June 7, 2004 FFWD Submission

June 7, 2004 FFWD Submission:


Not only is the 2004 Federal election going to be one of the missing generation for the electorate under not showing up to vote, it is to be sub-titled as the election where the real issues went missing.

It needs to be at the top of the media and political agenda can be easily explained by the how our political and media managers have dumbed down the process so that they can understand it, and hope that they can help the voters left in the process not to become confused with reality.

Hence, you always go to health care, crime, sex, and war to garner the best votes.

Until this week passed the issues such as same sex marriage, abortion and the environment were no-where to be seen. Not only is the countries fourth national party being shunned by the staid and gray mass media outlets, but the New Democrats were looking as it they had abrogated their genetically inherited position in Canada’s election map of being the party of the conscience.

Preston Manning sees the environment as an issue that can make or break a party’s success and is at the top of the agenda of many people who vote. If you believe what David R. Boyd writes in his recent book, Unnatural Law (U.B.C. Press), none of the two major parties, Liberals or Conservatives, have done much of anything to move environmental law to an enlightened stage, and where we as Canadians could be confident that we have had a government that is actually making progress with proactive actions with regards to our deteriating environment. Another book I would recommend you read and put beside the Unnatural Law, if you are a true environmentalist that wants to keep informed on the issues is ''The Empty Ocean,'' by Richard Ellis.

Dr. David Schindler of the University of Alberta, a world renowned biologist, has issued a warning that we have an impending water crisis in the west that governments have yet to realize and this is leading us down a path of no return. We need only see the methods that the provincial government are approving water use applications at a break neck speed for the oil and gas industry. His findings are showing that river flows have decreased by 30% for northern rivers in Alberta like the Athabasca and 80% for south Alberta rivers like the Oldman. This is a trend he say only to continue due to the shrinking of the glaciers and their water supply, which is a symptom that can only be attributed to global warming. Alberta farmers already knew this, it seems our political leaders don’t.

Why talk of clean air, potable water, and some far off sess pool at the bottom of the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans?

Why talk of the salmon farming on the west coast and the part it is playing on the decimation of the world anchovie population half a world away?

Do we really want to wait to find out why breast milk of Canadian women contains the second-highest levels in the world of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs and what affect it will have or has had on the children of Canada.

Do want to know why the European Union has taken steps to issue restrictions on the substances and Health Canada is still at the stage of not allowing interviews with Mr. Ryan (a research scientist at Health Canada) about his findings? Why does Health Canada cite confidentiality reasons prevented it from seeking clues on why concentrations seem to vary so wildly or why it is prepared to let the levels of the chemical rise in breast milk because, ‘human exposure from sources such as breast milk had not yet reached harmful levels?’

Canadian scientist Simon Donner feels the question we must ask ourselves and the politico’s who want us to vote for them is, ‘will Canada become a leader in preventing dangerous climate change, in promoting new energy technologies, higher fuel efficiency, improved urban infrastructure and sustainable international development?’

Recently the Globe and Mail reported that one of the environment intitiatives proposed by Jack Layton, leader of the New Democrats’ would be to increase the use of alternative energy sources, pledging to see 10,000 wind turbines built across Canada.

In the whole environmental policy plank of the New Democrats you find some interesting ideas. Such as: Establish a university degree program in green technology Transportation; Share half of the federal gas tax to improve public transit, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure in urban areas, and freight rail and rural roads in rural communities; Provide GST rebates on greener cars; and Make public transit passes to employees a tax deduction for employers.

One further policy the NDP could adopt is the refusal to give any urban centre any funding support unless it is used for mass transit purposes and project. That means no ring road, no new asphalt, no new roads for more cars to spew more polution.

The Green Party seems to have become a true Canadian Party.

In its policy platform it has tried to balance the environment with reality in Canada and has proposed many very well thought out policies, that are a balance between cleaning the environment by using a carrot instead of a stick, and propose tax changes and incentives where prudent to do so.

As an example they propose to: Remove tax breaks on pesticides; Implement a carbon tax on gasoline, diesel and coal but exclude ethanol blends and biodiesel from fuel tax increases; Establish a special five-year tax break on energy efficiency retrofits in commercial and residential buildings; and Seek intervener status in legal actions that impact the health of the ecosystem.

The last issue is one where I happen to agree and would go farther by using the Constitution to base Federal Government’s intervention in provincial enviromental practices.

An argument for this can be based on the fact that the air and water in our ecosystem do cross provincial and international borders and therefore the federal government has a responsibilty to step in and make the decisions are made in the best interest of the country’s enivronment health.

Can we afford to vote for the Conservative Party when as one of its firewall bricks to protect the energy industry in Alberta from reality it will scrap the Kyoto plan, but have no concrete ideas or plans to deal with the very real issues of climate change, water shortages, biodiversity problems, and problems of missing fish both on the east and west coasts?

Why is it a policy of the new Conservative Party to abolish the Kyoto Accord and replace it with what?

Since we do not know with what, can we draw a line from that decision and the needs and wants of those that invested in Stephen Harper’s campaign to become the new leader of the new Alliance entity, the Conservative Party of Canada? After all why would someone or entity like Trib-L Limited Partnership give Stephen Harper $35,000 for his latest leadership bid?