It's amazing what you can get used to traveling in Asia... and what you can learn. I've realized that a family's 100cc scooter can hold the same amount of people as a family sedan back home (4-6 people), I've also realized that a Toyota Camry (the taxi of choice here in Cambodia) is actually an eight person vehicle (4 in the back, 2 in the passenger seat,and yes, two more in the driver's seat!). It's probably more like a twelve person vehicle if owned by a family, although I haven't had the pleasure of that experience yet, I've only seen it! Scooters, on the other hand, can also double as pickup trucks (although an umbrella must be carried in the front to keep out the rain). They can carry 20 or so chickens, 2 or 3 full size pigs, a year's supply of rice, etc... you should see what they can carry when a trailer is attached!
I've also realized that while picking your teeth with a toothpick is a disgusting (though absolutely necessary for all) procedure which must be covered up by your free hand, picking your nose is totally acceptable, anytime, anywhere, no covering up necessary! The only person who can 'hawck' a bigger and louder 'luggie' than a man, is his beautiful 25 year old wife or their 7 year old daughter! Any guest house that supplies toilet paper, an en suite toilet/shower, sheets and a towel is a pretty classy joint! Speaking of joints, any restaurant that offers 'happy' food (shakes, omelets, pizza) and doesn't have a sign saying 'no drugs!' clearly posted, has paid off the police, and probably sells pot behind the bar, or may even offer up a joint free of charge if you buy a beer (for about 75 cents!).
Other things I've noticed are that: whoever says that roosters only crow when dawn breaks is a liar! (they start at 3AM and go straight through till 11PM); If your bus driver remembers to honk his horn while passing on a blind corner, up a hill at 90 kilometers per hour, you think to yourself, wow, what a safe and courteous driver! Dogs and cats, chickens and ducks, goats and cows all agree that the middle of the road is the best place to lie down for a mid-afternoon siesta (the cars and trucks do usually seem to avoid them). I no longer think the guy carrying a jar full of bugs is going fishing, but wonder if his bugs taste as good (and if their legs are as crunchy) as the scorpion I had a while back on Khoa San Road. Speaking of Khoa San Road, the frequent bulge in 'girl's' skirts is no longer a surprise (and no!, that is not speaking from a personal experience!). And finally, any bus journey which doesn't end in a break down or with the person beside you vomiting up their lunch, is a blessing for which Buddha should be thanked!
I'm even getting so used to people yelling at me from across the street to buy their books, or scarves, fruit, transport, etc that I'm actually beginning to enjoy their cheekiness... The kids are the best though, besides being a little annoying sometimes, they're often quite funny and damn smart too! Another traveller I met up with told me of one of his favourite street seller encounters... ten year old kid: "mister, you wan buy my poscar?", Traveller: "no, thank you", "you buy my poscar!", "no, thank you, I don't need any post cards!", "look, good poscars, nice pitture of Ankor Wat!", "Ummm, do you know if this is the road to Ta Prohm Temple?" (traveller trying to change the subject) "why you no buy my poscar?", "I already told you (getting angry now) I don't want any postcards!", "what the capital of Madagascar?, you don't know, you buy my poscar!" (pretty good eh?), "What's the capital of Peru, you don't know, you give me the post card for free!", "Lima" said the kid without even a pause, "now, you buy my postcard!". Defeated (and a little awed and amused), he ended up buying a post card...
However, no matter how much you (or at least I) can get used to, six months of rice, noodles and soup eaten to crappy (you'd agree) Chinese or Thai Karaoke music or an old and dubbed Jean Claude Van Dam Kung Fu movie can get extremely monotonous and annoying, who wants fried rice for breakfast... again?! So, when I walked by a Canadian owned cafe the other day playing Sarah McLaughlin music and offering up a full English breakfast for $4.50 (probably the most I've paid for any breakfast my entire time here), I had to have it! It was fantastic (real sausages, buttered toast (not just untoasted white bread), real hash browns), sooo good! I was soon joined by some fellow travelers who together with me in the next twelve hours managed to polish off 3 bottles of french wine, mashed potatoes and gravy, rum and coke (all virtually impossible to find in the other countries I've visited so far) all the while listening to anything we wanted (Sarah Harmer, James Brown, The Clash...) and losing about$3 in a great game of 'Texas holdem' poker, a good way to ease the homesickness.
