Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by timun

I absolutely despise this line of thinking. The enmity I have for this thinking cannot be put into words.

#### the oil & gas industry. #### 'em for ever convincing people that they're soooooooooo "important to the economy" that they can get away with whatever the hell they want. They get billions in tax breaks, they pollute our environment almost entirely without consequence: it's completely and totally ####ed.

Let's be realistic? Reality is the O&G industry SHOULD clean up its mess, and our governments should not be giving them a pass like they have for the last 110 years, but REALISTICALLY they have the money to buy the political clout to get away with murder, and the "renewable" energy industry doesn't.

Oil and Gas is so important. For better or worse it is central to the normal functioning of our society. You can debate whether or not normal is good though.

You're point is right though, there is always accountability, and people are not victims for being held accountable.

I see Oil and Gas a lot like I see teachers. Strong public education is fundamental to our modern economy. Teachers are some of the most important people when it comes to up holding our standard of living. They deserve to be paid well, and the deserve respect. No less, they have a huge responsibility and should be held accountable for how they go about business.

Folks holding Oil and Gas to the highest standard and trying to maximize public safety and well being is not an attack. It is the right standard of operation. Suggesting otherwise makes you sound like a whiny little victim pretending you got hurt in a beer league game because someone blew past you no problem.

[Yoho]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1687480641557057537

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Yoho

https://twitter.com/user/status/1687480641557057537

Here’s the thing Yoho, the question shouldn’t be “do you want a doctor to call the shots?”, it should be “do you want the government to be allowed to not follow our laws?”.

[Cain]

"We've been lucky so far, and obviously that will continue"


Sounds like a good policy.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Here’s the thing Yoho, the question shouldn’t be “do you want a doctor to call the shots?”, it should be “do you want the government to be allowed to not follow our laws?”.

And also, remember when our hospitals were full so we had a bunch of ambulances carting very very sick people up and down the QE2, and a bunch of hospitals had tents thrown up in the back lot?

We were pretty close to an unmitigated disaster.

[Fuzz]

LOL, a David Staples opinion piece. May as well ask a steamed trout about quantum mechanics.

[Roughneck]

When the bathrooms are at capacity, David Staples knows what to do. We need that kind of thinking when it comes to public health policy.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

And also, remember when our hospitals were full so we had a bunch of ambulances carting very very sick people up and down the QE2, and a bunch of hospitals had tents thrown up in the back lot?

We were pretty close to an unmitigated disaster.

I don’t disagree with you but my post was more of a comment on Yoho implying (perhaps unintentionally) that we shouldn’t expect our elected officials to obey the law.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

LOL, a David Staples opinion piece. May as well ask a steamed trout about quantum mechanics.

What? No. This is totally unfair to the trout who, if asked about quantum mechanics, won't be very helpful, but at least won't waste your time with utter nonsense.

[PepsiFree]

You can also eat the trout so it at least has some value.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by GGG

When CPP is considered a funded pension plan are they saying that the contributions made by people in the program today are sufficient to pay those people out or does it rely on future people to continue paying on and the population to grow by enough?

It's funded based on the demographic assumptions. If they assumed flat population we'd have to pay even more to dig out of the hole from the early Boomers/Greatest generation.

That's a big reason why the government is pushing immigration so hard - our ability to pay for unfunded previous promises depends on it.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Cappy

The use of farmland is a big concern to some people but it’s such a weird complaint to me. Outside of the usual double speak of “free market, I’m allowed to do what I want on my land” the largest proposed solar farm is 3,300 acres. About 5 sections of land. That’s big, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not that big

Solar enough to power 100% of Alberta’s power need would take up something less than 1% of Alberta’s farmland.

But these plants aren’t just being built on farmland.

The solar installations along 52nd/Barlow/114th are pretty big for in city installations, being built on land that’s not much good for anything else. They aren’t as big as some of the rural ones, but are perfect land usage in the city on land that isn’t being used otherwise.

I just have no idea what concerns there are.

[Roughneck]

The concerns are that by encouraging renewables, people in or amongst the O&G industry may see it as people being 'out to get them' so such activity needs to be discouraged to curry favour among their base of support.

[#-3]

Additionally if we were really worried about land use we would be banning organic label food. Without the price premium we'd see fewer farms going towards wasteful practices.

[Doctorfever]

Organic is wasteful?

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Solar enough to power 100% of Alberta’s power need would take up something less than 1% of Alberta’s farmland.

But these plants aren’t just being built on farmland.

The solar installations along 52nd/Barlow/114th are pretty big for in city installations, being built on land that’s not much good for anything else. They aren’t as big as some of the rural ones, but are perfect land usage in the city on land that isn’t being used otherwise.

I just have no idea what concerns there are.

The concern is that renewables is not keeping with what Alberta is about. Alberta is oil, love it or leave it. Alberta does not need other industries competing with oil.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Organic is wasteful?

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/20...r-environment/

“Organic farming has many advantages but it doesn’t solve all the environmental problems associated with producing food. There is a huge downside because of the extra land that is being used to grow organic crops,” said Stefan Wirsenius, an associate professor at Chalmers. “If we use more land for food, we have less land for carbon sequestration. The total greenhouse gas impact from organic farming is higher than conventional farming.”

[Roughneck]

I've never really liked or understood the idea of "conventional" farming as a descriptor. Organic farming is conventional. What is described as conventional farming is modern farming. The adoption of mechanization and new technologies whether it be equipment, seed and crops, practices, pesticides, fertilizer, and distribution, is to overcome the shortcomings of conventional farming to maximize yields. There's nothing conventional about it.



Go back a hundred years and tell a farmer you're reducing pesticide and fertilizer use by using a drone that is integrated into your GPS sprayer's variable rate control system, but you're the "conventional farmer" compared to the guy struggling to get 80% of the yield. It doesn't make any sense.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by troutman

https://news.climate.columbia.edu/20...r-environment/

Of course it uses more land to produce. But lots of people will only buy organic. Supply and demand.

[Brendone]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Of course it uses more land to produce. But lots of people will only buy organic. Supply and demand.

Every time I have to buy organic I feel ripped off. Coop was out of regular romaine hearts today, so I had to grab the over priced anemic pack of organic stuff. Screw that weak crap and pump it full of plant steroids.