CBC docs; Alberta Petro-tyranny

Sat Sep 1 11:58:01 EDT 2007

THE NATURE OF THINGS
(Sunday September 2 at 7pm on CBC-TV)
EARTH ENERGY
Sculptor, aviator, inventor, and filmmaker Bill Lishman documents his
journey around the globe in search of earth's renewable energy. In
Niagara, he discovers our rich history of hydroelectric production. His
travels continue as he explores the world's largest solar collector power
plant in the Mojave dessert. In Iceland, geo-thermal energy literally
shoots out of the ground. And Bill is blown away in Denmark where they
produce 25% of their electricity with wind turbines.
http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/earthenergy/index.html

PLANET EARTH: THE FUTURE
(Sunday September 2 at 8pm ET on CBC Newsworld)
THE FUTURE - SAVING SPECIES
The sixth extinction phase - are we really at such a crisis point? Planet
Earth revealed the Mongolian gazelle on the last great unseen migration
spectacle in Asia. Why didn't they film the Saiga Antelope, that was
filmed just 15 years ago as a spectacle for another series? The answer is
because the Saiga is now on the brink of extinction. Martyn Colbeck and
Saiga antelope expert Dr. Milner-Gulland tell us why.
Discuss this series online.
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/planetearth_future.html

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PUBLICATION:      The Globe and Mail
DATE:                      2007.06.11
BYLINE:                  Andrew Nikiforuk

Is Canada the latest emerging petro-tyranny?

Every day, the First Law of Petropolitics quietly insinuates its way into
the nation's political blood like a rogue parasite. The law, first coined
by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, posits that the price of oil
and the quality of freedom invariably travel in opposite directions.

As the price of crude oil goes higher in an oil-dominated kingdom, the
average citizen will experience, over time, less free speech, fewer free
papers and a steady erosion of the rule of law. The reason, argues Mr.
Friedman, is simple: Oil and gas regimes don't need to tax their citizens
to survive because they can simply tax another tar sands project, so they
really don't have to listen to their people either.

According to Mr. Friedman, the First Law astutely explains the emerging
petro-tyrannies of Venezuela, Iran, Nigeria and Russia. But should Alberta
and Canada be added to the list?

By any conservative definition Alberta is already a poster child for the
First Law. The government now derives approximately 40 per cent of its
income from oil and gas revenue and has been ruled as a one-party state
for 36 years. It's no accident that Kevin Taft, the leader of Alberta's
fledging Liberal Party, has just written a book about Canada's oil-soaked
kingdom called Democracy Derailed. The derailing has seemingly erased
distinctions between business and civic affairs. Within six months of
quitting his job as Alberta's No. 1 honcho, Ralph Klein (a.k.a. King
Ralph) became a paid, senior business adviser in the oil patch for Borden
Ladner Gervais LLP. Meanwhile, his former chief of staff, Peter Elzinga,
leapt from the employ of oil-sands giant Suncor only to serve as the
executive director of Alberta's Conservative Party months later.

Given their one-sidedness, oil regimes fear transparency. This explains
why Alberta operates one of the most secretive governments in Canada. Just
last year Alberta's Conservative government made it legal for its
petro-tyrants to lock away internal audits for 15 years and for government
ministers to keep their briefing binders out of public view for five
years.

Making propaganda is also one of oil's many antidemocratic
characteristics. The Alberta government currently spends $14-million a
year and employs 117 full-time staff in its Public Affairs Bureau to tell
Albertans what to think. Not even President George W. Bush employs a
propaganda arm this large in the White House.

The tone of government has also become increasingly authoritarian. Alberta
Premier Ed Stelmach, for instance, declares that he can't even touch "the
brakes" on rapid development in the tar sands any more than his
counterparts in Venezuela or Russia can, say, touch the brakes on
aggressive nationalization. Alberta has also sacrificed the rule of law.
It seems whenever open public debate threatens to challenge another
government-sanctioned energy project, the Energy and Utilities Board
(EUB), a de facto rubber stamp for disorderly development, shuts down
public participation citing "security" reasons. You never know what a
disenfranchised 80-year-old citizen might say before regulators beholden
to hydrocarbons.

Elected bodies no longer pull much weight in Alberta either. Three times
last year the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, a democratically
elected body representing the hardworking citizens of Fort McMurray,
presented compelling arguments for a slowdown of tar sands development in
order to preserve some sense of community. The EUB, an appointed body,
overruled the democrats every time with the same authoritarian élan
championed by Hugo Chavez or Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile the democratic gap between rulers and ruled grows wider every
day. Polls show that Albertans overwhelming favour absolute reductions for
carbon emissions, yet their government champions calculated inaction.
Rural Albertans have asked for tough groundwater protection but get more
oil and gas drilling in their backyards instead.

Exercising freedom of expression in Alberta can be risky too. When David
Swann, the medical officer of health for the Palliser Health Authority,
endorsed the Kyoto Protocol in 2002, for medical reasons no less, he got
fired with a Venezuelan-like promptness. When Dr. John O'Connor, asked for
a proper health study for first nations living downstream from the oil
sands, Health Canada and Alberta Health, complained to the College of
Physicians and Surgeons that he was "agitating the local population."

Alberta's politics mirror a global phenomenon. In a recent study of 105
oil-rich states between 1971 and 1997, political scientist Michael Ross
consistently found that reliance on oil exports made a country less
democratic regardless of its size, location or ideology. Oil corrupts and
corrupts absolutely. Given that Canada is now ruled by Albertans and
claims to be an "emerging energy superpower" as well as a "secure source
of almost limitless energy resources" for North America, can Canada defy
the axiom of our age?

Politicians serve those first who deliver the most revenue.

 © COPYRIGHT 2007 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc.

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