Thursday, July 26, 2007

Reasonable Reaction?


I am by no means making light of the recent accident that resulted in a neighbourhood in Burnaby being coated in crude oil. It was an awful accident that will undoubtedly have horrible consequences for some time to come.
That said, when I read this from John Baird:
"I'm a big believer in polluter pays," he said. "There will be an investigation into how this happened ... and how we can stop this from happening in the future."
Call me crazy, but isn't the phrase more aptly applied to intentional polluters, like ummm, say the Oil Sands?
I'm not suggesting that whoever is found to be responsible for this accident shouldn't be held to account. I'm sure they will be. Baird just makes me laugh out loud with his over the top style, finding every opportunity for a photo op, while missing the big picture.
For the record, the videographer that captured the pipe burst, was on the news this morning and said he spoke to the work crew. Apparently they were going by blue prints that showed the pipe 3 metres away from where it actually was.

27 comments:

Jay said...

What a bloody mess they have. I can offer an expert opinion, those people will have to be relocated. I've cleaned up hydrocarbons before. They persist a long time and are a health hazard for years. Most of those "brown fields" you find in city's were previous gas stations contaminated with PAH's and they get fenced off for decades.

Karen said...

It is awful Jay. I'm kind of surprised that many residents were allowed back in, even though their homes were affected, even marginally.

Gayle said...

Is the biggest issue here really that of who will pay for cleaning this up?

I wish I could say I was shocked when I heard Baird on the news last night, but sadly I was not.

Yes - major environmental damage being done and Baird's biggest concern is who will pay to clean it up.

Anonymous said...

Hi from hot Florida
i know that this is not the subject but this is what i
found in the National Post! today!

A former Liberal riding association treasurer has been arrested for stealing more than $13,000, and a senior federal party official is accused of attempting to cover up the alleged crime.

David Pretlove, the interim financial director of the Liberal Party of Canada's Ontario wing, offered to reimburse the Elgin-Middlesex-London Riding Association [EMLFLA ] with party funds if it took no further action against the alleged fraudster, Suzan Pawlak.

Everyone is anyone really surprised of this news i'm not c'mon let's
those hands all those who are surprised.

This is why i always bring up the adscam,because it seems to me that the Liberal Party needs to clean it's
self up. This is the party you want in power?
Where is Dion in all of this hey? Taking a vacation !! Now of course
no one yet has been found guilty by a court of law and everyone in question is presumed innocent!

Now i'm posting this comment because if it was
the Conservative involved
in it instead of the Liberal Party of Canada we would have seen this on every single Lib Blogs
in this country you know it and i know it. Anyone care to comment please? Thank you !!!

John

Anonymous said...

Try this National Post!

John

Anonymous said...

Sorry trying to get the link go Liberal!

John

Gayle said...

Sorry knb for replying to this off topic post, but I just cannot help myself.

John - your posts would not sound so silly if they contained actual facts. When someone steals from the liberal party, it is NOT the same thing as Adscam. The liberals are the victims here. When the employer of the accused person wants to resolve the matter through assisting her in repaying the missing sums, rather than pressing charges, that is NOT a cover-up. It may have been "ill-advised", but it is not illegal. In fact, it happens all the time.

I suggest you visit Dark Blue Tory's site where this has been discussed in detail, and has now been forgotten.

I also suggest you take the time to educate yourself before you post such nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Gayle you wouldn't get the point if you sat on it ok !!

You said "I also suggest you take the time to educate yourself before you post such nonsense."
Don't try to get smart with me GAYLE all right because it will get you nowhere. Just typical Libs you confront them and they attack you. It's o.k. Gayle i see that you
are not capable of having
a civil conversation because of your low I.Q. i understand !Thank you anyways !!!

John

Karen said...

I wish I could say I was shocked when I heard Baird on the news last night, but sadly I was not.

Gayle, that's the thing isn't it? He's so predictable. He's never really talking about the environment, he simply blurts out idiotic sound bites.

Karen said...

No problem re'the o/t Gayle.

John, the story has been around for quite a while. That she's now been charged is new and I for one am glad to see that the Party handled it appropriately.

I agree with Gayle. There is no resemblance to AdScam what so ever. Attempting to link the two is ridiculous. If you're trying to make the point that all Liberals steal, well, that's even more ridiculous.

