Monday, July 8, 2013

Ezra Levant Accuses Environmentalists And Eco Terrorists For Lac-Megantic, Quebec Runaway Train Preventable Disaster



http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/07/canadas-cold-blank-stare.html
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"Ed Belkaloul, TSB manager for Eastern Region Rail Operations, said the MM&A train, with 72 cars carrying crude oil, was parked on the main track, and not a siding, in Nantes after it stopped around 11 p.m. Friday.
The engineer secured the train and left. Fifty minutes later, Mr. Belkaloul said, a fire was reported and an employee arrived to the scene to help the fire department. That employee was not the same person as the engineer who had driven the train to Nantes, he said. The locomotive engine was cut off around midnight.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail on Monday, MM&A chairman Edward Burkhardt pointed a finger at the fire department in Nantes, saying he believes the train's air brakes were released because firefighters turned off the engine when they extinguished the fire.
"They went out there by themselves, shut the engine off, doused the fire. A very small fire," he told The Globe from Chicago.
The Nantes fire chief, Patrick Lambert, responded angrily Monday to Mr. Burkhardt’s allegations and said he would “clear this all up” in the coming days.
Donald Ross, the TSB investigator in charge, said the train began rolling down around 12:56 a.m. on Saturday. It moved down a 1.2 degree grade, which in railway terms is steep.
The runaway train rolled for up to 20 minutes, covering a distance of 9.7 kilometres, before jumping the tracks in the downtown of Lac-Mégantic at 1:14 a.m.
The TSB said it would look at operational procedures, including why the train was parked on the main track rather than a siding.
Mr. Belkaloul also noted the tank car models used to carry the fuel were generic tankers that could be used for any liquid load and were not double-hulled or reinforced with shields."

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/lac-megantic-residents-to-be-allowed-to-return-home-tuesday/article13086475/

Ezra Levant`s and Sun News terrorism meme has quickly fallen apart, read the above linked story, more importantly read the comments contained within, first off, TSB is perplexed as to why this train was left on the main track, why was it not moved to a side track...Commenters claim MM&A (The rail company) the conductor broke many standard rules, unattended trains should have had manual brakes applied to individual cars, as many as were necessary..As well, after manual brakes were applied the conductor should have released the air brakes, engaged a locomotive to make sure the manual brakes were sufficient to hold the train in place...Also, only recently MM&A rail company got approval for one-man operated trains...And more, after a fire in the left running locomotive rail employees/fire employees should have never left that same locomotive running, it is still unclear as to who shut down the locomotive but it slaps me in the face that a train that was on fire was left on a main track, a track with a heavy slope, with no one present...The company president Edward Burkhardt comes across as a owner more concerned with blaming others for his company`s glaring shortcomings....Ezra Levant`s eco-terrorism insertion into this preventable tragedy is bunk, total bunk, ..Ezra Levant`s promotion of the racist Greg Renouf and his bizarre blanket statements was sad sad and very bad yellow journalism...That is par for the course for tar oil whore for Ezra Levant, ..And since Sun News is almost completely funded by CAPP and the oil companies makes Ezra`s actions even more shameful...Sun News is attempting to turn this preventable tragedy into a right versus left, blame the greenies and throw mud every which way and hope something sticks..

This is a glaring reason, a glaring example of why Sun News Media must never be permitted on all cable channels, it is not mainstream, or fair, or honest, it`s rightwing Conservative propaganda, it`s fear mongering, slander and libel wrapped up in a false flag of patriotism...Yellow journalism personified..
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Take a look at the face of an asshole, Ezra Levant, the biggest loser/asshole polluting the airwaves..

I don`t often watch the Sun News channel, here I was flipping through channels at 6:52 pm, July 8th/2013....I stopped on Sun News petroleum pimping channel and caught the last few minutes of Ezra Levant`s show..The Source..

And what I heard blew my mind, there was a tragic accident in Quebec over the weekend as you all know, the death toll is up to 5 confirmed dead and 50 more people unaccounted for, and since the fires are out, most likely these 50 lost souls have perished, my sincere condolences to the families of those perished and to the families of those missing..

