Tuesday, July 23, 2013

BC Government States No LNG Plants Online Until 2021, Two Election Cycles Away!



Yesterday I explained how Rich Coleman is full of shit about the Japanese market for LNG from British Columbia, I also pointed out as did others how the BC Liberal`s claims of(before the election) that B.C. LNG would eliminate British Columbia`s debt, pay for bridge tolls, pay off crown debts at BC Hydro, BC Ferries, eliminate sales tax and also add$hundreds of billions of dollars into a prosperity fund for future generations, ...Those pre-election BC Liberal claims went from those outlandish claims to  how LNG revenue over 30 years "would help eliminate the debt"...

And today the BC Government climbs down to even lower rungs on the LNG unicorn ladder.....

According to another Government fluff piece in the Vancouver Sun..

British Columbia "could have"...possibly have by 2021 5 LNG plants up and running..

Are you hearing what the BC Liberals are saying...They are no longer using the figures, using the years 2015...2016...2017...2018...2019...2020...2021...

According to the article we could have 5 LNG exporting plants up and running by 2021...That is 2 election cycles away, meaning this, not one dime of LNG revenue for 8 years..Maybe, could, possibly..

Yes... Christy Clark and Rich Coleman talk about 30 years of LNG revenue, now apparently that 30 years of revenue begins after 2021...

Written here in many LNG posts...Petronas will make a decision on whether or not they are going to build anything in British Columbia sometime in 2015...That`s the year they will DECIDE IF they are going to build at all, that`s not a construction start date...

Earlier this year Chevron announced that they may a decision on building in British Columbia sometime in 2016 to 2017..

Let me reiterate, there is nothing built, no shovels in the ground....Yesterday Rich Coleman started singing a completely different revenue tune..All those lofty promises/claims of Christy Clark are gone, and replaced with LNG revenue .."will help eliminate the B.C.`s debt"  ..

And today another puffy fluffy Vancouver Sun, Government sponsored article any and all expectations of LNG revenue before 2021..2 election cycles away is put out there for public consumption...

2021..Are you kidding me, what happened to 2016..2017..2018...2019..2020...These articles are slow-burn propaganda..For now the BC Liberals will go into the 2017 election still talking about the future with still no shovels in the ground..


_____________

"The report, released Tuesday, uses estimates from consultant Grant Thornton LLP based on the premise B.C. will see five LNG export plants built by 2021........


The oil-and-gas service sector, in B.C.'s north east where the gas fields that would feed LNG plants, would be the biggest employer under this scenario, Shirley Bond, Miniser of Jobs, Tourism and Skils Training, said in the announcement.

"It is crucial that we have a strategy in place to ensure we have skilled workers ready and trained for future growth," she said.


Next steps to filling the needs, according to the report, will involve addressing barriers to employment for possible workers and developing information, standards and tools to be a foundation for further action....



Assuming five plants are operational by 2021, the industry could support 75,000 workers including:


- 2,400 permanent jobs to operate and maintain LNG plants and pipelines on an ongoing basis

- 61,700 jobs to support LNG operations including drilling, production, transport and services

- 11,100 in spinoff jobs in the broader economy.

______________

As reported here, a large LNG plant has 250 full-time employees with an estimated 250 spinoff jobs...Those were the numbers British Gas(BG) used..

Those reported other job numbers are either bogus ..and or they are calculated 30 times, as in job years, as in 30 years of LNG exports..That is a widely used industry trick, they calculate a job as a job year...

British Gas reported if they built.... peak construction employment for one LNG plant would be 3500 employees...and after construction ...Well, let British Gas do the talking..

__________

"BG intends to build a facility on Ridley Island capable of producing 21 million tonnes of LNG a year. Called Prince Rupert LNG, it would be built overseas in modules and shipped to Prince Rupert for assembly.

 Even so, the plant would create 3,500 jobs during construction,

 250 permanent direct jobs and another 250 spinoff jobs.

 BG says it is planning to build it in two phases, beginning in 2016.
The first phase — two seven-million-tonne-a-year processing units, or trains — is to be completed by 2021" 

______________

There you have British Gas stating that if they build their one LNG plant it will create 250 full-time jobs and 250 spinoff jobs, yet Christy Clark`s LNG committee is claiming after construction, after construction and the 2400 full-time plant employees at 5 LNG plants will need 73,000 support workers...

Well, someone is zooming someone..
 
The point I am making, yesterday Rich Coleman climbed down on revenue forecasts from LNG, and today grandiose, and false job number claims are being made, yet they insert ...sneakingly I might add....
 
That there will be no LNG exporting plants online until 2021...That is 2 election cycles away...
 
You can expect more and more LNG climbdowns to occur as the industry is in flux and over supplied, the Japanese LNG market, like the USA LNG market vanished before it even began..
 
 
 
 
The Straight Goods
 
 
Cheers Eyes Wide Open






Fascism And Contemporary Canada. Locating The Canadian Conservative Government Led By Stephen Harper. Part One.





Written by Robin Mathews

 rmathew@telus.net




The fact is surprising and alarming.  A phrase that would have been impossible to speak in Canada before the Stephen Harper-led Conservative entry into Canadian politics is now almost an accepted expression. 

Language is not meaningless - even the federal Conservative cabinet’s Orwellian mask-language has meaning … paid attention to. “Democracy” in the mouths of Stephen Harper and John Baird and James Moore means increasing environmental irresponsibility, increasing government by private corporations, and the total disregard of Canadian wishes, on behalf of international finance and “enterprise”. 

The phrase “fascism in Canada” suggests – quickly and reasonably to most people - repression and public bullying, propaganda and disinformation (the prime minister’s  statements are repeatedly proved false), programs of lies and subterfuge, unrelieved attacks upon unions, NGOs, advocacy groups and regulatory bodies protecting Canadian health and freedoms, increasing government secrecy, and – tirelessly – a Mainstream Press and Media which is more and more an arm of corrupt government.

The profusion of attacks upon formerly-taken-for-granted democratic ideas, institutions, and practices confuses the population because no single one of the attacks overturns daily life for most people. 

The cast of characters engaged in the overthrow of Canadian democracy is large – so large repression begins to be acccepted as democratic practice.  Stephen Harper has been prime minister through two attempts to corrupt the electoral system. 
In the first case (2006) the Party he leads admitted guilt and paid a fine after years of denial and court resistance.  Since the second (2011), the whole Conservative machine lives in denial as citizens organize and try to prove (in law) what they allege is Conservative criminality.

Chief cabinet ministers reek with misdoings.  Peter MacKay began his leadership career by violating a signed contract – publicly.  John Baird and Tony Clement engineered a $50 million siphoning of taxpayers money to fatten the pork barrel in Clement’s riding. James Moore announced his love of CBC and promised increased support as a prelude to sinking a dagger deep into the heart of the operation.

The unelected overseers of growing ‘fascist dumb-think’- the Prime Minister’s Office personnel - have just been exposed by the RCMP as having many hands on the corrupt attempted pay-off of Senator Mike Duffy.  We are told that only 14% of Canadians believe Stephen Harper was not the architect of the wrong doing.

Finally, the faceless and graceless “trained seals” of the Conservative government caucus are only slightly more embarrassing, perhaps, than the bloated, nearly one hundred unelected primed parrots of the PMO, a quarter of whom make $100,000 a year or more.

Very plainly, the shift from a democratic parliament to a neo-fascist State in Canada is signalled by that strange operation which is nowhere mentioned as part of government in any constitutional document.  The PMO – especially in the present regime – is the mask-government, the real, unelected power fronting for private corporate rule in Canada. The unelected personnel of the PMO dictate policy and practice to the “elected” Conservative Members of Parliament. When Stephen Harper and his supporters speak of “putting the economy first”, that is Orwell-speak for following the agenda of the large corporations first, last, and always.

Resistance to the idea that a fascist mentality operates at the top levels of Canadian government arises from several sources.  A main source of denial is, of course, the Conservative machine which, for instance, did everything it could as long as it could to deny wrongdoing in election practices.

But other, legitimate sources resist the idea.  Many believe fascism has to produce jack-boots and concentration camps before it can be identified as present.  Others genuinely believe “it can’t happen here” in Canada, and so dismiss the idea.  Still others believe that if an electoral system exists, democracy exists. 

They couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The idea of fascism (the name chosen by Mussolini) originally was to disregard the individual and individual rights in the exclusive interest of the nation.  It very soon, however, took the turn from which it has never changed. In 1921 Mussolini made chief allies of the landowners and the industrialists, and fascism has been ‘corporatist’ ever since, meaning, since then, a marriage of the State and corporations. Adolf Hitler, in the 1930s, famously united with the industrialists, forged a unified front with them, and fed them slave labourers until the defeat of Nazism.

The first key to contemporary fascism is the unity, the amalgamation of purpose, and the solidarity of private corporations and government – taking precedence over democratic, human, and civil rights.  That explains the federal Conservative government attacks upon fair elections, regulatory bodies, agencies to protect food and medical standards and the environment.  It explains, too, its unceasing attacks upon democratic assemblies (NGOs, environmental groups, unions, etc.)

The federal Conservative government’s refusal to protect West Coast fish stocks, to do anything serious to regulate Tar Sands extraction, or to regulate the massive water and land pollution created by hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and to allow the gigantic train disaster at Lac Megantic are ordinary characteristics of a government that sacrifices all human and environmental values to the desires of its profit-driven corporate partners.

The Lac Megantic catastrophe was, quite simply, the product of Canadian Conservative government refusal to interfere with the profit-driven abandonment of the simplest safety precautions.

Commentators on the Lac Megantic catastrophe sometimes reveal how successful the corporate brainwash has been upon them, remarking that the move to industry-based safety practices is a normal and reasonable move.  But, of course, it is neither normal nor reasonable.

The whole process involving government abandonment of regulation is not only anarchistic insanity, it is also policy.  It is government, in fact, by corporations.  By permitting the Railway Corporations, in effect, to erect and police safety standards, the Conservative government is, in fact, doing nothing – an invitation to unbridled violation of human rights and human decency. The Conservative government quotes changes and changes to safety regulation – all of which are questioned by experts.

The man I call the resident confuser of criticism for the Conservatives is at it again.  Hugging sentimentality, Fred DeLorey says (The Hill Times, July 15, p.31) that he won’t get involved in “politics” concerning one of the most important political events of the decade – Lac Megantic!  Knowing that the regulatory agencies under the Conservatives are hugely undermined, he says with confidence that we “must let the proper authorities complete their investigation….”  Like his boss, Stephen Harper, he pushes responsibility off on an appointed body employed to support Conservative failure to protect.

Green commentator Camille Labchuk (on the same page of Hill Times) fingers “the ideology of deregulation”, pointing out it was the wonderful regulator, Transport Canada, which “apparently gave MMA permission to leave unattended locomotives (carrying)… hazardous materials”.

Not surprisingly, a Vancouver Sun story of June 17, 2013 reports a huge failure to meet specific fish monitoring requirements and general industrial guidelines by most private hydro plant operations in B.C.  The story points to important failures to protect fish habitat. (Larry Pynn, p. A7)  Since no regulatory program is pursued strongly by governments and since violations are virtually unpunished, the private corporations (permitted in fact by the B.C. Campbellclark governments) seem openly contemptuous of both specific requirements and general industrial guidelines.

Like the Lac Megantic disaster, the simpler, less trumpeted devastation of rivers in B.C. is a product of fascist mentality producing fascist policy.  To ignore that fact is to invite increasing devastation of the environment and increasing repression of resistance to it.

Mussolini gave the name to Fascism in in the 1920s.  His model was both used and changed by Hitler’s Nazism in the 1930s.  Both Mussolini and Hitler instituted the idea of a single, key leader and maker of policy, called in Mussolini’s case ‘Il Duce’ and in Hitler’s case ‘Der Fuehrer’.  The initiative might be equated somewhat to the present leader of the federal Conservative government choosing to speak – not of the Conservative government in Ottawa but – of ‘the Stephen Harper government’ or merely of ‘the Harper government’.

That little act of vanity and (more deeply) of policy to focus on a single source of power, a single law-giver, is an indication of  more dangerous directions taken.  And it points to the danger of unelected power groups who take real control of government.

At the same time as the Conservative government of Canada is placing the Canadian population in excessive danger (Lac Megantic, July 2013), a strong move is afoot by giant investors to pump money into railway takeovers and the expansion of the rail carriage of dangerous liquids.  As if in a storybook tale, railways have been quietly taken over by some of the most powerful (and thought by many to be the least responsible) wealthy in the world.

Major shareholders are now Bill Gates (the CNR), Warren Buffet (Burlington Northern Santa Fe), and Bill Ackman (CPR).  They are keystones in the multi-billion dollar expansion of railways as fossil fuel transporters.  Very clearly, stern and actively policed regulation of railways in Canada is an absolute must.

Behind the scenes a huge structure is being created to transport fossil fuels by rail in, through, and around Canada with (at present) a railway regulation system that is, in effect, almost non-existent.  The present Conservative government in Canada led by Stephen Harper, with a new minister of transport Lisa Raitt will – we may be sure – do everything it can to answer the demands of the railway corporations and to erase safety for Canadians ... “placing the economy first”.  Lisa Raitt proved herself to Stephen Harper as someone quite willing to rape democratic rights.  She is famous, as minister of labour.  Twice she erased the democratic rights of unions so that corporate profit would be assured. 

We may be certain that on her watch the safety of Canadians and the Canadian environment will come last as she makes railway transport a very profitable activity for some of the richest men in the world, outside Canada, of course.

The definition of contemporary fascism places and explains what is called The Conservative Party of Canada.  Caught in continuing election fraud and irregularity, the Conservative government refuses to bring in changes put forward by Elections Canada.  The Conservative Party clearly intends, we may assume, to win another election by fraud.  That is wholly consistent with a fascist organization.  Though it seems to be a contradiction, a fascist state will use ‘popular election’ as long as it can – however much it tampers with it and makes it  fraudulent. 

 Then the rulers can posture and prate about “free societies” and “democratic countries”.  It can pretend it is acting by “the will of the people” – as this Conservative government regularly insists it is doing.

What Canadians see more and more is a parade of fraud and deception, of disinformation and lies, of government secrecy and of growing repression. All those things are undertaken to mask the corporate looting of Canada, the unregulated violation of the Canadian environment, and governmental sacrifice of the vulnerable – whether the working people, the aged, the unemployed, or even the wounded and crippled military veterans being tossed aside by a brutal Conservative administration.

All of those things are related.  Only the naïve or the bribed continue to believe they are not all connected … and intended.
The name given to the overall program may stick in the throats of many Canadians who want neither to face the truth nor to take up the battle that has to be fought.  But the program is, like it or not, a fascist program tailored to the contemporary world as it exists in Canada.



Written by Robin Mathews




_____________________________________________________

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2014/10/stephen-harpers-corporate-canada.html


 Close to the edge....






We get up, we get down...






The Straight Goods


Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Monday, July 22, 2013

Rich Coleman, Running On Empty Promises, More Uncomfortable LNG Facts





 If one reads page 6 of the below PDF file......First off, the below linked PDF was written before Shinzo Abe secured his grip on power in Japan`s election yesterday...Shinzo Abe now has a strong majority...And written here on several occasions, Shinzo Abe is fast tracking the restart of Japan`s nuclear facilities..

In the below report, they specifically state that Japan as a LNG market, Japan`s current use of LNG could decline by 67% or more depending on how much of their nuclear power is brought back online...(page 6)

The below report also states that future LNG estimated demand from China is in doubt, the reason for that doubt is....? China has vast domestic supplies of shale gas and no one knows for sure how aggressively and how fast China will develop their domestic gas reserves..(page 6 of the below PDF)



http://www.brg-expert.com/media/publication/355_Goncalves_LNGJournal_June2013.pdf


As written here in past posts, Japan needs their nuclear utilities online for economical reasons, the economic cost to Japan`s ruling Government in raw $dollars is $20 billion dollars annually, and about 600,000 domestic jobs in Japan will be lost if the nuclear industry isn`t restarted, not to mention energy insecurity and high priced electric bills for average Japanese people, ...Like here in British Columbia, the more money we spend on hydro electric bills and car fuels the less money gets spent in the overall economy, the public will cut back in other areas, Japan has already seen the domestic pullback..

As for China developing their own vast reserves of shale gas, that was forewarned here some time ago too...In this viral post..

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2012/02/chinese-tigers-playing-with-canadian.html


So here`s the deal, the real deal, there are LNG export facilities coming online around the world, Australia, USA, east Africa, more Russian and Qatari supply coming online, Israel LNG, Mozambique..More natural gas coming from the Stan countries, developing all this supply was predicated on several factors, the most important, only 6 year to 8 years ago the world thought the USA would be a huge market for LNG(imported LNG into the USA)...That market is caput, a dozen inport LNG regasification plants were built to receive this gas, they were all but shuttered before most were even completely built, the American shale gas fraccing revolution destroyed a market the world`s LNG export countries were depending on before it even started...

The import plants are now being converted to LNG export plants, thus giving the USA a monster sized economic advantage over any Canadian LNG development..

The LNG exporting countries also didn`t account for China discovering the world`s largest reserves of natural gas, a 400 year supply situated in mainland China..That monkeywrench is still an unknown quantity..

But then the LNG exporting countries caught a break, it was a great break for them but bad news for Japan and the world, no one anticipated the Tsunami(?) and earthquake(?) at Fukushima....That caused Japan to shutdown all their nuclear facilities...

Funny coincidence eh?...Japan`s nuclear disaster was a saving grace for LNG exporting countries, and wannabe LNG exporting countries, for Japan absorbed the majority of the LNG glut on the market, that glut was created by the USA suddenly finding itself awash in domestic gas... and now the USA is a dead market for imported LNG....Had the USA not gone fraccing crazy that glut of LNG would have never developed..

Conspiracy theorists could go nuts with those implications, a Japanese Nuclear accident(?) and shutdown to save an LNG industry?...Well, I`ll leave that conversation for another day..

So, Japan`s disaster saved LNG exporting country`s bacon(albeit temporarily), but now..

But now Japan is going full-nuclear restart, therefore we again have, and will have a massive glut of LNG on the market with even more capacity coming online over the next few years, in other words..

There will be more gas sellers than buyers....And we have Japan/Korea and China now developing, R&Ding and exploring the potential of ocean methane hydrates...There is more ocean methane hydrates available than any other source of fossil fuel..A 500 year supply minimum..

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/07/british-columbias-long-proposed-lng.html

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/07/christy-clarks-lng-basket-of-eggs.html

_________________

So let`s recap....The world LNG exporting countries geared up for a big USA market for their gas...That market collapsed before it began.

Unfortunate events at Fukushima was a godsend for all those LNG exporting countries, Japan bought up most of the excess supply that was originally intended for the USA...

However, the cost was and is to great for Japan, ...Japan can`t afford not to restart the nuclear electrical utility companies, they will indeed restart all of and possibly build even more nuclear plants..

The combination of these events, the combination of excess supply of gas now and even more supply coming online very soon...With the medium term outlook for LNG demand flat and or negative..

And the fact that the big energy companies who already own LNG plants, who have more LNG exporting plants coming online very soon as no less than 12 monster LNG facilities are near built..These are the very same energy companies kicking the tires in British Columbia and the USA...And the USA has that pre-existing facilities built already advantage..

This series of events has cast very serious doubts anything will get built in British Columbia, do the energy companies want to create even more supply to compete with themselves?????..That is doubtful..

Which brings me to the reason for this post...What took the energy experts so long to figure it out?

And...The only way anything gets built in British Columbia is...is if we offer a taxation and royalty structure so attractive to the energy companies...Well, anything that attractive to the energy companies means British Columbia won`t...

We won`t pay off our BC debt with LNG, we won`t pay off BC Hydro debt, BC Ferry debt, we won`t eliminate sales tax and road tolls, Christy Clark`s $trillion dollar fantasy and prosperity fund worth $hundreds of billions of dollars to future generations promised was nothing but pixie dust and wishful thinking..

All of that pre-election hooey is off the table and today, 9 weeks after the last B.C. general election the big LNG climbdown begins..All those new hospitals, new funding, our roads paved with LNG gold, all debts, tolls and sales tax eliminated, all crown corporation debt paid off, all those election promises are now nothing but ancient hyperbole spun..

Ross K gave me the early hint..(Go have a look)..Link below.


http://pacificgazette.blogspot.ca/2013/07/this-day-in-snooklandwould-you-buy-used.html


Rich Coleman had a op-ed piece published in the Vancouver Sun, no questions asked or answered, only Rich Coleman talking vague terms...But what struck many people, people who have been paying attention was this utterance by Rich Coleman..
_____

"Like other jurisdictions have done, we intend to create a Prosperity Fund into which revenues from our natural gas sector will flow and will help eliminate B.C.’s debt..."

___________


According to LNG minister Rich Coleman, LNG will now only "help eliminate B.C.s debt"

The big climbdown has begun, we have gone from a $trillion dollars to help...

Here is some information from a much earlier Straight Goods posting..

_________


LNG facilities are currently proposed by business groups that include some of the world`s biggest energy companies-Shell, Imperial, Chevron, British Gas, Petronas, SK & and ES of South Korea, Inpex and the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation, to name some of the major players, it`s no fantasy.
The projects mean 39,000 jobs to British Columbia during construction with another 75,000 full time jobs created once in operation. We can create 1 $trillion dollars in economic activity and create the BC Prosperity fund with $100 billion over 30 years.

An opportunity this good faces lots of global competition. Premier Christy Clark and Today`s BC Liberals have worked diligently to enable LNG as an economic generator for decades to come."

(BC Liberal platform at below link)

http://files.flipsnack.com/iframe/embed.html?hash=fhcjsxtd&wmode=window&bgcolor=EEEEEE&t=13660594461366059618

________

There is the smoking gun evidence, from the BC Liberal platform...39,000 construction jobs and 75,00 full-time jobs once in operation..

That whole number thing seems backwards from the git-go, normally there are more during construction jobs than the full time after everything is built job numbers....

Do you see those job numbers in the BC Liberal election platform...

"39,000 jobs to British Columbia during construction with another 75,000 full time jobs created once in operation"

How many LNG plants are being proposed, we have heard these Liberals say 4 LNG plants, 6 LNG plants, 8 LNG plants...

Well, there was an article in the Vancouver Sun earlier this year, the BG Group(British Gas) announced they are going to the planning stage, then if that goes well they will apply for an environmental assessment, no they haven`t made any firm commitments, it`s still very early in the process, they mention something about, if everything goes well they will start assembly of their LNG plant in 2016..

But what is absolutely startling is the honesty in the article, honesty from a major world class energy company..

What British Gas has stated in the article is this...

________

"The BG Group has filed plans for a liquefied natural gas plant at Prince Rupert that would consume the equivalent to all of the province’s current production of natural gas and almost all the energy generated by BC Hydro’s proposed Site C dam to produce it."

_____

Do you see that? This one LNG plant will consume all the present natural gas production in British Columbia, that`s not the scary part, what is stated in the article puts "Christy Clark and Today`s BC Liberal`s" jobs number to shame, this article makes a complete mockery of what the Liberals are stating in their 2013 election platform..

___________

"BG intends to build a facility on Ridley Island capable of producing 21 million tonnes of LNG a year. Called Prince Rupert LNG, it would be built overseas in modules and shipped to Prince Rupert for assembly.

 Even so, the plant would create 3,500 jobs during construction,

 250 permanent direct jobs and another 250 spinoff jobs.

 BG says it is planning to build it in two phases, beginning in 2016.
The first phase — two seven-million-tonne-a-year processing units, or trains — is to be completed by 2021" 
________

Do you see that?....3500 temporary construction jobs, 250 full-time jobs with 250 full-time spinoff jobs...

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/06/christy-clark-goes-down-rabbit-holelng.html

Ok, one last recap...The amount of jobs associated with LNG is a lie, now the amount of revenue is being slashed before anything is even built, in Christy Clark`s and the BC Liberal`s 2013 election platform they suggested strongly that our BC Debt would be eliminated and $100 billion also would be placed in a prosperity fund, and now 2 months after our election LNG revenue over 30 years will only "help eliminate B.C.`s debt" whatever that means


You can read Rich Coleman`s blather at the below link if you like..No questions asked, no details given, no shovels in the ground now, no companies are even deciding whether or not they will build for at least few years,



http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/Opinion+Development+promises+transformative+prosperity/8688858/story.html

Rich Coleman is wrong with his unchallenged statements in that article, especially about the Japanese market..

And that is precisely why our mainstream media is useless, why Palmer and Baldrey are stooges, why Bill Good and Sean Leslie are paid BC Liberal pom pom girls...They haven`t got the balls to tell..

The Straight Goods




Cheers Eyes Wide Open


Sunday, July 21, 2013

BC Liberals Bankrupting Our Province, BC Hydro Dies, The Horror Exposed!






BC Liberals are deliberately bankrupting our province, Vaughn Palmer, Michael Smyth refuse to talk about it.

The BC Liberal Government are corrupt and fiscal idiots, however..

The media, Global News, CTV, CKNW, Vancouver Sun and The Province are even more to blame because....

 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2012/01/conflict-of-ethics.html

Because the media knew, the legislative reporters Keith Baldrey, Vaughn Palmer, Tom Fletcher and Les Leyne knew, they have known for years, yet they refused to report the truth, they, the media are beholden to Government advertising dollars and the corporate sector thieves who cashed in your future, we are all victims, but your children and grandchildren will be the victims who pay the ultimate price, Keith Baldrey, Vaughn Palmer and Bill Good lied their faces off, that proof is in this post..

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/07/vaughn-palmer-keith-baldrey-and-bill.html

Whatever you do, don`t click the below youtube link unless you are prepared to be horrified, outraged and disgusted, what you will see is in my opinion, legal grounds to have Gordon Campbell, Christy Clark and the BC Liberal cabinet arrested, arrested and tried for theft of $billions of dollars, tried for fraud, economic treason..

This scam makes the BC Rail theft look like bubble gum money..

Don`t say I didn`t warn you.... BC Liberal politicians past(Under Gordon Campbell) or present(Under Christy Clark), this is a criminal matter to be handled by the law and courts, that is if we ever see the law returned to Canada.

Remember these fiscal crimes in 2017..

You have been warned...Thanks to Damien Gillis and Rafe Mair


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtJimgNPdE8

More on the bankrupting of BC Hydro at the below link.


 http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/07/bc-liberals-break-bc-hydros-back-too.html





The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open






British Columbia`s Long-Proposed LNG Industry Missed The Starting Gun




Meet the new rightwing pro-nuclear leader of Japan Christy Clark...Your worst nightmare come true...

___________

"Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has won a majority in the upper house, exit polls suggest.
His Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner New Komeito were set to get at least 71 of the 121 seats being contested, broadcaster NHK projected.
This would give him control of both houses of parliament for the first time in six years.
Mr Abe said the expected result was an endorsement of his economic reforms, as he seeks to end long-term stagnation.
The deadlock in parliament has been seen as a key factor in Japan's recent "revolving door" of prime ministers.
Official results are not expected until Monday.
But the exit poll suggested Mr Abe's coalition would control 130 seats in the 242-seat upper house. Half the seats were being contested in Sunday's election.
The result is being seen as a vote of confidence in Mr Abe, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo."

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23396234

____________ 

Shinzo Abe, a hard rightwing politician, his election victory is bad news for LNG exporters around the world,, and bad news for Christy Clark`s Liberals..

Besides his insistence on printing money ala the USA`s Bernake, ...

Shinzo Abe will fast-track the restarting of Japan`s shuttered nuclear facilities, this is being done for several reasons, firstly Japan wants to reduce its reliance on energy imports, funny how that works, when Japan had the nuclear accident(?) at Fukushima, when they terrified the world and their own populous a precautionary Government moved quick to shut down all the nuclear facilities...That decision even though prudent proved very costly to all those concerned, Japanese utilities lost a lot of money, domestic utility rates spiked for average Japanese people, and Government itself lost $billions of dollars in yearly taxation revenue as utilities went from providing profits and tax dollars to Government to losing money as a result of having to buy high-priced energy imports, those imports were LNG..

I find it rather amusing, instead of energy companies and energy exporting countries coming to the aid of Japan all parties starting licking their chops in anticipation of taking Japan and its people to the proverbial cleaners..

Christy Clark was particularly callous, her blatherings to the world, she bragged that British Columbia was going to make $trillions of dollars from Japan, how we were going to retire our provincial debt, pay off BC Hydro and BC Ferry debt, remove bridge tolls and create a prosperity fund worth $hundreds of billions of dollars, and more, LNG revenue from Japan would allow B.C. to remove our sales tax..A British Columbia future paved with gold and all that money coming from the pockets of the Japanese people..

Is there any doubt what the catalyst was for Shinzo Abe to announce a restarting of their nuclear facilities...There is no doubt, Christy Clark told Japan to be prepared to pay up or sit in the dark shivering..

Shinzo Abe, a hard rightwing politician has vowed to restart and renew their shuttered nuclear industry and strive for energy security, no country likes to get blackmailed, especially to get blackmailed from whom they thought were friends..

My how times change, Ernst and Young in recent days have warned of many risks to LNG exporting countries, ...

______

"Supply technology — two areas in particular could impact the
future of LNG: methane hydrates and Floating LNG (FLNG).
Over the long term, methane hydrates could potentially double
the world’s natural gas resources. With a disproportionately
large volume of methane hydrates located near Japan and
Korea, both countries are ramping up R&D activities. 
Successful development could signicantly reduce demand for LNG.
FLNG may in some cases be an attractive, cost-effective
alternative to land-based liquefaction, with potentially lower
development costs, lower environmental impacts and the ability
to monetize remote or smaller gas fields. At present, there are
no operational FLNG facilities — Shell’s Prelude FLNG project,
currently being developed in Australia, is slated to come online
in 2017–2018."
___________
 And from an earlier Straight Goods post..

"With a shuttered nuclear industry the Japanese Government loses an estimated $10 billion yearly in taxation revenue, energy companies that provide electrical power run at a loss too, residential energy users, who are already the highest priced electrical consumers in the world see power bills spike even higher, thus taking away even more domestic spending power by the consumer, and those spiked electrical bills flow out of country, business and heavy industry relying on electricity see massive spikes in cost too...Japan, like America, like Canada, like every country the world are having difficulty in being competitive with cheap Chinese and Indian made goods as it is,  now with Japan losing all their domestic electrical generating ability that disadvantage becomes unbearable, a deathblow to Japan`s economy , a slow-bleed economic killer, one that Japan can ill-afford to languish in...

There are reports published that confirm that if Japan doesn`t restart its nuclear facilities more than 700,000 Japanese people will be thrown into unemployment lines, 1000`s of those jobs are directly related to the nuclear facilities and surrounding communities, the remaining are employees that industry anticipates letting go as a result of Japan`s  new found cost uncompetitiveness..."
_________________

So, in a nutshell, in very short order, Japan`s rightwing pro-nuclear leader Shinzo Abe has secured his grip on power, and...

Japan has successfully extracted ocean methane hydrates..

_____

"TOKYO — Japan said Tuesday that it had extracted gas from offshore deposits of methane hydrate — sometimes called “flammable ice” — a breakthrough that officials and experts said could be a step toward tapping a promising but still little-understood energy source.

The gas, whose extraction from the undersea hydrate reservoir was thought to be a world first, could provide an alternative source of energy to known oil and gas reserves. That could be crucial especially for Japan, which is the world’s biggest importer of liquefied natural gas and is engaged in a public debate about whether to resume the country’s heavy reliance on nuclear power.
Experts estimate that the carbon found in gas hydrates worldwide totals at least twice the amount of carbon in all of the earth’s other fossil fuels, making it a potential game-changer for energy-poor countries like Japan. Researchers had already successfully extracted gas from onshore methane hydrate reservoirs, but not from beneath the seabed, where much of the world’s deposits are thought to lie."



___________

"Last week in Japan new safety regulations for nuclear reactors went into effect, as the government tries to ensure that the nation will never again be rocked by nuclear catastrophe. These regulations provide a path for nuclear power plants to resume operations, and five power companies promptly submitted applications for the restart of 12 reactors, with more applications expected in the coming months.

More than two turbulent years have passed since a tsunami smashed into the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, causing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. During those years, shifting political administrations have offered dramatically different visions of Japan’s energy future. 

Now, with the pronuclear Liberal Democratic Party expected to consolidate its hold on the government in parliamentary elections next week, Japan seems poised to embrace nuclear power once again.

Currently only two of Japan’s 50 functional reactors are in operation; the rest are shut down for safety checks. Utilities have been forced to run coal-, gas-, and oil-fired plants at high capacity to keep Japan’s production lines running and the lights of Tokyo burning bright.

 The nuclear restarts have been championed by Japan’s business and industrial groups, which fear the economic impact of continuing to rely on expensive imported fossil fuels."

 http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/japan-prepares-to-restart-nuclear-plants

___________
Even China, besides buying up fraccing technology and pursuing their own vast domestic inland supplies of natural shale and coal seam gas they are active in developing gas in the China Sea.

http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-china-five-5-billion-dollar-east-china-sea-gas-development-drive/1703795.html


What Christy Clark doesn`t understand, what the energy companies don`t understand..

Countries like Japan and China, they won`t sit back and play victim, these countries have felt repressed by the west for a long long time, any disadvantage these industrious Asian people have, they work like army ants to turn things around..

So, not only are LNG exports to Japan already in decline, the restarting of the nuclear facilities will dash the big dreams of British Columbia, and even Australia....Australia, a country with 7 large LNG facilities coming online in the next 3 years, Australia who has signed supply deals with Japan....

With methane hydrates being developed, with more than ample LNG supply coming online, with Japan turning into a declining market for LNG....

With Australia and Russia ramping up supply, with new floating LNG coming online..With the USA converting already built import LNG facility to export facilities, thus giving them a huge financial edge over British Columbia, with the USA`s Cheniere energy now selling LNG to Asia linked to the North American Henry Hub price...Well

With Rich Coleman and Christy Clark putting all our economic eggs in one basket..

With the BC Liberals stating...

"We are in a race with Australia to develop LNG before the window closes"

Well, we don`t even have a shovel in the ground and the market British Columbia was chasing after and racing to is already gone..





The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Oil Spill Site Off Limits To The Public And Media, By Order of Government

 

Grant G--- Canada is now owned by Oil Companies, Canada`s new legislative Government is....CAPP....Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

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

____________

Nobody understands’ spills at Alberta oil sands operation


"Oil spills at an oil sands operation in Cold Lake, Alberta have been going on for weeks with no end in sight, according to a government scientist

 

 

Oil spills at a major oil sands operation in Alberta have been ongoing for at least six weeks and have cast doubts on the safety of underground extraction methods, according to documents obtained by the Star and a government scientist who has been on site.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has been unable to stop an underground oil blowout that has killed numerous animals and contaminated a lake, forest, and muskeg at its operations in Cold Lake, Alta.

The documents indicate that, since cleanup started in May, some 26,000 barrels of bitumen mixed with surface water have been removed, including more than 4,500 barrels of bitumen........




The scientist said Canadian Natural Resources is not disclosing the scope of spills in four separate sites, which have been off bounds to media and the public because the operations are on the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, where there is active weapons testing by the Canadian military.

The company says it is effectively managing and cleaning up the spills.


“The areas have been secured and the emulsion is being managed with clean up, recovery and reclamation activities well underway. The presence of emulsion on the surface does not pose a health or human safety risk. The sites are located in a remote area which has restricted access to the public. The emulsion is being effectively cleaned up with manageable environmental impact,” the company said in a statement.
The documents and photos show dozens of animals, including beavers and loons, have died, and that 30,600 kg of oily vegetation has been cleared from the latest of the four spill zones

Read more at the link directly below(courtesy The Star)
__________________________


China Mine Runoff Pollutes Water for 30,000, Daily Say



Officials in southern China shut 112 illegal mines after polluted runoff entered the local water supply, killing fish and making the water unusable for about 30,000 people, China Daily newspaper said

Pollutants including cadmium and thallium flowed into the Hejiang River after heavy rain led to flooding, and the mines were closed July 6, China Daily said today. Though many fish died before that, officials’ limited equipment and testing kept them from identifying the problem, the Hezhou local government said in a statement on its website today.

“We apologize deeply for the loophole caused by our poor regulation,” Lei Shaohua, deputy head of the Hezhou city environmental bureau
 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-08/chinese-mine-runoff-pollutes-water-for-30-000-china-daily-says.html


______________________



Canada`s Cold Blank Stare...

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


Just thought some of you might be interested in these stories, The Vancouver Sun and The Province, CKNW and other BC media seem only interested in talking about the soon expected Royal baby and the Vancouver Canucks 2013-2014 schedule, you know, the important things in life



The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Adrian Dix, Throwing Punches While Laying On The Ground Bleeding/NDP, The Hypocrisy Party


_________________

Updated post/July 18/2013

Written by Grant G


 Today and this week in question period the opposition NDP tried to make hay with new revelations into the ethnicgate scandal...

I wrote this post about Dyble`s report, in this post I asserted correctly that the BC Liberal`s had engaged and employed the ethnic outreach plan, a plan to use public dollars for party work....I clearly stated that the plot was not only thought of and contemplated but fully implemented..

I wrote many posts at the time, I highlighted how the Burnaby hospital scandal was part of ethnicgate..How Christy Clarking stating she was a Filipino was part of ethnicgate, and how the fake Bollywood awards was part of ethnicgate, I wrote in multiple posts that ethnicgate was not only an idea but tens of thousands of public-paid for man hours went into implenting every aspect of it..

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/03/christy-clark-creates-her-ethnigate.html

Ethnicgate was about "quick political wins....Creating block-buster ethnic events..turning issues into ethnic vote getters"

 Way to go NDP, .....Read the shocking linked story above...Read the shocking story below...

There was already smoking gun ethnicgate information available and proven in these two posts, unfortunately Adrian Dix and his election campaign ignored this information, they refused to act on this information during the election, they knew better, ,,They (The NDP Party brass, and MLA`s) ignored my numerous emails, ignored my passionate postings, they refused to acknowledge I even existed, yet everyday the NDP sent out emails to me asking for money, I talked to hundreds of readers who were also ignored, and asked for money, money and "moe" money...tsk tsk, we don`t want your advice or opinion, however send a cheque..money order or credit card number..blah blah blah..

