. If they truly care about Canada it is time for the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party to put aside their differences, focus on areas of common ground and at least temporarily come together in Coalition.

If the next election results in anything less than a majority parliament, Stephen Dion, Jack Layton and their parties should make it clear to Stephen Harper and the Governor General that they will act in concert and prevent the Harper Neo-Con agenda from going any further, that they can and will form a coalition Government and will block any further legislation by Stephen Harper until given a chance to do so.

To this end I have created a Facebook Group to act as a kind of petition in and of itself. While everyone is certainly welcome and encouraged to use the group to share information and ideas, and everyone is also encouraged to write to the Jack Layton and Stephen Dion and tell them to get over their squabbling and get Canada back on track - just joining the group will send a signal to everyone involved.

Please join at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=29529380865 and invite your friends, family and co-workers to do the same!

Is Stephen Harper Really Canadian?

Back in February the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage made some recommendations for the future of the CBC. Among them

Increased funding

Fewer commercials

Increased Canadian content

More regional programming

More online programming

Increased partnerships with other Canadian cultural instutions

Today according to Inside the CBC the report was completely rejected by the Harper Government.

"The CBC, needless to say, isn’t thrilled. “We are disappointed that the Government has not endorsed the Committee’s unanimous recommendations, said Hubert T. Lacroix, President of CBC/Radio-Canada. “The report is a blueprint for developing the future goals of public broadcasting in Canada.”..."The CBC noted that, given its current resources, the Corporation is facing some “critical choices” about its future directions."

Based on the actions of this government I can come to no other conclusion that they are, in fact, anti-Canadian.

They want to stifle the CBC, censor film, decide what kinds of medicines you can have, and pass a law that would make most Canadians into criminals. Harper has also made drastic cuts to most arts and culture programs in the country. This government doesn't get art, they don't like art and they don't see why we need it. The same can basically be said for the environment.

Surely the government must have some allies, I mean anyone who wants to stay in power has to do something for someone right? Well, the Harper government does do things for those it was elected to represent gun owners, polluters, the military (our military should no doubt be supported, but it doesn't need to be large) and the United States.

We won't even get into the corruption and secrecy of this Government. Just a simple math equation. Does someone who loves big business, polluters, guns, a big military and George Bush but evidently hates nature, the environment, art, culture, free speech and the CBC really represent any significant part of Canada?

News Flash: Gas Prices Will Go Up Forever

For some time now things have been good for the media. Every day they get an easy story just by reporting on gas prices and then going out to find people (usually people who drive SUVs, minivans or Hummers) to complain about them.

Personally I'm tired of the whining. Gas prices aren't coming down folks, not ever. They may dip a bit, only to rise even more but for the most part the trend will continue to be up and up. What's more everyone who was paying attention has known this day was coming for 30 years - since the oil crunch of the 70s. It's called peak oil:

"Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, an energy crisis may develop because the availability of conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically."

What's more increasing energy prices are just the tip of the iceberg - anything imported is going to start going up in price, the farther away it's imported from, the higher the price will go. Ultimately all of this will be a good thing. It will, hopefully, lead to less fuel consumption which is good for the environment. Once import prices begin to climb it will mean more local jobs, including (probably) manufacturing jobs and it will finally force governments and business to get serious about alternative fuel research.

But high fuel prices are just a reality. People will have to start living closer to where they work, shop and send their kids to school. They will have to begin making use of public transit and they will have to buy more fuel efficient cars, many will have to ultimately give up personal automobiles altogether. This is just reality, we've known it was coming, and now it's here and there is nothing anyone (not government, the oil companies, the Saudi's or anyone else) can or will do about it.

Just wait until Alberta is forced to shut down the oil sands then things will really get interesting.

Image borrowed from lucsnetguide.com (who seems to think that the US has high gas prices - even though they are amoung the lowest in the world.)

Harper Muzzles Government Scientists

Found through Bookninja: The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that the Harper Government has placed a gag order on scientists working for the Federal Government.

"Environment Canada has "muzzled" its scientists, ordering them to refer all media queries to the federal government, where communications officers will help them respond with "approved lines."

This would include government agencies such as "Environment Canada" and presumably "Health Canada". It means that although the taxpayers are footing the bill for these services, they are not allowed to speak to you directly, or through the press - instead you will be directed to someone in Harpers communications department and they will read you the "approved lines". It is a clear indication, one of many, that the Harper government does not like or trust the press, or the people of Canada.

