Monthly Archives: February 2012

Druh Farrell eager to leap into another tax-funded boondoggle.

Posted on by
4

 While we still await the final costs for the still delayed disaster that some call the “peace” bridge, Druh Farrell the chief proponent of that embarrassment to the city is already trying to have more tax dollars potentially destroyed through fast-tracking a program where the city will compost our coffee grounds.

 The merit of having government take over composting for us is debatable at best and I will be posting some information on the myth of a landfill crisis and the benefits of recycling below.

 Calgary is to begin a $1.3 million pilot project with 8000 homes where a third bin will be added to their fast growing collection of waste bins. The new bin will be for organic waste that can theoretically be converted into a useful compost. I am happy at least that the city is doing a pilot program rather than jumping neck deep into this notion. This is a responsible way to see if the program needs adjustment or is even worthwhile to pursue as a whole.

 Never one to be bound by responsible actions though, Druh Farrell is furious and is demanding that we fast-track the program into full implementation as soon as possible. Never mind the fact that we don’t even have the facility to deal with the waste (estimated to be $60 million or so). Never mind that we have not tested to see if citizens really like the notion of having a bin full of rotting organic waste sitting in July heat for two weeks at a time. Never mind seeing what a true and total cost estimation of a city-wide program may be. Full speed ahead says Druh!!

 I suspect that Druh realizes that the pilot may expose this program to be a waste and a failure thus her eagerness to rush right into it. I may of course be giving Druh too much credit there.

 We are in a city that constantly claims to be so broke that annual tax hikes are the norm yet our council can’t seem to run out of ways to waste our money. Let’s let this pilot project run it’s entire course, look at the outcomes, and then start to discuss if the entire city needs a third waste bin.

 We rushed into recycling in the first place and ended up with thousands of tonnes of glass that nobody wanted piled in our landfill after having been expensively collected and sorted. Do we have a place for a mountain of compost? How about this Druh, why don’t we store the rotting organics in the middle of your precious Kensington while we try to find a facility to process it. That may take some of the shine from the concept.

 Below is video from Penn and Teller’s series “Bullshit”. I do warn, as the title of the series indicates the show is loaded with expletives. Despite the colorful language, the show is packed with facts and realities of recycling including a live experiment of how gullible well meaning urbanites can be at times. I strongly recommend watching the show in full (not at work and not with kids around).

 

Let’s focus on the real culprit in the “robocalling” affair.

Posted on by
3

 In what can only be called hysteria we see people going simply apoplectic about the revelations that fraudulent dials were used in the last federal election. The reason the reaction to this is so strong is twofold. The Liberals under Rae are so profoundly weak that they need anything to try and capture the attention of the public thus they will grasp at anything they see as a possible thread to exploit (the NDP are not far behind).  The other reason that people are so worked up is that electoral fraud is a terribly serious issue.

 Right off the start in the race to point fingers we saw people attacking Matt Meier from RackNine Inc. The National Post even used a couple of Matt’s facebook pictures from what appear to be vacations to try and portray him as some sort of political jetsetter. Let’s get this straight. Matt is simply a young business man who provided a service that was abused by a client. Blaming Matt and RackNine for what happened is akin to blaming a car dealership for selling a car that was later used in a bank robbery. I have known Matt for a few years through politics and he has never demonstrated anything but principled business practices.

 I think perhaps that some people don’t fully understand how modern dialing works and how the service provider does not know what goes out. Dialing has become much cheaper (as we can see with the mass influx of calls in the last few years). This is due to leaps in communications technology and user interface that allows for essentially self-serve service.

 I have used RackNine in both provincial and civic applications ( for legitimate and legal though perhaps annoying use). The process is very simple. After having set up an account, you can set up your dial online. You upload your list, set up the time and type of dial and record your message through the phone with a touch-tone interface. After that it all happens through the magic of automation and you never directly interact with the owner/operator while setting up the dial (unless harassing for tech support 😉 ). I can’t imagine how many dials were set up during the federal election but it simply isn’t reasonable to expect that Matt would know the content of a few if any of the dials. That is not his role.

 It looks like the fraudulent dialing may indeed have impacted one of the ridings in Eastern Canada to the point where the result is in question. It was won by less than 30 votes and yes I think it is plausible that a dial misdirecting people could swing the vote by that much. If this is proven to be the case, I would like to see the person/people directly responsible criminally charged and a by-election held in that riding. This is extremely serious business and there sould be zero tolerance for tampering in an election.