Excuse me, so now 4 years from the next election and you want to peck away about ethnicgate...I don`t care, the issue is dead, you blew it Adrian Dix, it matters not now...Your time would be better spent asking about LNG, when is something going to be built, how much money will we receive, what is the royalty structure...Everything in BC is dependent upon $hundreds of $billions of dollars flowing to BC from LNG..Health services funding, education funding, debt and deficits, bridge tolls, the survival of BC Hydro, every burning issue in British Columbia is answered with LNG revenue will fix all...There are a ton of informative posts on LNG on this site highlighting all the problems, from pricing, from demand, market forces, new price structures, world capacity under construction, world competition, employment numbers associated with LNG plants, 250 employees per plant...

I suggest NDP you concentrate your efforts on LNG...All our provincial eggs have been put in one basket...Your whining about ethnicgate now is a slap in the face to everyone who fought during the writ...The Straight Goods fought tooth and nail, you Adrian Dix rolled over and scratched your belly.

And now the entire province will suffer and live under a corrupt corporate entity, seniors will suffer, students, workers and the environment, all because you knew better than us history writers and how you enjoyed scratching your belly....

It all seems so pointless, ethnicgate, Basi n Virk scandal, BC Rail, BC Hydro deferral accounts, BC Ferry fiscal nightmare, E Health waste, the assault on public education and teachers, Pacific Carbon Trusts scam, ever increasing MSP premiums, ICBC/BC Hydro/Ferries management run wild, CLBC, wheelchair fees, hospital scandals, needless hospital deaths, asset sales to claim bogus balanced budgets, balanced budget claims while debt rises by near $5 billion dollars a year..Cabinet ministers Bloy, Yap, Bennett, Coleman and many many more lie like rugs, all the while a beholden to Government advertising media talked of memogate and greased weasels, talked of LNG $trillions.....A BC Liberal party and Christy Clark who took the the sport of lying by numbers to artform..

And now Adrian and Co. want to drum beat on multi-culturalism Liberal public dollar theft and fraud...Talk to the families of those who had family members killed in hospitals, talk to the families of injured workers who WCB left with nothing, talk to Alexandra Morton about the plight of wild salmon and environmental crimes committed by the fish-farm industry, talk to those fighting tooth and nail to protect our province from Enbridge river and water destroyers..

Those are the heroes, the fighters, along with online writers and bloggers who gave their souls, wrote millions of words making the case for justice, for change for direction anew, ....All those issues are still here, still unresolved, ethnicgate was a crime of a few dollars stolen and party votes meanwhile the real crimes and criminals are still ongoing and active, and still ignored by a lost opposition...An NDP opposition who has lost their way, afraid to speak up against fish farms , to cowardly to fight for wild salmon, no courage to drive public monies for river habitat restoration.

Fighting for a Ethnicgate gotcha score won`t resolve any of the real issues.

Unless and or until the New Democratic Party remembers what is of real importance to British Columbian`s and decides to fight....

Until then their griping words ring hollow and shallow..

____________________________

John Dyble`s Ethnicgate Review, Two Legs Short



I have to congratulate John Dyble`s for his ethnicgate review, it was very thorough, hard hitting , to the point, names names, however, an investigation into a three legged stool scandal where you have only an ability to interview and question but one of those legs is an exercise in futility, we are left thirsty for more, a mere appetizer offered when the public required a full meal, Dyble`s report points two other directions , it points to caucus, it points to party, Dyble had no ability to interview caucus or cabinet, he had no ability to interview the party, and most troubling is Dyble had no ability to interview Mike MacDonald, Christy`s campaign chair, her election guru and the former top staffer in Christy Clark`s office, Mike MacDonald was there at the time this ethnic planning document was created and distrubuted, it came across his eyes at a minimum..

 http://www.scribd.com/doc/130411981/Review-of-the-Draft-Multicultural-Strategic-Outreach-Plan

What we do know, Brian Bonney on the public dime sent 1100 emails, on 3 different private emails accounts, he fired them off to the BC Liberal party, to caucus and more, Dyble had no ability to interview any of those email recipients..Brian Bonney and family were busy paid operatives.

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/03/christy-clark-brian-bonney-and-pamela.html

We also know there were ethnicgate committee meetings where fruits of the planning documents were sent to the Liberal party, to Fiera Lo and other members of the Liberal party, we know the ministry of multiculturalism was actively implementing the ethnicgate strategy, how do we know that, simple..


Harry Bloy was minister of multiculturalism when this scandal was hatched, he was minister when members of that ministry started implementing the plan, the proof is simple, if the planning document wasn`t acted upon at that time, at the time Harry Bloy was minister the plan and evidence wouldn`t have existed when John Yap became minister...Harry Bloy had to resign as minister for a different email scandal, this was well after the ethnicgate planning document was created, Bloy resigned, John Yap took over, in John Dyble`s report John Yap was aware of the plan, John Yap approved hiring workers and on the Government dime, these operatives were actively working on this sleazy project, lists were created of peoples who attended ethnic events, these lists were passed onto the BC Liberal Party, that confirms this plan was not only in full swing it actually bore products, the fruits of their labour were realized, the BC Liberal caucus no doubt is sitting on and probably using the fruits of the ethnicgate plan, that being lists of ethnic people, ethnic voters..

You can`t undo damage done, a liken it to robbing a bank, an inside job, you get caught, a couple of minor heads roll but your friends keep all the money..

John Dyble had no ability to interview Mike MacDonald, Christy Clark`s top staffer, the man who is leading Christy Clark`s election campaign, a man who was top dog in Christy`s office when this scheme was hatched, he was emailed the document, how Christy Clark could not of known what was going on, it boggles the mind, and that`s the failing of John Dyble`s investigation in a nutshell, a scandal-filled review where people were hired for the project, email in the ministry of multiculturalism were found advising those working on the project to use private emails and write nothing down..That`s proof that the ministry knew what they were doing was wrong, the ministry took extraordinary steps to hide their activities, so indeed the plan was being executed..

In my heart , in my heart I am Filipino...Remember that ethnic event?

There are questions about the timing of family day, different from the rest of Canada, and it did fall on Chinese new year, there is also the fake Bollywood awards, we know the Liberal Government asked the real Bollywood awards show to move their traditional awarding date in June to April, they refused and all of a sudden we are paying $12 million dollars to host a first inaugural award show, it seems to have been created for a quick hit, a quick political win..Exactly what is described in the planning document.

Again, fruits of their labour, a well-advertised Bollywood event where stars from India come to BC just weeks before our election, in that contract there are provisions for photo-ops with the Government, with Christy Clark and MLA`s running in our election, this is exactly what the ethnic planning document talked about, in that document there was a particular point highlighted, from the planning document, and I`ll quote the line..

