tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post1469591720735286698..comments2024-03-28T10:07:24.955-04:00Comments on Northern Reflections: A Rare And Endangered SpiecesOwen Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-43440488334733692062018-03-26T14:20:20.859-04:002018-03-26T14:20:20.859-04:00Lougheed -- with his Harvard MBA -- knew what he w...Lougheed -- with his Harvard MBA -- knew what he was about, Toby. The people who followed him -- like Ralph Klein -- were clueless.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-45220889006529746772018-03-26T14:18:04.767-04:002018-03-26T14:18:04.767-04:00The dilbit juggernaut has not made the world safe ...The dilbit juggernaut has not made the world safe for rainbow trout or West Coast salmon. sal.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-45989417540698452152018-03-26T13:56:35.785-04:002018-03-26T13:56:35.785-04:00I am convinced that there are powerful people who ...I am convinced that there are powerful people who want Canadians to always be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Every action that Canada takes to add value seems to eventually be bought up or put out of business in some way. Alberta could have had a very long value added economy using oil and tar sands to kick start the process. It could have done so but the various powers that be did whatever it took to prevent that.<br /><br />I suspect that if Alberta had truly tried to use Lougheed's prescription that the Marines would have been up here to save us. Tobynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-34747710087338350212018-03-26T13:09:13.967-04:002018-03-26T13:09:13.967-04:00.. the full story of 'dilbit' is a long &a..... the full story of 'dilbit' is a long & convoluted tale<br />and full disclosure, I directed/produced one of the early IPO videos<br />to help launch the tar sands funding..<br /><br />I also worked prior.. as a landscaper near Swan Hills Alberta<br />to carve the properties & sod the properties<br />for Big Energy dilbit executives out of the sticky clay up there <br /><br />Was busted for poaching trout on Victoria Day weekend up there, <br />the Nat Resources office refused to open.. to pay for permits<br />It was a nice 2 + pound Rainbow or Splake as I recall<br />but coming around the curve of shoreline<br />shouting 'I caught one' did nothing to assist my defense<br />and the unfortunate fish was in the Edmonton courtroom a month later<br />as was I.. fortunately a sweet little American girl had been caught same day<br />Her spincaster line n worm in the water north of Lake Louise & no permit<br />So we both got spanked with a small fine<br /><br />My case followed hers... wondrous<br />Tho my fly rod n reel is now used by the judge<br />of that I have no doubt.. it was an astonishing cane rod<br />with a truly fine, early aluminum reel.. and brass guides.. I wept<br /><br />My grandfather rolled over in his grave<br />he would have preferred I hurled it into the lake<br />and leapt in immediately after with a 10 HP Evinrude<br />or boat anchor tied to my leg for being so careless with one his fly rods<br />(he could be very blunt.. he was a hard man) <br /><br />I did digress & apologies.. I have harsh views re dilbit<br />Will gather my thoughts n stay on topic<br /><br />I just wanted to color in why I may get unduly perturbed<br />at what is happening in Alberta, the resource stripping<br />as some think a Toronto 'easterner' like me should shut up..<br />Hell, I was running bulldozers n backhoes up there mid to late 70's<br />and was rolling combines across the prairies<br />when the weather was fine, and the harvest to be donethe salamanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06853337802990122289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-29882333720995877762018-03-26T12:42:10.546-04:002018-03-26T12:42:10.546-04:00It's a return to the 19th Century, Mound. We w...It's a return to the 19th Century, Mound. We were content then to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. The colonial mindset lives on.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-20062213281355528202018-03-26T11:55:59.388-04:002018-03-26T11:55:59.388-04:00In any country, oil is a strategic national resour...<br />In any country, oil is a strategic national resource. Those nations that have none would readily confirm that. Yet our focus, like that of other producing countries, has been to strip ourselves of as much of that strategic resource as rapidly as possible. Bitumen, once refined, is a potential source of most petro-chemicals including plastics. It can also be used in the production of asphalt or, as First Nations have done for centuries, to waterproof your birch bark canoe.<br /><br />Despite Peter Lougheed's "go slow" warnings, Alberta has repeatedly demonstrated the devastating effects massive production of bitumen can have by overheating the provincial economy into a ruinous bubble only to see it burst. So much notional wealth has been shipped out of Alberta and yet the province remains mired in debt. And that, kids, is why we cannot have nice things.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-7706729835292065712018-03-26T11:37:06.800-04:002018-03-26T11:37:06.800-04:00It's all about the cost of processing the stuf...It's all about the cost of processing the stuff, Rural. Because it's dirty oil, it's very expensive to process. If the folks who dig it up can pawn off the costs on somebody else, the bigger the profit.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-42128227424310988162018-03-26T11:20:02.913-04:002018-03-26T11:20:02.913-04:00She is indeed an endangered species Owen. With a l...She is indeed an endangered species Owen. With a long and principled stand for both our environment and our democratic principals I fear that she and her party are getting tired of beating their head against the wall of corporate funded BS embraced by so many of our other 'representatives'. I have long wondered how come it is more feasible to ship diluted tar sands overseas (and the danger to our coastal waters) than process it locally into a directly usable (and more valuable) product. Ruralhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11814103548500393628noreply@blogger.com