Breaking LInks: January 30, 2007

New Junior Boys
According to their Myspace blog the Junior Boys will release their first ever DJ Compilation Mix:

"We're very pleased to announce the release of Body Language Volume 6, in march on Get Physical records. This is our first ever DJ mix compilation, and we're super excited. We'll have more information on the release date in the coming two weeks or so....in the meantime, keep your eyes on this page for information on upcoming DJ shows in support of the release. "

More Fuel For the Gun Ban
According to the Toronto Star a single stolen gun has been tied by police to at least 5 crimes.

"The gun used to shoot and blind a TTC bus driver two years ago has been shuffled between criminals, Toronto police said yesterday, and is implicated in four other crimes, including the 2003 murder of youth worker Kempton Howard."

Feist and Bublé to play Junos
From CBC Radio 2 comes news that Feist and Michael Bublé wll perform at the 2008 Juno Awards in Calgary on April 6th.

"It's a three day fest beginning April 4th, and this year's theme is "Wild West." Once I figure out what that translates to I'll let you know."

'Clean Coal' Isn't
DeSmogBlog reports that "clean coal" is apparently not.

"With this announcement today by the DOE, it appears that the hope of "clean coal" remains to be nothing more than a distant twinkle in the eye of the coal lobby."

CanStage Director Resigns
After only 6 months on the job David Scorch has resigned as artistic director of CanStage

""It has become clear to me that the demands of artistic director of this company are not ones which I feel are in my creative interests to pursue," Storch said in a statement released by Canadian Stage."

Global Warming = Hurricanes
From the CBC: apparently yes, Global Warming and hurricanes are related.

"Researchers at University College London, writing in the journal Nature, said a half-degree temperature increase in sea surface temperatures in the summer can lead to a 40 per cent increase in hurricane frequency."

Video Stores an Endangered Species
Torontoist reports that one of the city's last great independent video stores is closing. If it makes you feel any better, the Rogers video on Roncesvalles is closing as well.

"Revue Video on the Danforth—one of Toronto's last great independent video stores—shut down earlier this month after two decades of providing Riverdalians with access to the best and most obscure foreign, indie, and documentary films."

Good News For the Future of Music
The Radio 2 Blog has some good news about music education:

"Music education, as in formal, in-the-schools music education that is, has taken something of a beating in recent years. Usually it seems it's a bad news story, cutbacks, and more cutbacks. So it's nice to have a bit of positive news to share. First, a project called Music Monday, where students and music teachers get outside of the schools and perform, all across the country on the same day. This year CBC is getting involved in all kinds of ways, more on that closer to the date.
The more immediate good news story is that today, MusicCan, (which does a bunch of music-education related things, including musical instrument grants to kids) is presenting a special performance by Sarah McLachlan in honour of the first Vancouver MusicCan presentation, alongside two school bands that have been funded by the initiative."

Good Luck With That
Finally, the CBC is looking for vegetarian seal hunters.

Close Gould Street Rally on Thursday

I have said this before but: Creating 'Car Free Zones' improves our public spaces and makes the city more enjoyable for pedestrians. It also helps with reducing carbon emissions. The primary reason people drive instead of finding alternate methods of transportation is that driving is convenient. If we are ever going to have a serious impact on carbon emissions (as well as Toronto's air quality) a concerted effort must be made to make driving in Toronto far less convenient. So kudos to the Ryerson University students who are staging a Close Gould Street Rally this Thursday.

Via Spacing:

Close Gould Street Rally
Who: Ryerson students, community members and supporters of pedestrian-friendly initiatives
Where: Corner of Gould and Victoria Sts. (One block north of Dundas St., one block east of Yonge St.)
When: Thursday, January 24, 12:00-2:00PM
For more information, visit the Close Gould Street Facebook group.

Are You Ready for the Good Life?

World Wildlife Fund Canada has created a new web site and blog called "the Good Life". So, what is the good life?

"What is The Good Life? It's a community for Canadians who want to make simple but significant changes in their lifestyles that help fight climate change and reduce their footprint on the planet."

It has actions you can take, from large to small, and it keeps track of how much greenhouse gas you've helped eliminate. To date, even though it's brand new, the site has 1048 members who have saved 1,919,504 kg of greenhouse gasses.

The Good Life blog has been added to the News aggregator on this site. There is more discussion over on Spacing Wire - read all you like but then sign up, learn what you can do and claim credit for what you already do. Oh...and watch this: