Blog

To conserve or not to conserve?

John Bennett — September 30, 2014

Our Ontario heroes at the Green Energy Coalition (GEC) have saved Ontario-rate payers billions on their gas and electricity bills over the years.

They did it by convincing the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to uphold and enforce strong energy efficiency rules.

It is the hard slogging research, legal, and economic work that gets little attention or recognition because it's complicated, boring and absolutely essential.

So I want to give the GEC a shout-out of gratitude.

GEC’s David Poch and Kai Millyard do their work quietly in the background, so when they expressed exasperation the other day, I sat up in my chair.

Important matters the GEC are pursuing need more support, so I thought: “It’s time to lend them a hand”.

Something has gone wrong at the OEB and unless we marshal a lot of support, years of work and billions spent on smart meters and other conservation measures will be lost.

"Simple", I told him, "Get it back"

John Bennett — September 17, 2014

I’m headed to New York City this weekend to march with tens of thousands for climate action. A number of people have been ruminating on the wisdom of travelling so far, with its carbon implications and use of resources. But as we saw with the Arab Spring, revolutions are won when people stand arm-in-arm for justice.

That’s why I’m going. I made my decision a few minutes ago after a call with the “Lobby Monitor”. They obtained a copy of the briefing binder given to Greg Rickford earlier this year (Rickford replaced Joe Oliver as Minister of Natural Resources in March 2014) and I was asked if I wished to comment on his instructions to obtain the infrastructure necessary to export oil and diversify markets (read: find new Asian customers).

Think Fast!

John Bennett — August 26, 2014

My brother liked to throw things at me shouting “THINK FAST!"

Now I’m doing it to you! August 29th is the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's (CNSC) deadline for comments on its “Hypothetical Severe Nuclear Accident and Effectiveness of Mitigation Measures" report. You can send yours here.

Sorry for giving you so little time.

Back in 2012 we all urged the CNSC to consider what would happen if a Fukushima-scale accident took place in Canada. Would the CNSC's emergency measures have been effective?

No one will notice…‘til she blows

John Bennett — August 10, 2014

The National Energy Board (NEB) is continuing its undemocratic approach to pleasing its master: the oil industry. Most recently, the Calgary-based rubber stamp is trying to use the summer to hide yet another concession. On July 11th the NEB said it was going consider a request from Imperial Oil and Chevron to weaken the rules for offshore drilling in the Arctic and gave the public until August 1st to comment (some strong arguing won an extra two weeks).

Psst...secrets can hurt you

John Bennett — July 9, 2014

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not good at keeping secrets, and I particularly don’t like when governments work in secret. Governments feed us a lot of malarkey about why secrecy is essential, but 9 times out of 10 there’s no justifiable reason.

Here are some government plans developing in secret that everyone should know about.

SECRET #1

At an undisclosed location in Ottawa this week, 400 delegates from Pacific Rim countries are negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) - the latest ‘free trade’ deal our government says we just have to have.

Northern Gateway: Isn’t it time to reject the past and embrace the future?

John Bennett — June 17, 2014

June 17, 2014

Today the federal cabinet approved the Northern Gateway Tar Sands pipeline.

It’s a decision that could define our times. We are witnessing the final stages of a protracted wrestling match between our future and our past.

Can we afford to let this decision stand? Aren’t our children--born and unborn--depending on us?

I’m not going to go into all the reasons why we must end our fossil fuel addiction, and move on to a clean energy future. You’ve heard it before.

But this decision could be different. It could be a game-changer. The Northern Gateway Tar Sands pipeline could be a turning point because of the huge opposition in British Columbia —unparalleled in Canadian history:

When the dealin's done...

John Bennett — May 22, 2014

May 22, 2014

It’s been a busy week for government propagandists. Why?

Back when I was a reporter I had a mantra I would chant to myself while writing: Who, What, When, and Why. Who, What, When, and Why? It’s particularly effective when applied to government stories, so let’s apply it to last week’s series of announcements.

WHO: The federal government that has turned a deaf ear to climate change and mitigation, and stripped itself of the ability to protect the environment by gutting the Environmental Assessment, Fisheries and Navigable Waters Acts.

Farley Mowat: Legend

John Bennett — May 8, 2014

Farley Mowat passed away this week at the age of 92. It has been thirty years since he wrote “Sea of Slaughter”, a book that I’ll never forget. He sold almost 17 million books over his long and decorated career. His books about nature (translated into 52 languages) were a major contributor not only to the Canadian environmental movement, but the global movement to protect the earth.

Millions of people around the world view Canada in a better light because of his life’s work. He mixed the serious with humour in devastating ways, making us smile one minute, cry the next and then rant with a rage over how we treat this planet.

I’ve been thinking about my favourite Farley Mowat book, “No Bird Sang”, since I heard the news today.

Hope the climate change deniers have their survival packs ready!

Webmaster — May 6, 2014

This week is Emergency Preparedness Week -- the kind of non-event, event that might mean we’ll see a photo (or two) of a politician at some media event, but most won’t give it a second thought.

At best, it might evoke an image of Sheldon Cooper of Big Bang Theory with his survival backpack and fluorescent arrows painted on the floor. Some of us older folks might evoke the man on a street corner shouting: “Repent the end is near!”

Last lump of coal, first refugee

Webmaster — April 16, 2014

By John Bennett

There were four events of note this week--well five, actually. The first two demonstrate the dissonance between the Government of Canada and the rest of the world.