In the two weeks since then I've satisfied every craving I've had for the last 6 months: cheese (Camembert - I couldn't believe I found that) and crackers, a beautiful steak cooked to perfection, pasta, salads, it may not sound like much to you, but it's been amazing to me, oh so good! I also managed to fit in some local specialities here on the coast of Sihanoukville and Kep in the last couple of days, pepper fried and grilled crab, lobster, fresh fish dishes and some fantastic spring rolls, it's been a couple weeks of culinary joy! Now I'm off to Bangkok to try out some more street stall food, those grubs were looking good last time I was through...
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Save Our Democracy
If you’ve been paying any attention to the news lately I’m sure you’ve noticed that our media is in trouble. Newspapers have laid off extraordinary amounts of staff, some are folding altogether or filing for bankruptcy, and once again the CBC, our national independent public broadcaster is being forced to cut jobs.
Why bother with newspapers and why should you care about the CBC when you can get all your news online for free anyway? For one, it’s newspapers and the media that pay investigative journalists to research and break stories. Without funds to employ journalists, stories won’t be researched and we the voting public will remain un-informed. Without local, independent and non-partisan media; democracy is ineffective. For our democracy to function properly the country needs its citizens to be educated on local and international news. To vote properly we have to be able to make informed decisions, with a clear view of our potential representatives’ policies. We need fair and balanced media.
By trying to remove the per-vote subsidy in last year’s budget, Stephen Harper essentially tried to destroy his opponent’s political parties. Now Harper’s trying to attack our democracy by destroying the CBC, our public broadcaster! At least the Harper government is considering plans to bailout big media corporations like CanWest and CTV, but still he’s insisting on starving the CBC of funds. The Conservative minority government is turning down the CBC’s request for a loan and cutting the CBC’s parliamentary grant this year. This is forcing the CBC and Radio Canada to drastically cut over 800 jobs, as well as programming. We fight wars the world over in the name of Democracy, why are we standing by while our own is attacked!?
For a long time, the CBC has been forced to rely on advertising for a percentage of its revenue, making it carry American rather than Canadian shows, and focus on commercial rather than cultural content. This is part of a long term strategy to eventually privatize and sell off the CBC.
Among western industrialized nations, Canada is near the bottom when it comes to investing in public broadcasting. The global average is $80 per citizen and countries like Great Britain, Germany and Norway invest even more. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has recognized this and called for a minimal increase to $40 (we’re now at about $33 per citizen).
So, what can you do? Well you can start by telling your MP their treatment of the CBC and local media outlets will affect your vote come election time by simply writing them or by checking out this link: www.friends.ca at the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting website. There’s also a petition you can sign at www.avaaz.org.
Craig Cooper
Golden, BC
Why bother with newspapers and why should you care about the CBC when you can get all your news online for free anyway? For one, it’s newspapers and the media that pay investigative journalists to research and break stories. Without funds to employ journalists, stories won’t be researched and we the voting public will remain un-informed. Without local, independent and non-partisan media; democracy is ineffective. For our democracy to function properly the country needs its citizens to be educated on local and international news. To vote properly we have to be able to make informed decisions, with a clear view of our potential representatives’ policies. We need fair and balanced media.
By trying to remove the per-vote subsidy in last year’s budget, Stephen Harper essentially tried to destroy his opponent’s political parties. Now Harper’s trying to attack our democracy by destroying the CBC, our public broadcaster! At least the Harper government is considering plans to bailout big media corporations like CanWest and CTV, but still he’s insisting on starving the CBC of funds. The Conservative minority government is turning down the CBC’s request for a loan and cutting the CBC’s parliamentary grant this year. This is forcing the CBC and Radio Canada to drastically cut over 800 jobs, as well as programming. We fight wars the world over in the name of Democracy, why are we standing by while our own is attacked!?
For a long time, the CBC has been forced to rely on advertising for a percentage of its revenue, making it carry American rather than Canadian shows, and focus on commercial rather than cultural content. This is part of a long term strategy to eventually privatize and sell off the CBC.
Among western industrialized nations, Canada is near the bottom when it comes to investing in public broadcasting. The global average is $80 per citizen and countries like Great Britain, Germany and Norway invest even more. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has recognized this and called for a minimal increase to $40 (we’re now at about $33 per citizen).
So, what can you do? Well you can start by telling your MP their treatment of the CBC and local media outlets will affect your vote come election time by simply writing them or by checking out this link: www.friends.ca at the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting website. There’s also a petition you can sign at www.avaaz.org.
