Thousands of protestors, mostly dressed in high tech nylon and plastic cold weather gear, tramped through the snow in Quebec City last Saturday, to protest against global warming.
According to The Globe and Mail;
The organizers aimed to press provincial and territorial leaders to turn the tide on oil sands expansion and the corresponding development of pipelines.
“They were just really, really there to send a message to get the premiers to focus on climate because it is an important thing to focus on and it’s just not on the political agenda right now,” said Ms. Hassan.
Red-clad protestors formed a thermometer to send a message about climate change. Meanwhile, #ActionClimat was trending on Twitter.
Premiers from across Canada are set to hold a summit on Tuesday to discuss what role provinces can play leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris later this year.
I must say I like their taste in plastic snow gear. The bright red petroleum based plastic outfits made a terrific contrast against the late season snow. At least this protest didn’t have to be cancelled due to extreme cold, like the cancelled Yale protest in February this year.
One protestor displayed a sense of humour, unless their intriguing placard was an extra subtle attack against tar sands, the significance of which eludes me – on a par with marching through the snow to protest against global warming.
In Canada, money is taken from the “have” provinces and given to the “have not” provinces. This amounts to about $1000 given to even man, woman and child in Quebec, largely a result of resource development in the “have” provinces.
Per capita benefit (2012)
QC
$934
Quebec will receive the most from equalization payments in the 2013-2014 year.
If the people in Quebec really want to do something about global warming, they could start by giving up the $1000 they are each taking out of the pockets of other Canadians. In that way the rest of Canada could afford to slow down our resource development, as we wouldn’t have to carry the weight of 8 million Québécois at $1000 each on our shoulders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equalization_payments_in_Canada
I wrote this circa 2002:
The definitive study on Canadian tax transfers is:
Mansell, Robert L. and Schlenker, Ronald. “The Provincial Distribution of Federal Fiscal Balances” Canadian Business Economics 3.2 (1995): 3-22
Robert Mansell has updated his tables from time to time, and I have them up to 2002.
Quebec is still number 1, receiving $217 billion in 2004$ from 1961 to 2002, but is doing much better this millennium.
Ontario has overtaken Alberta as #1 contributor, at $314 billion, but Alberta is still #1 per capita.
Per family of four, Quebec has received $129,000, Ontario has contributed $127,000 , and Alberta has contributed $422,000. You can double these figures with nominal interest.
The Maritimes, Territories and some others have received more per capita than Quebec.
The problem with these huge tax transfers , of which “equalization payments” are a subset, is that they encourage counterproductive provincial policies. Often, the money never gets past the bloated civil services of the “have-not” provinces, and never reaches the poorest people in these regions.
Equalization was intended as a “hand-up”, but has become a “hand-out”, enabling and entrenching really poor government policies in the have-not provinces.
The people in these have-not provinces would probably be better off now if equalization had never existed, and Canada would not have our half-trillion dollar national debt.
Update to 2015:
As a direct result of excessive tax transfers that skew economic priorities, New Brunswick, one of our most debt-ridden provinces, has recently banned fracking of its rich Albert County oilshales. I am not sure if the Albert County shales can be produced by fracking – my former company used to own large shale deposits in Albert County, prior to the development of shale fracking, and I visited the County in the 1980’s..
Thanks for that info, printed and in my wallet I get into arguments too often, now I have some ##’s. I also have some great french canadian friends that have moved to western Canada in search of a better life and have succeeded quit well. HO to them!
A similar problem is happening here in Western Australia. We have a similar situation were due to the fact that once had useless desert, but some nearly 50 years some enterprising men decided to see if the land might contain some minerals which we could mine and sell for a profit. Amazingly there was this mineral ore called Iron Ore that was found and found to be in abundance an soon other people and companies started to explore the region and found it rich in minerals, so they started to mine it. Things really got good in the past decade, until the past year saw the price tumble, but as a result of our wealth we a basically propping up the rest of the country, via the company taxes raised by the mining boom and the increased GST from our state while in real terms we saw a decrease in the money coming back. The states getting the money are those who have waste money of green projects and complain we have spent our money poorly. It seems the whole point of the green movement isn’t to save the environment, but for the expressed purpose of “sharing the wealth”.
Have the snow birds moved north? I think not.
“Have the snow birds moved north? I think not.”
Climate refugees, eh? ;o)
“I must say I like their taste in plastic snow gear. The bright red petroleum based plastic outfits made a terrific contrast against the late season snow. ”
Years ago, I remember a chemist friend at Dow Chemical who would always say he couldn’t believe people burn petroleum when you can make such wonderful things from it. This was in 1980, first time many of us heard the words Global Warming.