Ezra Levant is planting rumours that Environmentalists or Eco-Terrorists caused this tragedy...

My effing gawd, petroleum accidents happen, oil spills, pipeline leaks, human error and the like, waterways and land, thousands of acreas and square miles of water soiled and stained, animals by the million poisoned with oil and petroleum products..

And what do we know of this accident, there was a fire in the locomotive hours earlier, the fire department exstiguished the fire, secured the scene and left, the conductor left the train, there was no one aboard the train, the conductor`s replacement staff were not there to relieve him, the conductor left the railyard and went to a hotel, he left the train running, one of the locomotives was left running, left running for a reason, if the locomotive stopped running the brakes would depressurize..In other words, it was a human error accident, this whole affair is a comedy of errors, safety was and should be the number 1 priority, how could companies officials have allowed this troubled train to be left unattended atop a 10 kilometer hill, just begging to get rolling downhill, and it did...this does not fit well with Ethical oil Ezra Levant`s tar sand pimping agenda, let me be perfectly clear, Sun News has endless petroleum advertisements aired, ads by CAPP and the federal Government, ads promoting the greatness of tar sands, ads promoting pipeline and oil tankers..

How on earth can procedure allow a ticking timebomb to be left unattended, with a locomotive running, and if by chance the locomotive stops running the brakes let go and the trains runs away, runs away unmanned, are you kidding me, imagine leaving a heavy truck parked on a hill with the engine running, and if the engine quits the truck rolls down the hill with no brakes...

How dare that asshole Ezra Levant try and pollute this human error, flawed procedure caused accident on eco-terrorism without a stitch of proof when all fingers point to human error!

Ezra Levant said, I`m paraphrasing here..Ezra Levant said on air, without a stitch of proof, when all fingers point to procedural error combined with human error..Ezra said July 8th/2013 at 6:52ish pm...PST
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There is a real possibility this event was caused by eco-terrorists or even regular vandalism..after all, there is plenty of slow-burn eco-terrorists in Canada..

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This wasn`t terrorism, this was a train with no employees on it that was improperly parked, a train that was on fire earlier that day, the fire was extinguished by fireman, they secured the scene, they left the train to company employee(s) then left,  the train somehow got away,  started downhill with no rail company employees on the train,  and it crashed, resulting in a massive explosion, scorching fires that vapourized a town, the community will never recover, lost generations, now a ghost ..Everything points to human and procedural error, not terrorism eco or the like...


 Ezra asshole Levant is attempting to inject a strawman argument, making up fictional bullshit aimed at infuriating families of the dead and Canadians in general, from coast to coast Ezra Levant is attempting to point fingers at those who care about the Environment, Greenpeace, WWF, Forest Ethics, First Nations and hundreds of thousands of British Columbian`s opposed to Enbridge Gateway pipeline and Kinder Morgan`s proposed expansion..


There are now soft rumors wafting from the train company officials suggesting the brakes "May" have been released, and or the the tracks "may" have been tampered with....What utter bullshit, are we to believe eco-terrorism just happened to occur on a night when there was NO CONDUCTOR  ON THE TRAIN, THE CONDUCTOR LEFT AND WENT TO A HOTEL, A LOCOMOTIVE LEFT RUNNING, THE LOCOMOTIVE CAUGHT FIRE, AND IF THE LOCOMOTIVE QUIT RUNNING THE BRAKES WOULD FAIL, TRACK SWITCHING WAS NOT ENGAGED, IF THE CONDUCTOR LEFT THE TRAIN THE SWITCH SHOULD HAVE BEEN TURNED SO THE TRAIN CAN`T RUN AWAY...THESE ACCUSATIONS COMING FROM THE TRAIN COMPANY OFFICIALS WHEN THERE IS NO PROOF, WHEN THE SCENE IS SO SCORCHED AND CHARRED, WHEN ALL FINGERS POINT TO COMPANY AND EMPLOYEE NEGLIGENCE.....EDWARD BURKHARDT NEEDS TO BE JAILED FOR THOSE LUDICROUS COMMENTS.

