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The move is over. Let the unpacking begin. Thank you, my committed readership, for staying with us here at DWR during the transition to our new home. It has been a wild and hectic couple of weeks. I should be able to commit a little more time to blogging and finding the information I find interesting and sharing it with you. With that in mind I’d like to share and and comment on the recent furor about Tom Mulcair’s comments about the “Dutch Disease” in Canada.
The noise generated by his comments are out of proportion to what his observation was:
“Mulcair claims that “Dutch disease” has hit the country, blaming energy exports from the Alberta oilsands for artificially raising the Canadian dollar and hollowing out the manufacturing industry.
Coined in an article in The Economist in 1977, the concept refers to the adverse economic effects that the discovery of large natural gas fields off of the coast of the Netherlands in the 1960s had on the country’s manufacturing sector.
The theory goes that a boom in a natural resource sector can lead to an appreciation of a country’s real exchange rate. That increase in the dollar value makes exports more expensive, and has an adverse effect on the manufacturing sector by making it less competitive.”
Okay, so it sounds reasonable so far. Our dollar goes up and makes our manufacturing industry less competitive. But what has got the defenders of corporatism all up in arms? Mulcair takes his statement one step further…
“Mulcair said the problem is the government is not enforcing legislation that would include the environmental costs of exploiting natural resources.
“Those statistics with regard to the overall losses of jobs in Canada are irrefutable,” he said this week. “And they are directly related to the fact that we’re not enforcing federal [environmental] legislation.”
Oh snap. How dare you mention that pillaging the land in the hog-wild foo-fur-ah that is Fort McMurray might be anything less than a calm nuanced approach to 
resource management is beyond the pale. Fainting couches were needed *stat* across much of the Canadian media and parliament.
“I am wondering when the leader of the Opposition will apologize to western Canadians for suggesting the strength of the western Canadian economy is a disease on Canada,” Heritage Minister James Moore said in the House of Commons.
“He attacks western Canada, he attacks our energy industry, he attacks all of the West and the great work that is being done by western Canadians to contribute to Canada’s national unity. He should be ashamed of himself,” he said.
Yes, he should be ashamed for trying to keep the government accountable to for environmental legislation that is currently on the books, oh the villainy. The tar sands have gained a love-halo that is growing in magnitude. Speaking out against them is sacrosanct,with reasonable debate being drummed out by “it’s good for the economy!!!1!” and other nonsense.
Good On Mulcair for pointing out some of the problems with the oil-sands vis-a-vis the rest of Canada, the man is doing his job as leader of the Opposition.
Oh to be at the table for this meeting. Eddie ‘Big Oil’ Stelmach and the Pembina institute are going to talk about the Tarsands in Alberta and their viability as a resource for the US.
“Premier Ed Stelmach is scheduled to meet with the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, next Wednesday in Ottawa. The powerful U.S. Democrat is a key figure in the debate over energy resources and she wants to know more about the Alberta oilsands.”
The initial reports were that it was only going to be the oil companies front man our democratically elected and beloved Premier. This however is not the case. The Pembina Institute has also been invited to participate in the meeting with Pelosi.
“Marlo Raynolds, the executive director of environmental think-tank Pembina Institute, has been invited to join a round-table discussion with Pelosi on Thursday along with other non-governmental organizations and First Nations groups.
“I think this is probably one of the most important meetings that the Pembina Institute has been invited to,” he said.”
I can just imagine the dear leaders eyes rolling as his governments assertions about the oilsands will actually be scrutinized and called into question. Poisoning the Athabasca river in the name of resource extraction might not fly too well with Pelosi. Not that our magnanimous government would consider covering up or smearing people who have the audacity to raise concerns about what is happening to the people and the environment because of the tarsands resource extraction project. After-all, what is a little more cancer and increased mortality for Fort Chipewyan, compared with serving the energy needs of the USA? (See the study here and the controversy about the study here.)
Forest Ethics has been kicking up quite a fuss over the carbon output of Oil Sands, enough of a stink to cause many major US corporations to exclude Alberta crude from their lists of energy suppliers. Oil courtier Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach’s role in the upcoming meeting becomes a little more clear as Stelmack’s concern for corporate profit the people of Alberta will be front and centre on his agenda.
My hope is that the Pembina Institutes’s representative can interject some much needed balance and a people based perspective to counter the corrosive effects of a mendacious PR campaign our province has been waging trumpeting how awesome the Oil Sands are.
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