Craig Cooper
Golden, BC
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The G-20's US$ 1.1 Trillion 'Rescue Plan'
So, the G-20 met in London on April 2nd and managed to agree on two things: that they would contribute US$1.1 Trillion to tackle the global financial crisis and that they would attempt to bring wider global regulation of hedge funds and credit-rating agencies. Well the increased regulation I agree with, but what about all that cash? Half of the rescue fund will go to re-capitalizing the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a quarter will go to boost world trade, another $250 billion will go to a new IMF overdraft facility, and the last US$100 billion will go to assisting International Development banks in lending to poor countries.
First of all, let’s take a look at who the G-20 are: They are the finance ministers and central bank governors along with the leaders of 20 of the world's largest national economies. In addition to these 20 members, the following forums and institutions also participate in the G-20 meetings: The Chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee; the European Central Bank; the Managing Director of the IMF; the chairman of Development Committee of the IMF and the World Bank, and the President of the World Bank.
Now, considering the IMF and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are represented by so many different entities in the G-20, it’s no real surprise they came out as the big winners, taking almost the entire rescue fund. Maddening though, considering it’s their poor regulation and unremitting trust in the ‘free’ market that were at the heart of the global financial crisis in the first place!
According to the G-20’s official website, together its member countries represent around 90 per cent of global gross national product, 80 per cent of world trade as well as two-thirds of the world's population. If my math is correct, that leaves one-third of our global population (the poorest third), or about 2.25 billion people unrepresented!
OK, that’s not so bad is it? The G-20 are there to help the rest of the world aren’t they? The IMF lends money to help out poor countries in need, don’t they!? Well, no actually. Instead of giving poorer countries the grants or donations they need, the IMF loans to impoverished countries come with high interest rates. The IMF’s role is then the credit communities ‘enforcer’, calling in debts that countries can never afford to pay, so they attach rules to the loans. If you take a look at the IMF and WTO’s horrendous record, you’ll find that they have two sets of lending rules; one for us in the richest countries in the world, and a separate set of rules for the poorest countries:
Here are the main “instructions” to 3rd world countries:
1. Pay off your debts ASAP!
2. Privatize (so we rich countries can pick up your assets and companies cheap)
3. Raise interest rates (to pay off your debt)
4. Increase taxes and cutback public services.
And the IMF’s “advice” to Western countries?
1. Borrow more money and pay it back when you can
2. Nationalize, but without control (bailout companies intact, with taxpayer money)
3. Lower interest rates (to boost our economy).
In order for the IMF to lend out ‘financial aid’ to poor countries, those countries must accept Free Trade, while we rich countries embrace protectionism! So that’s it, our honorable (indeed, very question-able) leader’s biggest breakthrough at the recent G-20, helping out the very people that caused the crisis and created global impoverishment! This is what happens when the rich countries are the only ones allowed to decide how the world should be run…
First of all, let’s take a look at who the G-20 are: They are the finance ministers and central bank governors along with the leaders of 20 of the world's largest national economies. In addition to these 20 members, the following forums and institutions also participate in the G-20 meetings: The Chairman of the International Monetary and Financial Committee; the European Central Bank; the Managing Director of the IMF; the chairman of Development Committee of the IMF and the World Bank, and the President of the World Bank.
Now, considering the IMF and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are represented by so many different entities in the G-20, it’s no real surprise they came out as the big winners, taking almost the entire rescue fund. Maddening though, considering it’s their poor regulation and unremitting trust in the ‘free’ market that were at the heart of the global financial crisis in the first place!
According to the G-20’s official website, together its member countries represent around 90 per cent of global gross national product, 80 per cent of world trade as well as two-thirds of the world's population. If my math is correct, that leaves one-third of our global population (the poorest third), or about 2.25 billion people unrepresented!
OK, that’s not so bad is it? The G-20 are there to help the rest of the world aren’t they? The IMF lends money to help out poor countries in need, don’t they!? Well, no actually. Instead of giving poorer countries the grants or donations they need, the IMF loans to impoverished countries come with high interest rates. The IMF’s role is then the credit communities ‘enforcer’, calling in debts that countries can never afford to pay, so they attach rules to the loans. If you take a look at the IMF and WTO’s horrendous record, you’ll find that they have two sets of lending rules; one for us in the richest countries in the world, and a separate set of rules for the poorest countries:
Here are the main “instructions” to 3rd world countries:
1. Pay off your debts ASAP!
2. Privatize (so we rich countries can pick up your assets and companies cheap)
3. Raise interest rates (to pay off your debt)
4. Increase taxes and cutback public services.
And the IMF’s “advice” to Western countries?