 It will not make it easier to identify and prosecute the real culprits here if we remain focused on the service provider however. Matt has demonstrated that he is fully cooperating with every aspect of the investigation. His reputation and business is on the line. We want to see people punished for this but let’s not let innocent business folks get dragged through the mud that an unprincipled client created.

The dark comedy continues and Calgary taxpayers are the punchline.

Posted on by
11

 It just goes on and on and on. Yes, this is yet another post on Calgary’s ongoing boondoggle the “peace” bridge. I will not refer to that bridge without putting the word “peace” in quotes because the bridge was never meant to have that name. The “peace” was added by council as public outrage was growing while Calgarians finally began to realize that city council was ripping them off to an estimated tune of $25,000,000 for an ugly pedestrian bridge in a spot where no bride was required. The naming was a crass move to try and tie the bridge into respect for veterans and it took unforgivable gall.

Some members of city council are now calling for a forensic audit now that it has been found that the bridge is going over budget.  Even after cutting $2 million in landscaping costs (that we will still have to pay for eventually), the bridge from hell is still $200,000 over budget. Considering the re-welding of steel and re-pouring of concrete leading to 18 months of delays, I can see the reason for an audit. There is no way that bloody thing is only $200k over budget. I shudder to think how much taxpayers will be raped for when this is all finally over.

 Here is a link to a great timeline put together by Jason Markusoff

Here is another story by Markusoff on the bridge today. He has covered it excellently.

And yet one more today from Jason. The poor guy must see that bridge in his sleep.

Update: The latest story finds evidence that the bridge may come in at closer to $30 million when all is said and done.

 Now enough background and updating on that monument to Calgary City Hall arrogance and waste of tax dollars. What is important is that we as Calgarians finally get up and kick out these freespending fools who use our money for their idiotic vanity projects. Listed below are the remaining Aldermen who supported the “peace” bridge. If they are in your ward, please do all you can in 2013 to put them out of work!!!

Brian Pincott

John Mar

Dale Hodges (went into hiding for the vote and would not comment)

Gord Lowe (went into hiding for the vote and would not comment)

Last but not least by any measure is the prime cheerleader for the bridge:

Druh Farrell

 

 Folks, if nothing else is to be accomplished in the next election, the removal of Druh Farrell from city council will have made the entire election a success for the City of Calgary.  Druh Farrell is the only person who rates their very own category on my blog as the list of follies and foolish leftist things she supports appears to be nearly endless.

 Despite the exhaustion with the issue and clearly growing rage with that wretched bridge, we still see Druh vapidly tweeting and celebrating the anticipated opening of this slap in the face to taxpayers. While most civic politicians will be wisely finding themselves on the other side of the city for the ribbon cutting on the finger-trap, Druh will be grinning ear to ear as she celebrates this boondoggle. She truly sees this mess as some kind of good accomplishment. Even Calatrava won’t come out to the opening. He has cashed his cheque and would not be able to hold back his giggles as he sees what he put over on Calgarians.

 Druh was the inspiration for one of my first youtube videos when she spearheaded idiotically closing Memorial drive on Sundays in August in order to thumb her nose at Calgary drivers. She really has to go.

Please Calgary, watch the news on this bridge as it develops and don’t forget it when you go to the polls. We need to stop overlooking this kind of behaviour by our elected officials. It is bad enough that we will have to look at that ugly bridge for decades. We can at least stop having to look at the proponents of it in council chambers if we kick them out.

Voting with their feet and wallets, Canadians are heading to suburbia.

Posted on by
5

The anti-“sprawl” crowd is a vocal group but in looking at our development patterns these people are clearly in a tiny minority. Despite efforts to stunt outward development and an almost cult-like subgroup of people screaming for and trying to shame people into dense downtown living, Canadians en masse are simply choosing to move away from the cores of cities.

Some recent number crunching has revealed that non-core areas have made up 97% of Calgary’s growth with similar numbers in cities accross Canada.  

It is not that hard to figure out why this is a trend. When I was in my early 20s, I lived in downtown Calgary and I loved it. I could walk to pretty much anything I needed and while Calgary is not known for it’s exciting downtown nightlife, the downtown still provided many bars and such to be patronized. I was shopping for food for one and didn’t mind walking a couple blocks with some grocery bags and riding an elevator with them. Of course, my needs and preferences changed as I grew older. The main thing was having kids.