The company stated that someone could have just wandered by, threw a switch and the train was gone, kaboom, what kind of failsafe procedure is that, maybe a deer or a coyote bumped the switch?, maybe the locomotive THAT WAS EARLIER IN THE NIGHT ON FIRE just shut off, maybe the brakes just failed, without a stitch of proof, when procedures followed were a joke, company officials and the tar sand pimping television station Sun News Media are suggesting foul play, that is sick!..Look at all the evidence pointing to human and procedural error, are we to believe terrorists struck on a night when a tragic comedy of errors were on full display?

 http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/news/868018287001/derailed-train-may-have-been-tampered-with-rail-officials/2534052133001


How dare you Sun News promote a feeble attempt by the company MM&A to blame someone else, we know this train company will be sued for $millions and millions of dollars...

Here`s a video of Ezra Levant planting eco-terrorism seeds..


http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/summer-of-terror/2534696268001


Go screw yourself Ezra Levant..

Sun News, you should be ashamed of what your personalities are saying on air, your staff are inciting eco-wars, your staff is fanning the flames, the families are still in mourning and awaiting news of loved ones and asshole Ezra Levant is making up stories and promoting company fiction..No wonder his fat ass has been sued for slander and libel so many times.....A conductorless train, on a train that was ablaze only hours earlier, no staff aboard, no replacement staff on the ready to replace the conductor, did eco-terrorists kidnap the replacement staff, did they force the conductor off the train, did terrorists create the flawed company practices?

Yes indeed, it is a crime scene alright, a crime caused by procedural and human error..

Below is an example of absurdity, of propaganda

And, two can play at that game, right Ezra Levant?...Coincidence, Last Friday, before the disaster in Quebec, Ezra Levant you were talking about eco-terrorism(video linked below), you talked about Wiebo Ludwig, the Rockerfeller foundation, how they are both eco-terrorists, you lumped the Sierra club, Greenpeace and others into the eco-terrorism blanket, ...Maybe it was Sun News that caused the Quebec disaster, maybe you Ezra Levant paid someone to cause the disaster, all to coincide with BC`s false flag terrorism stage play, a rightwing plot to divide sides in the resource movement debate, a federal Conservative plot, Conservatives like Ezra Levant pay to have a train blown-up and cast blame onto eco groups?

That theory is equally absurd, clearly this tragedy was procedural error compounded with human error, and like most of these events, it is the innocent that pay the ultimate price....I would never make those false accusations, just giving Sun News and Ezra Levant a taste of their own medicine...Where was I?

 http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/canadian-eco-terror/2529067147001/page/2



For shame on you rightwing freak media, shame on you Sunnews network!

And more absurdity, Ezra Levant brought on air(July 8th) .....

Only Ezra Levant would bring on air the "freak" known as Greg Renouf, this clown brushes everyone with a broad stroke, let me be clear, Ezra Levant is clearly working for the oil companies, ..Only a pathetic mouthpiece like Ezra Levant would promote Greg Renouf, one quick look at Greg Renouf`s bio and actions and.....

He is a male version, (although less skilled) of Vivian Krauss..

I urge you readers to watch the below video, it`s Ezra Levant interviewing, actually it is Ezra Levant leading the freak Greg Renouf down hate the environmental left road, , the video is shocking, shocking in how it exposes how low Sun News media and Ezra Levant have sunk and slithered....Watch it, be prepared for a shocker....