1. Borrow more money and pay it back when you can
2. Nationalize, but without control (bailout companies intact, with taxpayer money)
3. Lower interest rates (to boost our economy).
In order for the IMF to lend out ‘financial aid’ to poor countries, those countries must accept Free Trade, while we rich countries embrace protectionism! So that’s it, our honorable (indeed, very question-able) leader’s biggest breakthrough at the recent G-20, helping out the very people that caused the crisis and created global impoverishment! This is what happens when the rich countries are the only ones allowed to decide how the world should be run…
Monday, March 23, 2009
Do Not Eliminate the Navigable Waters Protection Act
So, I hear the The Federal Government is meeting with municipalities and with the provinces to sell them this idea of gutting the NWPA under the pretext of saving the economy!? Not only will eliminating the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) affect our right to recreational travel on Canadian waterways but it also has the potential to reverse the effectiveness of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act!
The economy will eventually make a come back on it's own, the environment however is already so badly bruised it may not! Further destruction of our environment may be the answer to helping big business which I'm aware Mr Harper is your biggest concern, but it's not the answer for Canada or the World at large. Quit doing the business the way George Bush did for the last eight years, he's done enough damage, without your continuing help. He's finally out, and so too will you be!
Sincerely
Craig Cooper
Golden, BC
The economy will eventually make a come back on it's own, the environment however is already so badly bruised it may not! Further destruction of our environment may be the answer to helping big business which I'm aware Mr Harper is your biggest concern, but it's not the answer for Canada or the World at large. Quit doing the business the way George Bush did for the last eight years, he's done enough damage, without your continuing help. He's finally out, and so too will you be!
Sincerely
Craig Cooper
Golden, BC
A letter to Stephen Harper - Sent to Stephen Harper on Wed, 12/10/08.
Excuse me sir, but I (along with most Canadians) firmly disagree with you on your stance on the per-vote subsidy! First and foremost, this is Canada , not the USA ! No matter how much you'd like Canada to privatize everything, our elections and votes cannot be bought! I think the entire idea of doing things the American way is very much a step in the wrong direction. The fact is that asking Canadians to donate to political parties (that are already paid for in our taxes) out of our own pockets is crazy. It’s just making Canadians pay for the elections a second time (we’ll be paying the same amount in taxes whether that subsidy is there or not). With American elections it always seems that he who raises the most money, has the funds to campaign the most and thus gets the vote. The last thing the world needs is another country doing things that way! That is not Democracy! I completely disagree with you when you suggest that raising funds via large numbers of small donors (or corporate donors I'm sure) is better than the per-vote subsidies we already have in place. I also completely disagree with you when you said that "The public firmly supports the government's position on the political subsidy" in your interview with Peter Mansbridge on 'The National' last night. It's exactly these type of comments that put you at odds with the majority of Canadians, you just don't get it! By the way, how are those people doing who took your advice when you said they had 'good investment opportunities' during your election campaign? Wake up! Listen to the voters and make some conscious decisions!
Sincerely,
Craig Cooper
Golden , BC
Sincerely,
Craig Cooper
Golden , BC
Privatized Hydro in BC
I've recently been doing some research (feel free to do your own at any of the 15 websites I've listed at the end of this email) and I cannot for the life of me figure out why my government is quietly giving away the rights to our public rivers for private power production to corporations through EPAs? I hereby ask that the government cancel the BC Energy Plan and its restrictions on public power development. I also request that you cancel private power water licenses, and cancel the BC Hydro-Accenture contract (which saw 1500 public employees outsourced to a private multi-national consulting firm along with some 'housecleaning' at BC Hydro).
Not only is new private river power significantly driving up our power bills, but this policy (that I've never been given the chance to debate thanks to Bill 30 ('the Ashlu Bill' which was pushed through provincial parliament after the local government heeded public outcry about the privatization of the Ashlu River) which strips local municipalities of their zoning authority over independent private power) threatens our environment, economy and society as a whole.
