canadiancomment

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Martin Acting Big

Poor Paul. I often wonder if he even understands what the purpose of his job is. Getting ready to make some headlines, Paul is preparing to shake down BusHitler later this week:
Prime Minister Paul Martin will discuss Canada's opposition to drilling for oil in an Alaskan refuge during talks with U.S. President George W. Bush this week.

“The Prime Minister will use the time available to raise matters of bilateral concern, and that includes ANWAR [Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refugee],” a federal government official told reporters at a technical briefing Monday in Ottawa.
Now it isn't that I find this pathetic, it is just that I suspect there is a huge number of Canadians out there that believe Paul is being tough on our southern neighbour. Now if we turn it the other way, I wonder how the average Canadian would react if an American president came here and told us what to do with our natural resources?

Just for spite I'ld love to see BusHitler give Martin grief about Canada's oil industries in Alberta or Newfoundland. Shut them down damnit and to hell with the consequences! At the least it would get that holier-than-thou look off of Martins face.

I wonder if Paul will sulk if BusHitler tells him to stuff it? Some tears maybe?

Anyways, I also got a kick out of this quote:
Last week, the U.S. Senate voted narrowly in favour of allowing oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR) — a move long opposed by the Canadian government because of its potential impact on the fragile northern environment. The U.S. President has been pushing to open up the area for drilling to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign crude imports.
I'ld just like to know what exactly allows this region to qualify as a "fragile northern environment"? The author of the report doesn't seem to think it important to elaborate on. But still, how is a frozen landscape with a little bit of greenery considered fragile? Is it more fragile than the neighbourhood I live in?

6 comments:

Christopher said...

By fragile, I believe they are referring to the amount of time that the local ecosystem would take to recover from the "footprint" left by human activity there. The high arctic does not recover (or "return to its original condition" if you will) as rapidly as more southern ecosystems.

and what's with the BusHitler moniker?

Dana said...

I was just feeling stupid today.

Robert McClelland said...

Your sychophancy is sickening.

Dana said...

If I had any idea what sychophancy was I would probably feel insulted.

Anonymous said...

sycophancy is pig liberal for fancy-sink-hole - like Kyoto, Adscam, gun registry etc

nomdenet

no sleep said...

I think it's you who have misunderstood Paul's job. His one and only purpose is to ensure that the Liberal Party is elected again. Period. Complaining about oil exploration in Alaska will sell very well with his constituency, regardless of the merits (and I honestly don't know enough about that issue to comment). Paul is beginning to get a handle on which side his bread is buttered. Reflexive opposition to American policy just plain works, regardless of the goodness or badness of the policy.