The Frostbite Falls Fishwrap reported Monday that the Government of the Northwest Territories will NOT ask the Alberta government to stop new oil sands development.
It comes as a relief to know that at least our territorial government realizes that we have some bigger problems right here in our own back yard. It does beg the question, however, what are our municipal leaders thinking?
Along with the oil sands epiphany, a few of the other recommendations spawned by the municipal brain trust were:
-the NWT Waste and Water Association complete a review of climate change impacts on waste, water and wastewater facilities.
-urges all communities to phase out bottled water sales at their own facilities where potable water is available and start awareness campaigns about the benefits and quality of municipal water.
I’m pretty sure these two gems came from the Birkenstocks and socks-wearing councillors from Yellowknife.
It’s been a long time since I lived in Yellowknife, but I used to count the puddles of piss and puke and pools of blood I had to step over on my morning walk to work. I remember the city looking like a war zone when the snow melted; with mounds of dog shit, diapers and garbage strewn all about. It occurred to me then that Yellowknife had some real problems and I don’t think much has changed.
Are these politicians completely blind to the real world that exists around them or has the all-legume diet altered their vision? Why would we plan awareness campaigns on the evils of bottled water when we have people using main street as their toilet and garbage dump?
I made the same argument in Inuvik over our new single use bag bylaw; we’re pretending to be cutting-edge ecologists here, when we can’t even aim to pee.
There are some serious, serious problems in the NWT and they have nothing to do with plastic bags, bottles or climate change effects.
Our suicide rate is second only to Nunavut in North America, we have a type II diabetes epidemic, substance abuse is at an all-time high. We don’t have enough teachers, doctors, nurses, RCMP, jails, courthouses…
On top of all the social ills, this jurisdiction is a regulatory basket case. Our rat's nest of regulators has scared off multinational corporations who do business all over the world in all types of regulatory and political climates. Countries with the most rigid and stringent development regulations, but also with the most ruthless and corrupt banana republics, dictators and despots. If we can scare these guys from here to go do business with Putin or Hugo Chavez, what does that say to you?
I suppose with Chavez at least you know what you get. He sticks out his hand and you fill it with cash. Up here there are just too many hands.
Yes folks, we do have some serious problems here and apparently, they are being pushed aside by the very people who should be bringing them to the fore – your municipal leaders.
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Dear BC:
ReplyDeleteWhen are we going to get your first post on "the darned kids these days?"
I yearn for another one of those, "These kids really are brats..." editorial.
Sincerely,
Darren Campbell
Editor
Up Here Beeswax/Up In Yer Bidness
At the risk of being glib, I'd say the children are loose in the halls of Yellowknife town, oh, I mean city hall these days. I really don't know how Campy Van Tighem deals with the lot of them, all the while keeping a straight face in that fur coat of his that resembles a wet beaver after a Private Stock binge.
ReplyDeleteSo you're overtly pro-development and you believe editorials should present solutions, not just criticize. Well then, are you a climate-change denier or do you have solutions to our global carbon emissions problem? What exactly would those solutions be?
ReplyDeleteYour good friends in the legislative assembly are now allowing MLAs to use their constituency allowances to purchase carbon offset credits when they fly. We can likely agree that such a move is a waste of money in the NWT.
However, there are other developmental issues to consider in our fragile Northern-environment, like research from the Arctic Institute of North America indicating the even modern seismic methods are causing damage to vegetation on the tundra of the Beaufort Delta.
How you gonna save us all, Curmudgeon?
Curious
ReplyDeleteLet me start by saying you’re an idiot. You missed the entire point of my blog entry.
Have you ever taken a trip outside the ivory towers of Yellowknife? I’d invite you to take a tour up the Mackenzie Valley or along the north coast. Visit the schools, the nursing stations and talk to the people on the front lines. Do you really think they care about climate change?
Maybe some do, but it's a loooong way down on their hierarchy of needs pyramid. They care about the 13th suicide this year, seven-year-old kids drinking hairspray, teenage mothers feeding their newborns Pepsi because milk costs too much. They care about half the students with FAS/E or ADD and the other half coming to school hungry.
Pull your pinhead out of your ass and look around. We’re living in Third World conditions and you’re worried about buying carbon offsets and vegetation wilting on the tundra?
If you were here, I’d crush your fragile little skull in my bare hands.
I don’t deny climate change, melting permafrost or that Jesus walked on water. These things are irrelevant to the immediate needs of the people here. Once those needs are satisfied, I’ll worry about the others on a priority basis.
I wish you sanctimonious little worms would crawl back to Toronto and get out of the way, so we can solve the REAL problems of the North.
Warm regards,
Terry
p.s. Why would you hyphenate the words “Northern-environment”? When I’m done crushing your little skull, my friend Megan is going to want to have a chat with you…
It's clear that "Curious" is a pinhead. Anyone who would use the hackneyed Communist Broadcasting Corp-inspired phrase "pro-development" in the pejorative, obviously has no sense of reality whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteIf it weren't for things like "development", how would this dumb jackass be able to survive in a place like Yellowknife. Oh, I know. Because of hydro "development" to power his or her iPod (no doubt filled with cheesy alt-pop) and electric heater; the "development" of synthetic fabrics (made with evil petro-chemicals let's not forget) to keep this city nincompoop warm.
l bet he or she just loves acting so self-righteous and smug whilst strolling past signs of instant hamburgers in a box for two-bits "development", just to remind him or her of why he or she left the city in the first place.