In case you happen to be in the dark (or in denial) about this issue, here's what I have discovered... The BC Energy Plan of 2003 is such: The BC government gives away the rights to our rivers for virtually nothing (a paltry $5-10 thousand dollars a river), and gets the public to finance (through our taxes) the private facilities and commit to purchase the power from the private companies at exorbitant rates and at the end of that process (20-40 years) the private company owns the river rights and the infrastructure and can sell their power to whomever they want for whatever price they want... forever (IPPs do need to renew the river license after the EPA contract is over, but by owning the infrastructure it is highly likely that successive governments would have to renew the IPP's licenses). The approval of these projects through government contracts is called an EPA or Energy Purchase Agreement. After the EPA's process is complete in 20- 40 years, BC Hydro has no guaranteed access to the power produced by the independent power projects or IPP's. Essentially saying that in 20-40 years California could be deciding how much we pay for our power {currently power in California is five times more expensive than what we pay here in BC [due to their enthusiasm for privatization (for-profit resources)]} from the power plants on our rivers, which they will then own! How could we possibly let this be!?
The trend toward private power appears to bear no benefit for us citizens of BC or the rest of Canada besides limited access to new short term jobs in construction and road building and very few long term jobs (these power projects will be highly automated, creating as little as one permanent job at some IPPs) as well as slightly raising our GDP. According to Carol James of the NDP there also “may be some independent power projects that actually make sense where it's a real partnership, where the resources are going to first nations communities, not to an independent company that's making a profit for their shareholders and takes those resources out of British Columbia" (Voice of B.C., 2 Oct. 2008) . Why are we doing this!? The BC Energy Plan has forbidden our profitable public utility - BC Hydro - from doing its job of growing our green power assets and instead forced our utility to write extraordinarily overpriced purchase orders to buy power from private hands making power with our money and our rivers. Currently BC Power produces power at about $5 per megawatt hour. It sells it back to us the consumers at $65/mwh, and sells to large industry at $35mwh (everybody gets a good deal here, while BC power still makes a significant profit). Through EPAs and their IPPs, BC power now has to buy power at up to $85/mwh (an incredible amount more than the $5 they can create it for themselves and significantly more than they sell it back to us (at the present moment that is)). I just don't get it; I don't see a single justifiable reason to do this? Does this have to do with TILMA, NAFTA, or SPP obligations? If that is so, get us out of those agreements!
These rivers are ours, not corporations, not property of any other country, but our own! What are you doing!? BC hydro has been doing a great job of providing sustainable green power to us all since BC's first Premier W.A.C. Bennett created BC Hydro in the 50's. Furthermore, as we have all seen before, when things get privatized (for profit), accountability seems to go out the window in exchange for profits (which will profit corporations, not Canadian citizens).
What we have been told by our government about our energy supply has now also been proven to be untrue. We import small amounts of power because we can, not because we have to! We buy it from our neighbors when the deals are good, and then because of our big dams and excess power we can sell it back to them at higher prices when their demand is high. We choose to do this because it is profitable! These profits bring hundreds of millions of dollars a year to our province for health care and education. Our public power is virtually perfect and has been working just fine for years, why destroy it!?
While private river power is promoted as "green", the reality is these projects cause massive damage to BC's watersheds and wilderness: cutting carbon-absorbing trees for power lines and roads, and diverting up to 90% of a river's flow through miles of pipe (where is the so called 'run of the river'!?). These small private river projects are destroying numerous rivers throughout our province, while there is an excess of the power that we already produce!
Tourism is a growing industry in our province. Destroying our creeks and rivers used for canoeing and kayaking as well as endangering many animals through deforestation and habitat encroachment is only going to hurt this industry and our reputation around the world. In this era of global warming and conflict over shrinking natural resources, maintaining control of these natural resources is now the most important challenge facing most countries of the world! Eliminate private renewable energy licenses NOW and keep our power public and 'green'!
The people of BC are currently the owners of one of the finest, greenest, most profitable public electricity systems in the world. Save our rivers and our renewable energy assets! You are not accountable to the rich multinational corporations who are trying to steal our natural resources! You, the elected people of our democratic country must be accountable to us, the very people who put you in power!