"Create blockbuster events" 

Can you tell me what qualifies as an ethnic blockbuster event?

Bollywood awards show qualifies...Again the BC Liberal party gets the benefit, John Dyble`s investigation can`t take back the products produced, no subpoena powers, he can`t compel testimony, he couldn`t interview cabinet, he couldn`t interview the BC Liberal party, he couldn`t access any of their emails or documents, nothing, no ability to take back the forbidden fruit.

John Yap should resign from Government, immediately.


I commend John Dyble for sawing and chopping down that one legged stool, however this is a three legged scandal!

One leg of a three legged stool,  you know what happens to a one legged stool, it crashes to the ground.

We need an RCMP investigation with subpoena powers, even if that investigation isn`t concluded before the election it is required.

And on a more somber note, our BC Government already has at its disposal over 200 hired persons known as public affairs, they churn out press releases they monitor media, internet, newspapers, they phone into radio shows, they freep polls they go on comment threads, partisan media spin doctors, over 200 of them and now this Government, Christy Clark`s Liberals have gone to the line that separates a totalitarian Government from a Democratic one, a Government where entire ministries are employed to subvert people, to woo them, propagandize them, how many, 200, 300 entire ministries dedicated to maintaining power, how close have we come to the edge, up to, on it, or have we already gone over..


UPDATED HERE, Cassidy Olivier has details of an entire new scandal, well worth the read)


 http://www.theprovince.com/news/bc/Premier+Office+public+servants+target+crucial+election+ridings/8107179/story.html


Today`s question period will be up shortly, Bill Slime for Hire Bennett goes deep into the gutter

http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/8-8.htm#


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open





Wednesday, July 17, 2013

CN Rail, Ghost Trains Traversing Ghost Bridges, Corporate Greed Exposed



For at least a decade we have been hearing big industry talk about the looming labour shortage coming at us, how millions of workers are going to be needed, we here at The straight Goods have been skeptical to say the least..

Propaganda, industry propaganda, if big corporations told us the truth would we as a population put up with their crimes, environmental crimes, accounting fraud, every time I read a paper the story is about industry shedding jobs in the name of efficiency, I believe industry has taken this route, the route of glorious employment opportunities, millions of workers required, big money jobs for the asking, ...That`s the story meanwhile tic toc tic toc goes the clock, year after year goes by and the jobs aren`t there, except for indentured temporary foreign workers slaving at reduced wages..

The Lac Megantic rail crime/disaster...MM&A railway had just recently applied for and been approved to run one man trains, one conductor/labourer/engineer to run an entire train, rail companies at one time if memory serves me correct had a half dozen employees running a train, then it was reduced to two men operating the train, now it has been reduced to a single employee....

Big corporate profits for railways, oil shipments have risen from 500 to over 140,000 shipments of oil, yet employees and staff are being cut n slashed, all in the name of new efficiencies..

Here in the lower mainland, Kinder Morgan is wanting to triple or more the amount of oil coming to Burnaby, oil tankers traversing Burrard inlet would go from 6 to 8 per month to 40 per month, and that`s not the only tanker traffic that goes under the second narrows bridge(Iron Memorial Bridge) ..

As you know, and for those that don`t, the second narrows bridge besides being a car bridge up top it`s also a rail bridge, the rail bridge section is about 20 feet above high tide, meaning the rail bridge section of the second narrows bridge must be raised everytime a tanker or large vessel wants to pass through and then lowered back down everytime CN trains can cross Burrard inlet...

So here`s the deal, we just had the worst rail disaster in Canadian history because there wasn`t enough of a workforce to assure all the needed tasks were completed before the train was abandoned, 50 dead or more, an entire town near vaporized, ...We have CN rail which is moving millions of barrels of oil, increased exports of coal and ores,..We have Kinder Morgan that wants to increase tanker traffic going under the second narrows bridge by a factor of 10...The second narrows which is a car bridge and a rail bridge, the rail section must be raised and lowered everytime a sea vessel wants to cross..

Have a look at the bridge, the lower rail section is raised and lowered many times per day.



The lower green section between the two foundations is lowered and raised many times per day, the more traffic going underneath the more times it is raised and lowered..At times the fog is so thick, at times the weather and visibility is but a few feet..






Do you see the size of these ships, how small the opening is..




Well, so CN Rail, a company that was gifted BC Rail, a company that shed thousands of jobs all in the name of new found efficiencies and new found shareholder profits and CEO and management bonuses, ...

A rail company now transporting millions and millions of barrels of oil are now looking to shed more staff , layoff more workers for the sake of efficiencies..And guess where these jobs are being eliminated...There are but a mere handful of jobs that apparently CN Rail just can`t afford, redundant jobs, employees who are no longer needed, their jobs will be now done at a central location by automation and cameras..

And what jobs might they be?

They are employees who monitor the raising and lowering of three rail bridges in the lower mainland..

New Westminster..Lulu Island and the Second Narrows bridge, ...these employees are being replaced with automation and cameras..

_________



"NORTH VANCOUVER -- The District of North Vancouver and Port Metro Vancouver are expressing concern over CN's plan to cut staff who monitor and operate the Second Narrows rail lift bridge.

CN confirmed Tuesday that it will phase out the system of having observer-operators posted at three movable span bridges in the Lower Mainland including the Second Narrows rail crossing, New Westminster and Lulu Island bridges.

Instead, all three bridges will be monitored by camera, and raised and lowered as needed from a central location.

"The centralized system will streamline our operations while continuing to follow the marine navigation rules and maintain safety," said Warren Chandler, CN spokesman. "We will still have the ability to place a bridge tender at any of the bridges should we feel it necessary, but the idea is to have the automation up and running by the end of this year."

Chandler said additional cameras have been installed at all bridges, which will give the centralized bridge operator a full view.

The change shouldn't present any more risk to marine or rail traffic, Chandler added."

____________

The Lac Megantic rail disaster, the vaporized bodies haven`t all been recovered yet, the wound is still fresh and raw, the public doesn`t want increased oil tanker traffic in burrard inlet, the public is still in shock over revelations that the offending train that destroyed a Canadian town had but one employee..

And here in British Columbia the corporate buzzards at CN rail are dumping a handful of employees who have done exceptional work raising and lowering our low train bridges...And CN wants to put responsibility for this in the hands of automated cameras..
And industry keeps telling us about the looming worker shortage, automated trains, automated bridges, employees, what employees..

Priceless


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open