How on earth could any journalist, writer or ethical person possibly work for or associate with the Sun News network, a television station that has one goal, elect the Conservative party and pimp big oil, they aren`t even subtle with their propaganda, as blunt as being hit in the head with a hammer.. this video is rude and crude in the extreme....Click the below link, watch the video, have vomit bucket at the ready

http://eyecrazy.blogspot.ca/2013/07/ezra-levant-and-gerg-renouf-talk.html



Here is more on Greg "freak" Renouf.
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"The man is a dangerous right-wing reactionary and his accusations often have racist overtones. One very telling example came last March when No One Is Illegal held a march against racism on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver. The march is held yearly against individual and systemic racism, and was being held on Commercial Drive that year because of a string of racist attacks in the area by members of a group named Blood and Honour. Renouf’s response was to attack an organizer from the group for their stance on Diversity of Tactics and charge them with reverse racism because they pointed out the racist implications of authoritarians and pacifists telling people what they could do or not do when they fight against capitalist society with its myriad of oppressions such as racism.

Another good example was when he backed up We Are Change Victoria a right-wing “libertarian” group for a demonstration they organized that had Doug Christie as a speaker. He does not in any way voice opposition to Doug Christie who as a lawyer has a long history of defending fascists, Nazis, and various holocaust deniers. Instead he goes into a redscare-like “beware the bolshivek menace” type rant about an organizer of the counter demonstration.
It is also quite telling his obsession with what he perceives as the left and similarities to the white power movement with its “rock against communism” as a response to “rock against racism” concerts."

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/blog/renoufisagoof/16280?page=1


http://thismanisdangerous.wordpress.com/category/greg-renouf/


 http://damnsax.blogspot.ca/2013/03/greg-renouf-proffesional-goof-featuring.html


http://www.urbanideology.com/2013/02/09/the-faces-of-renoufs-research-crew/

You indeed are a slithering piece of slime Ezra Levant, only you would stoop that low, well, add the name Greg Renouf..Two freaks in a pea pod..

(updated here, July 9th/2013)...Now the head of the rail company is blaming the firfefighters for causing the disaster, first we had Ezra Levant blaming imaginary leftwing environmentalist terrorists and now the rail company officials are blaming firefighters...Here are a few quotes..

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"The chairman of a rail company at the centre of a devastating blast is accusing firefighters of shutting down the locomotive hours before it rolled into Lac-Mégantic.
Edward Burkhardt, head of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, has been under pressure to explain how an unmanned freight train carrying combustible cargo careened down the track into the small Quebec town and exploded....


Mr. Burkhardt said he believes the train’s air brakes were released because firefighters turned off the engine when they extinguished a fire a few hours before the blast.
“They went out there by themselves, shut the engine off, doused the fire. A very small fire,” he said in an interview with The Globe and Mail on Monday from Chicago.
His comments drew swift reaction from a local fire chief, who rebuffed Mr. Burkhardt’s account and promised to “clear this all up in the next few days.”
Patrick Lambert, the chief, said he could not speak in detail about the crash because of the continuing investigation.

While Mr. Burkhardt faulted firefighters for failing to rouse the train’s engineer after he had parked the train and went to a local hotel, another company representative said the firefighters did contact an MMA dispatcher to report the problem.

Yves Bourdon, who sits on the railway’s board of directors, said firefighters called a dispatcher based in Farnham, Que., to alert him of the trouble when the fire broke out at about 11:30 p.m. The dispatcher then phoned a track-repair worker who went to the scene, Mr. Bourdon said.
The track worker, whom Mr. Bourdon declined to name, travelled to the tracks in Nantes, but was not familiar with how locomotives work and would not have known how to start the engine again if it was shut off."


Full story here..


 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/railway-fire-chief-dispute-details-surrounding-trains-lethal-run/article13084896/


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What is it Ezra Levant? environmental terrorists sabotaged the train? , incompetent firefighters? railway staff who don`t know how to turn on or off a locomotive?

As I posted above, a tragic comedy of errors with zero ties to terrorism, what you have is Ezra Levant and Sun News network flailing away throwing mud every direction hoping something sticks, and we have a railway company that is about to get thier asses sued from here to high heaven,,

 You don`t need to be a rocket scientist to know that there had to be procedures in place that prevented a conductor from leaving a train, a train with hazardous flammable rail cars, a train sitting on tracks heading downhill, leaving a locomotive running to keep the brakes charged, no manual brakes applied, and on the main track, no track switching employed...those actions were obviously flawed, rules were clearly broken, protocol not followed...And lastly...