Sincerely,
Craig Cooper
Golden, BC
A List of some of the ongoing Hydro-electric IPPs in BC:
1. Big Silver Creek Waterworks project
2. Bute Inlet Hydroelectric Project
3. Cascade Heritage Power Project
4. East Toba River Montrose Creek Hydroelectric project
5. Europa Creek Hydroelectric
6. Forest Kerr Hydroelectric project
7. Glacier/Howser project
8. Hawkeye Energy Corporation Green Energy Grid Project
9. Klinaklini Hydroelectric project
10. Kwoiek Creek hydroelectric project
11. McGregor/Herrick Hydroelectric project
12. Nascall River Hydroelectric Project
13. Pingston Creek Hydroelectric project
14. Ryan River Hydro Project
15. Shovel Creek Waterpower Project
16. Statlu Creek Waterpower Project
17. Stl'ixwim Renewable Energy Initiative
18. Tretheway Creek Waterpower Project
19. Upper Harrison Water Power project
20. Upper Pitt River Power project
21. Upper Toba Valley Hydroelectric Project
List of BC groups working on this issue:
BC Citizens for Public Power: www.citizensforpublicpower.ca
BC Creek Protection Society: www.bc-creeks.org
Canoe Kayak BC: www.canoekayakbc.ca/index.php
COPE 378 - Take Back the Power Campaign: www.publicpowerbc.ca
Burke Mountain Naturalists: www.bmn.bc.ca
Private Power Watch: www.privatepowerwatch.com
Outdoor Recreation Council of BC: www.orcbc.ca
RainCoast Conservation Foundation: http://raincoast.org
Save Our Rivers Society: http://saveourrivers.ca
T. Buck Suzuki Foundation: http://bucksuzuki.org
Watershed Watch Salmon Society: www.watershed-watch.org
West Kootenay Ecosociety: http://eco.kics.bc.ca/campaigns.html
Wilderness Commitee: www.wildernesscommittee.org
White Water Kayaking Association of BC: www.whitewater.org
The Council of Canadians: http://www.canadians.org
Not only is new private river power significantly driving up our power bills, but this policy (that I've never been given the chance to debate thanks to Bill 30 ('the Ashlu Bill' which was pushed through provincial parliament after the local government heeded public outcry about the privatization of the Ashlu River) which strips local municipalities of their zoning authority over independent private power) threatens our environment, economy and society as a whole.
In case you happen to be in the dark (or in denial) about this issue, here's what I have discovered... The BC Energy Plan of 2003 is such: The BC government gives away the rights to our rivers for virtually nothing (a paltry $5-10 thousand dollars a river), and gets the public to finance (through our taxes) the private facilities and commit to purchase the power from the private companies at exorbitant rates and at the end of that process (20-40 years) the private company owns the river rights and the infrastructure and can sell their power to whomever they want for whatever price they want... forever (IPPs do need to renew the river license after the EPA contract is over, but by owning the infrastructure it is highly likely that successive governments would have to renew the IPP's licenses). The approval of these projects through government contracts is called an EPA or Energy Purchase Agreement. After the EPA's process is complete in 20- 40 years, BC Hydro has no guaranteed access to the power produced by the independent power projects or IPP's. Essentially saying that in 20-40 years California could be deciding how much we pay for our power {currently power in California is five times more expensive than what we pay here in BC [due to their enthusiasm for privatization (for-profit resources)]} from the power plants on our rivers, which they will then own! How could we possibly let this be!?
The trend toward private power appears to bear no benefit for us citizens of BC or the rest of Canada besides limited access to new short term jobs in construction and road building and very few long term jobs (these power projects will be highly automated, creating as little as one permanent job at some IPPs) as well as slightly raising our GDP. According to Carol James of the NDP there also “may be some independent power projects that actually make sense where it's a real partnership, where the resources are going to first nations communities, not to an independent company that's making a profit for their shareholders and takes those resources out of British Columbia" (Voice of B.C., 2 Oct. 2008) . Why are we doing this!? The BC Energy Plan has forbidden our profitable public utility - BC Hydro - from doing its job of growing our green power assets and instead forced our utility to write extraordinarily overpriced purchase orders to buy power from private hands making power with our money and our rivers. Currently BC Power produces power at about $5 per megawatt hour. It sells it back to us the consumers at $65/mwh, and sells to large industry at $35mwh (everybody gets a good deal here, while BC power still makes a significant profit). Through EPAs and their IPPs, BC power now has to buy power at up to $85/mwh (an incredible amount more than the $5 they can create it for themselves and significantly more than they sell it back to us (at the present moment that is)). I just don't get it; I don't see a single justifiable reason to do this? Does this have to do with TILMA, NAFTA, or SPP obligations? If that is so, get us out of those agreements!