An employee was stealing from her employer. You don't honestly believe that that has never happened in the history of the Conservative Party do you?

As to cleaning the party up. I have to say calling in the police would be exactly that.

Anonymous said...

There is a large spill of 200,000 litres of crude oil into an environmentally sensitive area. The Federal Environment Minister responds by flying to that area to assess the damage. His department is responsible for making sure the mishap is cleaned up. According to the Vancouver Sun:

Baird said the "polluter-pay" principle will determine who ultimately pays for the costs of the cleanup.

"First we want to offer support, then we can dicker over who gets the bill," he said.


The Left jumps all over him because....

Well, because they don't like him. No other good reason. Had he not gone, what would have been your response? Had he said "Fuck it. Nothing to see here" and left what would have been your response? The same no doubt.

Why not just write a post called "Why I hate Baird today" and be done with it.

Your dearest, Nonnie.

Karen said...

Nonnie, I would hardly describe my post as, "jumping all over him".

The article you quote, is from today. I guess his communications people had a little "chat" with him.

That's not the issue however. The point is, he's all about the face time and is not a credible Environment Minister.

He, like Harper, sadly, does not take the problems that face us seriously, period.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous i agree with
you about the Federal Environment Minister (Baird). The reason the left doesn't like him is because he is with the Conservative Party if he should suddenly switch party tomorrow and go with the Liberal Party of Canada he would then be held as a hero!! Anonymous if i may suggest something to you
if you don't mind next time please sign your post so that we know who we are talking to i always do.

KNB to answer you about the Liberals i never said or suggest that all Liberals steal
that would be ridiculous
for my part.

About the comparison
with adscam and what has happened in the Ont. riding of course it's not on the same level one is huge (adscam) they other is on a much more smaller scale. But here is the resemblance it's called corruption no i'm not saying the entire Liberal
Party of Canada is on it.

This story may have been in the news for a while maybe so but like i
said before i'm not in Montreal right now i'm
in Florida (Miami) so i
don't have access to the internet on a daily basis
that's why i post the comment today. Next week
will be different i will then be home and have the internet on a daily basis. Thank You !!

John

Anonymous said...

Oh, please give it a rest. Money was stolen "FROM the Liberals". The "Liberals" CALLED THE POLICE - in otherwords, the Liberals DID the right thing.

Re: Baird - posturing as usual, because someone will pay via their insurance company AS ALWAYS.

Hmmmm....how's that legal problem going for Jose Vernier? How is the court issue going for Harper for the sleazy nomination process (Rob Anders, etc.)?

Anyway, it's sad for the victims of the spill and I hope it gets remedied very soon - and when they figure who's error it was - the claim will go in and the responsible party will pay via their insurance company so Baird can stop his blustering.

Jay said...

I know if John Baird left the Conservatives he would HAVE TO sit as an independent. No party would pick up that trash.

Hows Florida grandpa?

Managed to find the magnifying tool or text to speech I see.

Anonymous said...

The article you quote, is from today. I guess his communications people had a little "chat" with him.

No, actually all the quotes are from Mr. Baird yesterday when he was touring the site. You could have found any of them before you made your post. Here's another one if you like:

"We're not going to make a decision on who's guilty," [Baird] said. "Our first priority is human health, and that people are safe."

So back to an answer to your original post heading, "Reasonable Reaction". Of course it's reasonable. Your reaction to it is not reasonable, however.

All the best, Nonnie

Anonymous said...

Jay did you know that your an IDIOT of course not idiots don't know that there idiots. It takes a lot of intellectual capacity to know this.I'm sorry to say Jay but you don't have any.

Jay you illiterate spineless coward next time please have the
courage to mention my name huh you would sound
less of an idiot this way!!

KNB what is wrong with these people this evening?They have to insult you because they can't have a civil conversation between adults!

KNB your not going to tell me that he (Jay) was not talking about me right? Comment please thank you !

John

Anonymous said...

KNB It's post 5:01 p.m.

John

Karen said...

John, Jay is entitled to reply to comments here as he wishes, just as you are.

Don't you kind of think calling someone an idiot is an insult?

He's not by the way, he's quite a clever man.

Jay, by way of clarification, john is 40.