My sincerest condolences to all the families, my home and loved animals were torched and lost to fire a couple of years ago, the mourning never stops, the mental imagery will stay with you a lifetime, I can`t express the words to comfort your tortured souls..Your town will take generations to heal..

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/07/canadas-cold-blank-stare.html


 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2010/04/577the-unluckiest-numberten-years-out.html


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay Grant. Mostly I agree with your comments, but this time? No, I'm not suggesting 'Alqueda' (whatever), but surely somebody is responsible. 'Someone' could have shut down the fifth locomotive. Why was there no lockout device, especially when this potential for devistation was parked unattended for some 6 hours? After all, kids ,homeless people, whatever, have access to this 'machine'.
It may be a little 'overboard' to suggest terrorism, but isn't that what Ezra is all about - overboardism?
John's Aghast

Grant G said...

You bet someone is responsible, the train company that left a train running, a train with 73 tankers full of oil, no staff, no guards, no employees..

That is a disaster waiting to happen, homeless people don`t live in railyards..

Who leaves a loaded train unattended, leaves it running, brakes fail, why wasn`t the track switch turned so the train couldn`t go anywhere..

The employee, the conductor was supposed to be replaced..

How on earth can one leave a train with a locomotive running all night unattended, and if that locomotive quit running the braked depressurize...

My gawd, imagine leaving your car parked on a hill with the engine running, and if the engine quits the car races down the hill with no brakes..

My Gawd John Aghast, you can`t see that procedure was in error, the conductor left the train and went to a hotel, he doesn`t know if replacement staff was coming in one hour or never, and you think that is right..???

You leave a sitting, rolling timebomb running, unattended, and mishap and the train rolls away, no one to stop it..

The train company is about to be sued into bankruptcy.

Good Day

Don F. said...

The dead toll hasn't yet been determined,the ashes are still smoldering and already they have turned the conversation to the need of more pipelines!
Tell me again how your main priority is the safety of the public Mr. Harper.

Don F. said...

Expect a new law tomorrow banning lawsuits against oil producers in Canada, tarsands products, anyone contracted with the movement or transport of said products, petroleum jellies either cosmetic or sexual in nature or any government promoting such activity. Signed this 9th day of July in the year 2013.
Anyone attempting the filing of such a such an action will be considered treasonous and a threat to the financial well being of our nation and will face penalties which could range from fines of $250,000 or death.

Anonymous said...

I am stunned to think that a train loaded with hazardous materials was left unattended. Where the hell was the night shift crew? We the public assume that corporations are running their equipment responsibly because they are regulated to do so. It clearly has not been the case. The government and the company have failed everyone.

Anonymous said...

My brother worked in Dangerous Commodities for a Rail Road. He went out to wrecks, every time their was an accident of a train, carrying dangerous chemicals. Tanker trains carry many toxic, lethal substances besides oil. There are times people have been evacuated from their homes. What will they do? Build pipelines for those other toxic chemicals too?

Oil transported by rail, pipeline or oil tanker ships, there will be spills.

It is as they say. Man is the most destructive animal on earth and, the most stupid ones at that.

Anonymous said...

So the conservatives operate train companies... that is just as crazy as eco-terrorists are responsible. I agree with Grant G the ah train company is responsible. It's funny how we tend to blame often the wrong party.

Anonymous said...

When the air leaks off a train the brakes set up even harder to the max of 90 lbs pressure. When one or more engines are in a consist and the lead engine shuts down the brakes will not release unless the brake handle on the lead engine is in the release position. Why was there not sufficient number of hand brakes applied, when sitting on a grade. I believe that there was no conductor, just a engineer.

Grant G said...

Chief inspector Michael Forget has concluded that THERE WAS NO TERRORISM, NO VANDALISM..