These rivers are ours, not corporations, not property of any other country, but our own! What are you doing!? BC hydro has been doing a great job of providing sustainable green power to us all since BC's first Premier W.A.C. Bennett created BC Hydro in the 50's. Furthermore, as we have all seen before, when things get privatized (for profit), accountability seems to go out the window in exchange for profits (which will profit corporations, not Canadian citizens).
What we have been told by our government about our energy supply has now also been proven to be untrue. We import small amounts of power because we can, not because we have to! We buy it from our neighbors when the deals are good, and then because of our big dams and excess power we can sell it back to them at higher prices when their demand is high. We choose to do this because it is profitable! These profits bring hundreds of millions of dollars a year to our province for health care and education. Our public power is virtually perfect and has been working just fine for years, why destroy it!?
While private river power is promoted as "green", the reality is these projects cause massive damage to BC's watersheds and wilderness: cutting carbon-absorbing trees for power lines and roads, and diverting up to 90% of a river's flow through miles of pipe (where is the so called 'run of the river'!?). These small private river projects are destroying numerous rivers throughout our province, while there is an excess of the power that we already produce!
Tourism is a growing industry in our province. Destroying our creeks and rivers used for canoeing and kayaking as well as endangering many animals through deforestation and habitat encroachment is only going to hurt this industry and our reputation around the world. In this era of global warming and conflict over shrinking natural resources, maintaining control of these natural resources is now the most important challenge facing most countries of the world! Eliminate private renewable energy licenses NOW and keep our power public and 'green'!
The people of BC are currently the owners of one of the finest, greenest, most profitable public electricity systems in the world. Save our rivers and our renewable energy assets! You are not accountable to the rich multinational corporations who are trying to steal our natural resources! You, the elected people of our democratic country must be accountable to us, the very people who put you in power!
Sincerely,
Craig Cooper
Golden, BC
A List of some of the ongoing Hydro-electric IPPs in BC:
1. Big Silver Creek Waterworks project
2. Bute Inlet Hydroelectric Project
3. Cascade Heritage Power Project
4. East Toba River Montrose Creek Hydroelectric project
5. Europa Creek Hydroelectric
6. Forest Kerr Hydroelectric project
7. Glacier/Howser project
8. Hawkeye Energy Corporation Green Energy Grid Project
9. Klinaklini Hydroelectric project
10. Kwoiek Creek hydroelectric project
11. McGregor/Herrick Hydroelectric project
12. Nascall River Hydroelectric Project
13. Pingston Creek Hydroelectric project
14. Ryan River Hydro Project
15. Shovel Creek Waterpower Project
16. Statlu Creek Waterpower Project
17. Stl'ixwim Renewable Energy Initiative
18. Tretheway Creek Waterpower Project
19. Upper Harrison Water Power project
20. Upper Pitt River Power project
21. Upper Toba Valley Hydroelectric Project
List of BC groups working on this issue:
BC Citizens for Public Power: www.citizensforpublicpower.ca
BC Creek Protection Society: www.bc-creeks.org
Canoe Kayak BC: www.canoekayakbc.ca/index.php
COPE 378 - Take Back the Power Campaign: www.publicpowerbc.ca
Burke Mountain Naturalists: www.bmn.bc.ca
Private Power Watch: www.privatepowerwatch.com
Outdoor Recreation Council of BC: www.orcbc.ca
RainCoast Conservation Foundation: http://raincoast.org
Save Our Rivers Society: http://saveourrivers.ca
T. Buck Suzuki Foundation: http://bucksuzuki.org
Watershed Watch Salmon Society: www.watershed-watch.org
West Kootenay Ecosociety: http://eco.kics.bc.ca/campaigns.html
Wilderness Commitee: www.wildernesscommittee.org
White Water Kayaking Association of BC: www.whitewater.org
The Council of Canadians: http://www.canadians.org
Make Obama Do It!
Make Obama Do It!
If the war in
Since the ‘War on Terror’ began 8 years ago, the ‘terrorists’ and their activities in the
There was no justifiable reason to invade
So why then is the
During
By bombing
A while back I heard a story about former
What he meant by that was that he alone cannot bring the change needed. I believe president Obama is now in that situation. It’s his ideals that got us this far, he knows what is the right thing to do; he knows what needs to be done. But, until we make him do it, he cannot. Make him do it!
Sincerely,
Craig Cooper
Golden, BC
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