Hey Curious, why don't you put your "smart" ass on the first jet-plane back to civilization and the carbon emissions unnecessary to support your useless blob here North of 60 will do much more for your precious northern landscape then your mindless "anti-development" or "pro-environment" opinions.
Well don't dare question the pro-development types round here! Way to raise the level of debate: "pinhead," "idiot," "I'd crush your fragile little skull with my bare hands."
ReplyDeleteThese are very persuasive arguments. You forgot to mention how you'll drown me in a barrel of oil.
Some Northern communities unfortunately do suffer from social problems you mention, but those ills would surely disappear once natural gas starts to flow, eh Curmudgeon?
If environmental concerns are so far down on their list of priorities why are your northern neighbours in Tuk installing four wind turbines?
Why have First Nations chosen to protect such vast tracts of land across the NWT?
Why did the Dene Nation, not just the NWTAC, call upon the Alberta government to stop further oil sand expansion for fears of the NWT's water supply being harmed?
You know the problems in the communities better than the Dene Nation, curmudgeon?
You still offer no solutions to mounting environmental troubles. Your response is "Shut up! We'll get the money out of the ground and then we'll look at those piddly issues."
You'll have come a long way when you recognize that others' priorities may not be the same as yours but are just as valid.
Curious
ReplyDeleteIf we had half of you Yellowknife pinheads working to get affordable milk, produce and electricity into the communities, we wouldn't need a pipeline.
Do you think Tuk wants wind turbines because of global warming or because they pay $1.50/kwh for electricity? I was at the wind conference, pinhead. I lobbied for Tuk to get them.
You all have the same high-and-mighty attitude that you're saving the world, but with your anti-fur, anti-seal and anti-pipeline campaigns you've committed economic genocide on all indigenous people here. WWF, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club have no safe harbour here because of it. You only take away, you give nothing back.
You sniveling little snots should be hung up by your heels.
Warm regards,
Terry
I'm from the states. I don't pretend to understand any of the conditions or the situations that have to be endured and considered while living in the tundra; I do know that Alaska has plenty of oil and natural gas (and we're the US so we rape and piliage anything we get our smarmy fingers on hence the Alaskan pipeline that is so contriversial because threatens the natural wildlife) and the same problems persist. Suicide, high rates of teen pregnancy, diabetes (mostly among natives) and not to mention a tard of a govenor who wanted to take away funding for rape kits and public prosecutors that would fight those that were raped (she needed to cut stuff from the budget).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, priorities. Get them straight and don't bite off more than you can chew.
The sad part is each Alaskan resident gets a yearly payment as a benifit for living in such an oil rich state. Do you know what most of them spend that stipend on? Oh the cost of natural gas to heat their homes. Doesn't make any sense at all.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, The Girl with Brown Hair. I'm sure Curmudgeon and Sarah Palin would lock lips the moment they met.
ReplyDeleteYou see, Curmudgeon's problem is there is no middle ground. He paints anyone with environmental concerns as being anti-sealing, anti-fur, anti-pipeline. A person could be one of those things without being the others. A person could also be pro-pipeline but only when certain conditions are met. The conditions can, and do, vary. Yes there are environmental "extremists" out there, but not everyone who raises his/her voice is a tree-hugging greenie who is as set in his/her ways as Curmudgeon is on his side of the fence.
I'll admit that the NWT's regulatory regime is far too onerous and needs to be streamlined. I also wrote in an earlier comment that carbon offset credits for NWT MLAs is a waste of money. But Curmudgeon didn't read that part very carefully at all, he just saw someone presenting an opposing view and started frothing at the mouth.
However, he says he was part of the wind conference and good for him if he was. He also says high energy costs are part of the reason they're moving to wind turbines in Tuk. High electricity costs are crippling some communities, although the mayor in Tuk has already forewarned residents that power produced by the wind turbines will be just as costly as diesel plants. So their primary motivation is to lower the carbon emissions, which is fine.
Maybe there's hope for Curmudgeon, even though he so far fails to accept that the world is a place with a wide diversity of opinion, and others' views count just as much as his. It ain't all black and white, as he'd have us believe.
I am 100% certain the only reason Curmudgeon would lock lips with Palin would be to vomit in her mouth.
ReplyDeleteCurious
ReplyDeleteI shot down every stupid point you made, including your last. If I didn't value other opinions, why would I publish your stupid comments?
I invite all opinions here -- even the left-wing knobs whom preach tolerance, until someone starts their own business or puts on a blue neck tie.
If you didn't value other opinions, you probably wouldn't have a blog at all; you'd have a regular website, some sort of hard-copy publication, or a podcast. The medium encourages two-way communication.
ReplyDeleteI just can't help myself Burgeoning Curmudgeon, but I feel left out of Curious' ire when he/she forgot to mention that I think he/she is a "dumb jackass"
ReplyDelete