Suddenly grocery loads are a bigger deal and the need for a car is becoming more acute. While I was comfortable walking downtown streets at night as a young man, I really did not like walking with my kids past the seedy elements that are drawn to city centers. I wanted space. I wanted a yard for the kids to play in. I wanted a spread out neighborhood where I knew who lived next door. I wanted family to be able to visit without paying $20 in parking. To summarize, I like over 90% of Calgarians chose to live in the suburbs and have utterly no regrets.

I understand that some people manage to live downtown with kids and enjoy it. Well good for them. It doesn’t need to mean that the rest of us should have to.

I am tired of the near scorn being directed at suburban commuters for daring to choose to live in a cost-efficient comfort with their families. Nobody should be ashamed for not wanting to live in a crowded dense area. We have the space to grow outward and we are doing so. Good.

Now that we have established that the vast vast majority of Calgarians do not want to live downtown, can we start to model policies based on that reality? We don’t need more damn bike lanes. There is no screaming need for more bikes, there simply is a loudly screaming minority of bike riders. We are refusing to recognize where our population really is and are choking traffic to accommodate a tiny minority. Never will a large number of middle-aged folks suddenly decide to start riding bikes 20km to work downtown in January so let’s quit with the idiotic planning under the assumption that they will.

Those who are tired of smog and idling should look at reality here too. Choking traffic will not reduce this. People will simply get up earlier and sit idling longer as they have lost lanes to a handful of bike riders in winter. You want to reduce fuel consumption and idling? Speed up traffic flow then.

Our mayor and council love to blow millions on endless studies of everything under the sun. Well we don’t need to spend a pile here to see the trend. We are a prairie city that is growing quickly and it won’t be stopped. Lets start planning based on that reality instead of some unrealistic utopia of a densely packed downtown. People simply do not want to live like that.

Really folks, the urban density pictured below is hardly a noble goal to pursue.

You can’t have a center without a left and a right.

Posted on by
1

 There has been a trend lately by some to try and paint the tried and true political spectrum of left/right as being outdated or irrelevant. Much of this attitude is of course coming from some with political interests who are trying to find some mythical middle ground that will appeal to a vast majority of voters. Today the CBC released a poll that concludes that: “Ideology is not guiding Alberta voters.”.  That conclusion is simply wrong. Ideology guides all voters to varying degrees. The only thing concluded is that people no longer self-identify as much with their place on the political spectrum. If a person does not consider themselves to be on the right or the left in political thought, it does not mean that their personal philosophy does not land to the left or the right. This if anything is more an indication of the growing political apathy and indifference. People don’t put time or thought into ideology even if they unconsciously follow one.

 The left/right spectrum is a simple measure and does not cover everything. Very few people fall fully on one side or the other in every regard. To do so is the mark of a fanatic actually.

 Most issues will have responses that clearly can be considered to be either on the right or left side of the spectrum. Just because some people land on different sides at different times, it does not mean that the spectrum is not valid or that it does not exist.

 The right/left measure of ideology is a broad measure and is of use when looking at groups such as political parties. While a party may have indeed have policies landing on both sides of the spectrum, it is their general slant that truly identifies the party as a whole and again the left/right measure is the most basic yet indicative and important of measures for this. A voter has to make their choice based on the broad ideology of the party rather than one policy at a time.

 Here is a note by the way, an almost fanatical pursuit of a mythical “center” is an ideology in itself.

 Can it be denied that Alberta’s NDP is on the left or the Wildrose is on the right? Sherman’s Liberals just released a platform calling for increasing taxes on those they perceive to be “rich” and Redford’s PCs just released another big-spending budget which drifts both parties to the left.

 While some try to cloak their leanings in claiming a center ground and putting out vague and inconclusive policies, their roots always show clearly in the end. Twitter is a great way to see the true leanings of groups and individuals. What you do is watch the tweeters and see which side of the spectrum they pejoratively spit about when annoyed. When a large group of people is prone to bitterly spitting out “right wing” and “right wingers” when somebody has a policy they don’t like, you have just been able to accurately place them on the spectrum even if they did not want to be placed there. In Alberta we have the Kitten & Rainbow party that tries it’s darndest to hide their place on the spectrum. In their being led by a former NDP candidate and in their supporters online loathing of the nasty “right wing”  they expose themselves.