That leaves human error and procedural error..

Edward Burkhardt is a sick son of a bitch, Ezra Levant tonight is still fanning the flames with talk of eco-terrorism, of environmental criminals..

There are so many tragedies rolled in one..

Ezra Levant deserves to be keel-hauled for trying to incite anger and divide..

Grant G said...

Oops...That would be Inspector Michel Forget..

No manual brakes applied, train left on a steep hill, on the main track, rail companies officials left a train that was earlier ablaze unattended and unsecure..

Someone will be jailed, there will be a $billion dollar plus law suit..

Sad day

Anonymous said...

Perhaps we all need to take hate mongering more seriously at all levels.

Anonymous said...

The trend today seems to be hate is fine as long as I agree. I say hate is never OK.

kootcoot said...

Grant, you may as well learn to leave the word "conductor" out of any conversation about freight trains, though orchestras still have them and passenger trains may (have to check for tickets after all).

Years ago conductors, who once were equivalent to the "captain" of a train - while the engineer was like the helmsman, became redundant and the caboose was replaced with an unmanned "smart" car, or not so smart, kinda like an unmanned weather station replacing a light house that will send out a good weather report from the eye of a hurricane.

Ezra Levant is a waste of skin who I sincerely hope to see come to a very bad end.

The Montreal Maine and Atlantic's last "accident" in Quebec only killed one, part of the train crew in a head on collision of two trains near Montreal.

Certain aspects of this remind me of the farce in PG a few years ago when the train exploded next to the river necessitating water bombers to operate in town, partly because the train didn't even have an engineer and was being operated by remote between the two yards, CN and BC Rail.

Anonymous said...

Everyone should put in a complaint to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council about Renouf's appearance where he was wrongly described as a "freelance journalist" in an attempt to embellish his credentials as well as the fact that the overall segment was unprofessional and irresponsible in its attempt to scapegoat and smear indigenous people and anti-tar sands activists for the Lac-Megantic disaster. The more complaints the better so feel free to file your complaints using the complaint form at: http://www.cbsc.ca/english/complaint/complaint-form.php? The TV station is Sun News Network, the name of the program is The Source with Ezra Levant, the date of the show was July 8, 2013 and it aired at 5 PM Eastern Time (3 PM Mountain if you're in Oilberta) You can rewatch the segment if you want to find specific quotes and details to refer to: http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/canadian-political-violence/2534688651001 Encourage others to make complaints as well. In your complaint you may want to refer to the CBSC's codes of conduct for example, the CAB Code of Ethics, Clauses 6 and 7 state: http://www.cbsc.ca/english/codes/cabethics.php

Clause 6 – Full, Fair and Proper Presentation

It is recognized that the full, fair and proper presentation of news, opinion, comment and editorial is the prime and fundamental responsibility of each broadcaster. This principle shall apply to all radio and television programming, whether it relates to news, public affairs, magazine, talk, call-in, interview or other broadcasting formats in which news, opinion, comment or editorial may be expressed by broadcaster employees, their invited guests or callers.

Clause 7 – Controversial Public Issues

Recognizing in a democracy the necessity of presenting all sides of a public issue, it shall be the responsibility of broadcasters to treat fairly all subjects of a controversial nature. Time shall be allotted with due regard to all the other elements of balanced program schedules, and the degree of public interest in the questions presented. Recognizing that healthy controversy is essential to the maintenance of democratic institutions, broadcasters will endeavour to encourage the presentation of news and opinion on any controversy which contains an element of the public interest.

The RTDNA Code of Ethics states:
http://www.cbsc.ca/english/codes/rtnda.php

Article Six – Conflict of Interest

Electronic journalists will govern themselves on and off the job in such a way as to avoid conflict of interest, real or apparent.

(Given Levant's work as an oil industry lobbyist via his Ethical Oil Institute, his work here in trying to discredit anti-tar sands activists is unethical and a conflict of interest, particularly as he doesn't disclose his involvement with the industry)