One term I use for the radical environmentalists is: ice worshippers. Think about it.
Are the tar sand areas anything other than a tar pit to look at?
The real reason Quebec is protesting. Not only has Alberta got the oil, now they have Crashed Ice as well. Quebec is pissed.
Quebec’s Crashed Ice event packs up and moves to Edmonton. The event was held in Old Quebec City for nine years and regularly drew crowds of up to 100,000 people. Its economic spinoff is estimated at $11 million.
The president of Gestev, the company that organized the Quebec City event, said it’s possible Crashed Ice will return to Quebec in the future — just not in 2015.
http://www.redbullcrashedice.com/en_CA/video/how-red-bull-crashed-ice-race-was-won
We don’t need CO2 to create hell on Earth.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/11/welcome-sweden-electronic-money-not-so-funny
“The drive to a cashless society is supported by the UN Capital Development Fund’s Better Than Cash Alliance which aims to accelerate the shift to electronic payments, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MasterCard and Visa among others. But it’s Sweden that is blazing the trail.”
We are moving toward a brain death Big Brother hell.
And it looks like the world is full of useful idiots digging their own grave.
I prefer cash. I don’t think a carrington event will affect the cash in my drawer.
Very true. We also save all our paper statements. That way if anything really interesting happens, you can always prove where you were at least at the most recent monthly statement.
Laughable!
Quebec and Ontario are about to sign a carbon trading scheme today…watch the other province follow in step…Canada is heading down the dark path now…and the media as far as i’m concerned is to blame.
Let’s not forget what’s on tap for the States to the South – such as Washington, where a “carbon” cap-and-trade resolution is just waiting in the wings – with a 2016 start date – and after reading, you will see they anticipate a base cost (to rise with time) trading volume that will generate – at the lowest cost, the first year after imposition – 1BN $US – that is one billion dollars US:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2015&bill=5283.
This is the Senate version. There is also a House version with near-carbon-copy language (oh yes, pun very much intended).
Insanity coming to a North American State or Province nnear you!!
Regards,
MCR
Agree that the media is upside down on this. CBC just said imminent crop failures coming due to future 1 degree rise in temperature. But CBC is totally mad. I listen for the irony and stupidity that they issue.
As for “Carbon” trading/taxes or whatever, most provinces already have a program. From afar in Alberta (we have a carbon tax), the Cap and Trade system that Ontario and Quebec are proposing appears to be nothing more than a way to financially reward the current government supporters and certain government corporations. IMHO. Rife with potential corruption but that is par for the course.
Posted a few years ago – radical enviros blocking much-needed pipelines through Eastern Canada.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/tips-notes-2/#comment-1584854
Line 9 originally move crude oil eastward, then it was reversed to flow westward, and the latest approval reverses it again to flow eastward, so that large oil refineries at Esso Nanticoke (near Hamilton) and the Shell and PetroCanada refineries at Montreal can process cheaper Canadian crude instead of much more expensive imported crude.
Crude can also be shipped eastward down the St. Lawrence River to the Valero refinery at Levis (Quebec City) and further to the huge Irving refinery at St. John NB. I suppose we can also export overseas with some added infrastructure.
This was a sensible, no-brainer decision, that the radical enviros managed to delay for years, costing Canadians billions of dollars. At times, Edmonton Light crude sold for $60 per barrel while imported Brent crude cost $100 per barrel.
We should hold these enviros financially responsible and send them the bill.
Best to all, Allan
LINE 9 REVERSAL WINS APPROVAL
National Post, 7Mar2014
LINE 9 REVERSAL WINS APPROVAL
National Post,
Conditions for Enbridge; harsh words for activists
The National Energy Board handed a conditional approval to a proposal to reverse the flow and expand Enbridge’s controversial Line 9 so it can move western oil to refineries in Ontario and Quebec, and doled out harsh words to activists who disrupted its hearings.
In a 141-page ruling released Thursday, the board said the decision “enables Enbridge to react to market forces and provide benefits to Canadians, while at the same time implementing the project in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner.”
The federal regulator said the 30 conditions imposed on Enbridge would enhance the pipeline’s integrity and environmental protection, improve emergency response and require continued consultation. The regulator turned down a request by Enbridge to exempt it from a final check to ensure all conditions are met.
