Related to “We the People, NOT, We the Corporations”
Local easy-to-do.
CONTENTS
(1) YOU KNOW SOMEONE IN MANITOBA?
(2) LETTER TO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, MANITOBA
(3) NEWS RELEASE, MANITOBA AND SASKATCHEWAN JOINT CABINET MEETING, FEB 2 IN YORKTON
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(1) YOU KNOW SOMEONE IN MANITOBA?
This follows the email sent Jan 24, “A Gift for global citizens: U.S. Supreme Court gives corporations free spending on political campaigns”.
On February 2nd there is a joint cabinet meeting between Saskatchewan and Manitoba. People in Manitoba might want to ensure that their elected officials have the background set out in the email I sent to Jay Branch (see item #2), in preparation for the meeting.
A list of Manitoba MLA’s with contact information is at: http://www.gov.mb.ca/hansard/members/alphabetical.html
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(2) LETTER TO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, MANITOBA
SENT: Fri 22/01/2010 3:40 PM
TO: Jay Branch
Executive Council
Manitoba
Dear Jay,
RE: SASKATCHEWAN AND MANITOBA TO HOLD JOINT CABINET MEETING IN YORKTON on February 2nd.
Please distribute this to members of the Manitoba Cabinet.
Background information may be useful, prior to your meeting with the Saskatchewan Cabinet. I urge you to be critical in your assessment of Brad Wall’s promotions.
Wall is a “co-spearhead” of the “largest on the planet” “Canada-U.S. Western Energy Corridor”. (Link no longer valid) (excerpt below).
The Americans are fast running out of water which also means hydro-electricity (report of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California at SanDiego, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23130256/ excerpt below).
There is a 50/50 chance that the hydro-electric power generation at the Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams will cease as of 2017 because of falling water levels, and that the reservoirs (Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest in the U.S.) will be dry by 2021.
The remedy IS NOT to export the water problem into Canada. It is not possible for us to meet the American need for water, no matter how much money a few people might make from the attempt. They are creating disaster for us all, instead of addressing the actual problem; it’s called Denial.
We are talking about electricity and water for 22 million Americans. It includes Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, etc.. It includes the irrigated fruits and vegetables that are sent from the area not only into the rest of the U.S. but into Canada. We are talking about the use of electricity to run irrigation pumps versus the need for city-dwellers for air conditioning during hot summer months. We are talking about if there is no water there is no civilization in these areas.
The public consultation process that took place in Saskatchewan this past summer shows clearly that the Wall Government does not have public support for its energy development project. Premier Brad Wall’s “largest on the planet” “Canada – U.S. Western Energy corridor” does not serve the interests of people on the prairies.
There are corporate interests that are running the show. They want nuclear electricity sources (privately-owned) in Saskatchewan and in Alberta for tar sands expansion AND for electricity-export into the lucrative market in the western U.S.
Saskatchewanians have told the Wall Govt that our electricity needs can be met by a number of means. We do not want to be used by these corporate interests; we do not want the very expensive electricity that nuclear is. We do not want to be investing in the obsolete. Nobody does.
The status quo will destroy us. It is based on energy sources that are fast depleting. Investment in Brad Wall’s American plan will mean huge debt and all the investment is in the wrong place. We MUST transition to other forms of energy production and conservation. When the resource an economy is built upon (oil and gas, water) is all gone, the economy falls fast and hard.
We live on the prairie. We are very dependent upon the Saskatchewan Rivers that feed into Lake Manitoba. The glaciers that provide the summer-time feed of water are past “peak flow”; they are on the downhill side of volume of water released (reference the Canadian National Water Research Institute (NWRI) report by Pietroniro in about 2003).
The South Saskatchewan River at Saskatoon carries less than 20% of the volume of water it carried in 1912. There is a clearly-established trend-line that ends at “zero”, the same experience as the Colorado River faces more imminently.
The American (Wall’s) energy plans (nuclear) cannot be met in the U.S. because they don’t have enough water. The American corporate interests do not care about the impact of more water demands on the prairie water supply.
(INSERT: Development of the Saskatchewan tar sands is part of Wall’s agenda (“non-renewable energy sources”). Maybe I should have mentioned that northern Saskatchewan is already dying from the acid rain created by just the current tar sands production in Alberta. Manitobans should take into consideration the impact on their province and water resources as Saskatchewan joins the Alberta corporate “development” plan. The desecration will sterilize the northern parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan AND Manitoba. Wind and water are oblivious to political boundaries. The effects of acid rain are well-known.)
This is the context in which Brad Wall’s promotions need to be assessed.
I hope this will be helpful to some.
Sincerely and best wishes,
Sandra Finley (contact info)
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(Link no longer valid http://www.vancouversun.com/Business/Premiers+governors+promote+Canada+energy+corridor/1695862/story.html)
Premiers, governors, promote Canada-U.S. energy corridor
By Jason Fekete, Canwest News Service June 14, 2009
PARK CITY, Utah — Western premiers and U.S. governors on Sunday hailed their push to develop a cross-border Western Energy Corridor that will be the largest on the planet and one that develops both non-renewable (INSERT: tar sands) and clean-energy (INSERT: nuclear) options.
Spearheaded by Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, the initiative could open new markets to the three Prairie provinces, which are all major energy producers in both renewables and fossil fuels.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23130256/
Dry Lake Mead? 50-50 chance by 2021 seen
Study cites warming, water use and growing Colorado River deficit
| This view of Lake Mead was taken last July 26, during the seventh straight year of drought that had caused the lake to drop more than 100 feet to its lowest level since the late 1960s. | |
| Ethan Miller / Getty Images file |
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 12:57 p.m. CT, Tues., Feb. 12, 2008
What are the chances that Lake Mead, a key source of water for more than 22 million people in the Southwest, would ever go dry? A new study says it’s 50 percent by 2021 if warming continues and water use is not curtailed.
“We were stunned at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us,” co-author Tim Barnett of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said in a statement. “Make no mistake, this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest.”
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(3) SASKATCHEWAN AND MANITOBA TO HOLD JOINT CABINET MEETING IN YORKTON
http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=8ebd4c80-8ff6-451c-865c-ceda00946d3a
News Release – January 22, 2010
The City of Yorkton will play host to the first-ever joint cabinet meeting between the governments of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Premiers Brad Wall and Greg Selinger, along with members of their respective cabinets, will meet on February 2.
“Working more closely with our neighbours and expanding regional co-operation in the west has been among my government’s top intergovernmental priorities,” Wall said. “I’m pleased that Premier Selinger and his team share our interest in discussing practical ways Saskatchewan and Manitoba can collaborate to benefit the people of our two great provinces.”
“Manitoba will be assuming responsibility as Chair of the provincial Premiers’ Council of the Federation from Saskatchewan later this year,” Selinger added. “Our meeting in Yorkton will also give us a good opportunity to discuss ways to co-operate in addressing important national priorities.”
Topics for discussion will include highways and transportation; energy and the environment; and Canada-US relations.
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For more information, contact:
Kathy Young
Executive Council
Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-526-8927
Jay Branch
Executive Council
Manitoba
Phone: 204-945-1494
Email: Jay.Branch AT leg.gov.mb.ca