Karen said...

Nonnie, my apologies then. The Sun article was dated today and quoted "today Minister Baird..."

The other articles, I saw last night.

It doesn't change my opinion about Baird and believe me, if he was with any other party, I'd say the same thing. I'm in Ontario and had him as a provincial rep too.

If you're happy with him representing the Environment...good on you. Most people in this country are not.

Anonymous said...

KNB if someone insults you would you not return the insult? Or you would
just take it? Sorry i'm
not like. If someone insults me i will return
the insult KNB you may think diffrently that's fine,but i'm nobody's fool.

John

Anonymous said...

like that sorry typo.

John

Karen said...

To be honest John, it's not a matter of taking it or not. It's a matter of how valid the assertion is.

Nonnie was a tad condescending, but fair enough, if I got it wrong, I got it wrong. She didn't insult me, but even if she had, I tend to look at the substance of the charge.

People can accuse me of being any number of things, but if they are untrue, they don't affect me. They tell me what that person is thinking and where they are coming from. No more, no less.

Life is too short to fight with everyone who disagrees with you.

Anonymous said...

KNB your right! We disagree on politics God knows how much!! But i've never insulted you did i? You never have insulted me.Many times i finish my post by saying lets agree to disagree,and the conversation ends there no harm no fuss. I knew
this when i first started
to post my comments on your blog that over 95% of the people who post comments on your blog i would disagree it's a Liberal Blog. I could go to the right wing blogs but that would be boring for me because i would agree to about 95% of the posts.So you see we can disagree without being insulting.

John

Jay said...

I figured he wasn't an old grump but the attitude kind of lends to that impression. I usually don't expect such incoherent ranting coming from someone young.

Jay said...

John,
I was a little harsh, I apologize. I don't agree with your assertion that Liberals are all crooks based on two events separated by 12 years with one dealing with party funds and the other taxpayers money. Both of which were dealt with by the party.

This type of simple comparisons can be made with any party and look as bad. Take Brian Mulroney and his requirement to pay nearly half a million dollars and then we have Stephen Harper who won't say who funded him. Then add in Bev Oda who had been doling money out to conservative ridings first and the money, all that excess money given to Quebec for Canada Day and we can create a very negative image of the CPC as well. One of cover-ups, deceit and patronage.

This doesn't add to the discussion at hand nor any discussions about where we are going as a country.

As well, I attributed one of the other anons's comments to you when I was typing up a reply.

Sorry for that.

Anonymous said...

Hi:

Jay about your post
of 9:53 a.m. apology accepted ! I would like to comment on your post.This is what you said:"I don't agree with your assertion that Liberals are all crooks based on two events separated by 12 years with one dealing with party funds and the other taxpayers money." First i would like to make things very clear i have never said the that Liberals are all crooks if i did I'm sorry.True that one was dealing with party funds the other was with taxpayers. That is because the Liberals are not in power right now so they don't have access to the taxpayers money,the point is that if people in your party that would do this with party funds why would it be different with taxpayers money ? They have a recent history of it, you
still Paul Martin back then who was finance minister and his defense was hear nothing see nothing and this is someone who controlled the taxpayers wallet this is why i keep coming back to the adscam.

You also mention this:
"This type of simple comparisons can be made with any party and look as bad. Take Brian Mulroney and his requirement to pay nearly half a million dollars and then we have Stephen Harper who won't say who funded him." O.K lets take a look at Brian Mulroney he is out of politics for so many years now the last time i
checked!! Now for Stephen Harper who wont
say who funded him. There is nothing illegal about it because if there was
don't you think Dion (LPC) Layton (NDP) Duceppe (BLOC) and yes also May (GREEN PARTY of Canada) they would all ask him to step down as P.M. and demand a RCMP investigation into the matter hey ?

You also said this:
"Then add in Bev Oda who had been doling money out to conservative ridings first and the money, all that excess money given to Quebec for Canada Day and we can create a very negative image of the CPC as well. One of cover-ups, deceit and patronage." If you find what Bev Oda is or may have done then why aren't the the other parties calling for a RCMP investigation? Is it possible that there is nothing illegal about it?

Now about the excess money given to Quebec for Canada Day festivities the LPC did the same thing under the leadership of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.
Thank you comment!

John