 If the electorate truly was free and clear of ideology they would have rushed to embrace the Alberta Party that furiously is trying to claim the center. Alas, the disingenuous stance of this is transparent to voters and is reflected in the Alberta Party sitting at 2% in the polls despite years of claiming center ground. People may not self-identify much in ideology, but clearly they chose sides when it comes to parties.

 Recognizing and understanding left/right positions is important when consuming data from think tanks too. If one doesn’t recognize the Fraser Institute as right or Parkland Institute as left, then you will not be able to take that grain of salt when looking at their statements and studies.

 Left and right are indeed only two sides of a complex equation but they are still valid general measures. To broaden things into a four way measure, Political Compass brings authoritarian and libertarian into the mix. Left and right are still rather essential of course. While the quiz is not perfect or all encompassing by any means, it is fun and does give an interesting measure of where one lands on the spectrum.

Give it a try and see where you land in comparison with the political leaders on the chart below.

Now below we see where I land. Looks like a dead-zone when compared to existing and past political leaders. This may indeed explain much about my history of personal political success 😉 Either way my ideological place is distinct if in a minority and there is utterly nothing wrong with measuring it and thinking about it.

 A person should not pidgeonhole themselves within one side or another of the spectrum. That closes thought and is indeed the route to extremism whether left or right. Most people have thoughts that land all over the place. The center is a moving target. There is no sense fighting to find it. Choose your place issue by issue. It will be found by most that trends emerge and one isn’t as close to the center as they imagined they were.

 Left and right don’t measure it all but they exist as sides on issues and are valid. They are not going away and we should quit pretending that they are.

A picture of our future?

Posted on by
Reply

Here is a piece that summarizes Don Drummond’s release of The Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services.

We see all over the inevitable outcome of continuing down the road of trying to tax, spend and borrow our way into prosperity. Huge governments all around the world are collapsing under their own weight. While Ontario is not as troubled as Greece and Alberta is not as bad as Ontario, we are all heading in the same direction.

Don Drummond’s report could easily substitute the name Alberta for Ontario and while the figures would differ the conclusions would be just as valid.

Nanny Redford and her big-government Tories released a feelgood budget loaded with unrealistic revenue projections and spending increases for all. There is utterly no sign of long term foresight in the budget. What we see is a collection of spending promises modelled solely with the goal of getting the Progressive Conservatives re-elected at any cost.

 The Wildrose Party alternative budget was better and balanced though in my view still did not go far enough in an honest pursuit of spending restraint. Still by far the Wildrose is the best of the bunch coming into this election. I can’t even begin to think how much Redford would be blowing in tax dollars without the Wildrose pressure from the right.

 Our political leadership is terrified of  making tough decisions and honestly identifying where to cut.

We can look realistically at our future and get spending under control now or we can travel down the road Greece is on where austerity is forced upon you and you lose choice of where to cut.

The choice is ours for now but it won’t be forever.

Some recommended reading.

Posted on by
Reply

 

There are many factors that went towards creating the charming, modest and somewhat opinionated person that I am today. Growing up and observing the fallout of the National Energy Program gave me a healthy dose of regionalism and watching Thatcher and Reagan work to try and save us from the consequences of policy based on the drug-addled attitudes of the  sixties certainly helped shape my opinions on the political world.

There was one outright turning point in my thought and growth that stands out though. While in junior high we were required to read the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.  The story is a futuristic portrayal of what may happen should we continue the pursuit of equality where it simply does not exist. It excellently displayed the futility of such pursuits and the damage to free society that will result. It began my course down political philosophy which is still of course evolving.

Kurt Vonnegut was not a right winger by any stretch of the imagination. He was an admirer of early socialist labor leaders and was always critical of Republican governments . Vonnegut did recognize one of the critical flaws in socialism though and wrote on it.

In the pursuit of equality, one finds that they can’t pull the non-productive up to the level of the productive thus socialists tend to turn to pulling down the productive to the lowest common denominator instead. This is referred to as “Crab mentality”  and it is one of the most destructive trends we have.

The politics of envy run strong particularly when times are tough. We saw that in the vapid yelping of the “occupy” movement as they tried to separate and demonize a mythical 1% who they felt controlled the world. We see this as teacher’s unions fight every manner of testing of children and fight all forms of competition in schools. The every child gets a ribbon sentiment is nice but it damages children terribly when they encounter the real world and find out that we can’t always win.