The approval is final. It involves a 639-kilometre stretch between North Westover, Ont., and Montreal, as well as an increase of the pipeline’s capacity to 300,000 from 240,000 barrels per day. Enbridge also won permission to move heavy oil. The NEB had already approved the reversal of the western portion of Line 9, a 194-kilometre segment linking Sarnia, Ont., to North Westover.
The federal regulator’s endorsement comes three months after a panel of regulators backed another major pipeline, Enbridge’s Northern Gateway from Alberta to the West Coast, after finding that Canada would be better off with the new project than without it.
The pipelines are part of a build up of transportation capacity to expand markets for western Canada’s growing oil production. Two other major projects, Energy East from Alberta to the East Coast proposed by TransCanada Corp., and the expansion of the TransMountain pipeline by Kinder Morgan from Alberta to Vancouver, are also before regulators. The board’s decision was welcomed by the natural resources minister, who said the National Energy Board had conducted “an independent, scientific review” of Enbridge’s proposal.
“This will protect high quality, skilled jobs in Quebec and create market opportunities for Western Canada’s oil producers,” Joe Oliver said.
“Furthermore,’ the minister said, “by replacing higher-cost foreign crude with Canadian crude, the reversal will strengthen Quebec’s refining and petrochemical industries.”
(continued…)
The mind set that wants to preserve millions of square miles of tundra and ice escapes me. Such land is useless to plants, animals, and humans. It can only be a simple aversion to change that explains it–freeze everything the way it is (including not letting the 3rd world develop I guess)…
le meilleur de tous les mondes possibles! (And I hope the translator got that right!)
Here are some more Global Warming protesters.
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/b0/2b/95/b02b954637aa3623fe9982198144051d.jpg
Those are not protesters.
That’s Cook’s consensus, right there.
97% of snowmen, agree that warming is happening and is dangerous.
As great as the picture and caption is, indeffrog’s comment was even better. Still chuckling…
They do have a concerned look about them, indefatigablefrog.
So many of the protesters are young. Reminds me of my student days and the “Student Centre” crowd who solved all the world’s problems at the Stud Centre tables. At that time they were all “artsmen” and held in low regard by us engineering students who were studying the actualities and not fantasies. It is unfortunate for us that those Student Center types grew up physically, learned nothing further about the real world, and now are the ones who are passing the cap-and-trade legislation that is to saddle Ontario, Quebec, and California with unnecessary costs to no useful purpose.
Ian M
We Are Happy Plants — Fall and Rise of CO2
Let’s see them march in Calgary.
Reblogged this on Public Secrets and commented:
Once again showing Nature has a sense of both humor and irony, and Climate Cultists have neither.
XKCD reference, re that sign. I could be wrong though.
https://xkcd.com/470/
That is funny considering Quebec gets its oil from foreign governments like Nigeria, the Middle East and so on all delivered to Quebec via tankers that dock daily in that province. Now that is the definition of stupid. They get no oil from the Oil Sands to talk about.
albertalad
Odd. Ontario (and almost all of the lands east of Detroit) are oil-producing – one of the first areas to drill oil in north America. Museum up there claims oil production well before Drake even.
Ho hum
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-13/greenpeace-s-midlife-crisis
Great news!!!
India Bans Greenpeace Funding, Suspends Licence
I wish Canada and the USA would do the same.
The environmental movement has evolved into a gang of ultra-left thugs who oppose everything and have caused great economic AND environmental harm,
Best, Allan
See Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore’s 1994 essay at
http://www.ecosense.me/index.php/key-environmental-issues/10-key-environmental-issues/208-key-environmental-issues-4
Like all activists, lots of “rights” but no obligations.
@winston bela April 13, 2015 at 8:29 am
I would like to see the best ONE sensor in each country world wide, used to generate temperature data.
If we argue that averaging wide areas is a rubbish idea to generate a global average temperature then doing the same with country data is just as bad.
This is in Québec City. Snow on the ground is not unusual for that time of the year.
The province of Québec must be, along with California, the strongest North American bastion of AGW brainwashing and generalized blind faith.
The vast majority of Quebécois have never heard that there is a dissentic scientific opinion on the subject of AGW. AGW is taught in school as undisputed science.
The Grand Solar Minimum will grant them their wish and cover their hometown with glaciers.
Seal the border before they can make it outta there. It seems they *like* it a little fresh.
Current weather conditions in Quebec City:
21/03 means air temp 21°C, dew point 3°C. 70°F air temp.
They should have waited a day or two!
METAR CYQB 132000Z 21007KT 170V240 30SM FEW250 21/03 A3000 RMK CI1 CI TR PRESFR SLP161 DENSITY ALT 800FT