Raj Sherman released his desperate provincial Liberal platform recently. In sprinting for low hanging fruit he has taken up the usual shallow stance of taxing the perceived rich. Despite numbers showing that people of higher income are already paying the vast majority of taxes in Canada, the lazy and envious want to drag these hard workers down even further.

The real outcome is secondary to the perception of equality.

Some years ago I was debating with a fellow on an internet forum about European health provision models. The discussion came to a point where it was proven that in some models by allowing people to pay out of pocket to jump the queue; the entire lineup gets shortened for all in the universal system. This fellow still was opposed to the possibility of utilizing these provision models. I doggedly kept on him and asked if he preferred that everybody waited and suffered longer as long as the suffering was equal. He floored me in his honestly when he said yes. This man’s envy could not let him abide by somebody getting faster treatment even if it meant faster treatment for everybody in the end. His attitude is shared by way too many people though many may not realize it or be as honest as this guy was about it.

The twisted ideals of equality and fairness when taken to extremes are incredibly destructive. The simplistic can be easily called out and led when a seductive case for dragging down the successful is made for the sake of political expediency.

It is a short story yet makes the point excellently. Again, I strongly suggest that folks take a moment to read Harrison Bergeron and more importantly think about the point it makes.

Just a quick note to the hysteric residents of Royal Oak Calgary.

Posted on by
3

The eco-fearmongering is hitting fever pitch as it has been noticed that a sweet oil well is proposed to be drilled a quarter-mile from some residences in NW Calgary.

People are acting as if this sort of well is new or dangerous when it simply is neither of those things. Some are howling about air quality. Well, the local sewage manholes are emitting more foul and dangerous gas than a sweet oil well will. There are literally thousands of wells much closer to households in rural Alberta and people are not dropping like flies.

You bought a house on the edge of the city with a prison and a garbage dump for neighbors and you are complaining about a sweet oil well nearby? I bet most of the residents there derive their incomes from the energy industry. I am sure that complaints of the smells from neighboring livestock come in on a regular basis too.

To put things in perspective here are a couple shots of other wells.

The first picture is from Bradford PA and the well is literally over 100 years old. It is novel sitting in the drive though lineup while watching an active well operate 6 feet from you. May I suggest that the product from the McDonalds is more potentially harmful than the oil well. I spent a few months in Bradford a couple years ago. Besides that well and the Zippo factory, there is little else of note. Would you take that away from them?

The second picture is from Los Angeles where there are hundreds of local hazards that eclipse that posed by some wells in residential areas.

NIMBY syndrome never fails to rear it’s ugly head. Anti-energy people are whipping the residents of Northwest Calgary into a frenzy over what really is an utter non-issue. There are much more important things for growing communities to be focused on than completely safe oil wells being drilled in neighboring fields.

Oh and for those spreading fear because there is a slim chance that 1 pmm of hydrogen sulfide may possibly kinda sorta be present in the oil occasionally, keep in mind that our own flatulence carries as much H2S as this well could in the very unlikely event that it carries any. Yes, you are as dangerous as the Royal Oak oil well when you emit beer-farts.

Remember Greece.

Posted on by
Reply

Well the inevitable has happened. Many countries in the European Union are going broke due to decades of trying to tax, borrow and spend their way into prosperity. Sadly socialism does not die quietly and currently union led riots are tearing Greece apart as delusional citizens feel that protests and a deep sense of entitlement will somehow bring them resources that simply do not exist.

 What part of broke do they not understand? The cupboard is bare and is becoming so in Ireland, Portugal, Italy and many other European states.

We can’t get on too high a horse here in Canada. As we encourage an ever-growing governments on all levels we on a collision course with the same situation as Europe. We just have not progressed deeply enough into the hole of entitlement and debt yet.

As rioters who depended on cradle to grave socialism take to the streets in Athens, please look at the pictures and remember them at the appropriate times.

 When somebody tries to convince you that government debt is not a bad thing, remember Greece!

When government tries to convince you that a company is too big to fail,

Remember Greece!

If your government buys off public sector unions with unreasonable pension and wage concessions, before you go out to vote in the next election,

Remember Greece!

Before considering supporting a government promising massive spending increases

Remember Greece!

When people try to stunt economic development in the name of fanatical environmentalism and anti-capitalist ideology

 Remember Greece!

Greece has kindly though unintentionally  learned a lesson on our behalf and we would be pretty foolish not to heed it.

Will we look at hard realities now and bring our size and expectations of the state under control or will be go down the inevitable road to bankruptcy?

 It is pretty depressing to see how many Greeks still don’t get it. Tearing your cities to the ground will not make resources appear where they simply don’t exist.

Foreign environmentalists fail in their bid to halt a Canadian project in Jasper.

Posted on by
1

The trend of foreign environmental lobby groups meddling in Canadian affairs has been disturbing. The recent efforts of the Delaware based lobby group Avaaz (multi-million dollar company) in their campaign of misinformation about a project in Jasper national park was nothing less than repugnant in it’s venom and it’s complete lack of hesitation to use horsecrap to try and make their case.

Thankfully our federal government finally stepped in and approved the project pictured below for Jasper national park.

There is an existing parking lot in the parkway which will be utilized for this project. An incredible viewpoint will be created where people can look through a glass floor for a unique Rocky Mountain experience. Yes, a fee will be charged for a guided tour (welcome to the real world). Mountains of impact studies have been performed and it is clear that this project will have minimal environmental impact. It is just a bloody viewpoint folks.

The hyperbole, misinformation and hysteria from the environmentalists on this one was outstanding. I remember getting a message on facebook that warned of Harper privatizing our National Parks, how common people would not be able to afford to visit and how this was all being done by a nasty foreign company. All of the allegations were utter crap but sadly many people fall for shallow pap so the American lobby group indeed managed to get over 100k people to sign an online petition against the project.

I grew up in Banff. I attended high-school there and still often return to the area to visit. What really has me going on this one was the attempted demonization of Brewster Travel Canada. Brewster was portrayed as some evil company that was going to turn our national parks into some kind of fast food outlet.

Now let’s get some facts out there. The Brewster family and company has been operating in Canadian National Parks for well over 100 years! The Brewster family is still operating in the Bow Valley. The family and the company are a large part of the entire park history. To demonize and portray this group as a foreign monster is ludicrous. If any company should be moved to the head of the line in operations within Western National Parks is should indeed be Brewster.

Another fact: We already have to pay to enter national parks! There has been an admission fee for national parks for as long as I remember. The operations of companies within the park have nothing to do with this nor will their expansion of operations have any impact on park entry fees. This reality did not stop the environmentalists from spreading BS however.

Here is a fact: National parks are loaded with private businesses that make profits within the park!! Is fuel free in Banff? Are all of the hotels nationalized? Does the government mandate non-profit status for restaurants? Is it immoral to charge green fees on the golf courses? Commercial operations in national parks are nothing new at all. It is the services provided by private interests and the taxes that they pay that allow a broader number of people to experience the parks themselves. The environmentalist set tries to portray this as some sort of new trend of park privatization.

There is an extreme element out there that loathes humanity and feels that we have no place developing anything anywhere and they will oppose all development based on that principle. These groups will not hesitate to completely depart from reality and there are hundreds of millions of dollars to be made in the lobby groups that work for the environmentalist set. When we see a bunch insistent on spreading outright lies as we do with these environmentalists, I think it is pretty easy to decide which groups to disregard.

What are our national parks for if not to allow Canadians to experience them? Environmentally friendly viewpoints such as the one being built in Jasper are harmless and add to the experience of the park. Environmentalists like to pretend that there are only a few valleys in the entire Rocky Mountains and that humanity is impacting them all. Have a look at a road map of Western Canada. You will find that there are literally thousands of mountain valleys that are completely inaccessible. The highways that pass through the mountains are very few and utilize a tiny percentage of the undeveloped and protected lands of the mountains. Developments within national parks have increased scrutiny and environmental standards to be abided by.

Nobody wants to see ugly, uncontrolled and rampant development in our wilderness areas. That is why such development simply is not happening despite the fearmongering of extreme foreign environmentalist lobby groups.

Whether it is the Northern Gateway pipeline, or Castle area logging or small developments in national parks we seem to have a problem with environmentalists spreading BS and trying to stunt approval processes. Again, if deciding who to believe look to see who insists on breaking the rules and spreading the myths. You will find it generally is not the private business interests.

Thank you Harper for stepping in and getting the Jasper walkway going despite the hyperbolic opposition by environmental extremists. I hope you continue to cut through the crap and allow responsible development to continue in Canada.