Economics

Protests in Britain target Canada's oilsands
Updated Sat. Sep. 5 2009
Ian Munroe, CTV.ca News

A handful of First Nations activists returned home last week after grabbing national headlines in England for protesting Alberta's oilsands developments.

They had travelled to a London suburb as part of a week-long gathering of several thousand environmental campaigners, dubbed the Climate Camp.

Among other concerns, the First Nations group hoped to pressure British Petroleum to halt plans for an oilsands extraction project in northern Alberta.

Tar czar: Ignatieff panders to Alberta's Big Oil
By Derrick O'Keefe
September 9, 2009

Near the end of Michael Ignatieff’s True Patriot Love -- an exploration of the men in his mother’s family rushed to publication in an effort to assert his Canadian bona fides -- we are treated to a play-by-play of the road trip he and his wife took in 2000, retracing the pioneering sea-to-sea journey of his great-grandfather.

Tar sands: Downplaying a mistake
By Emily Hunter
| September 8, 2009

Today I hit Calgary in my journey to the tar sands, the oil headquarters of Alberta. All the oil giants rest in this part of Albertan land -- Esso, Shell, Petro Canada -- who all have their hands in the tar sands. Here I spoke with the united face of the oil companies, CAPP (the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers). I tried to confront them in oil pains to the planet. But there answer was more of the same, that the tar sands is more or less 'sustainable.' But is this true?

Coalition files lawsuit over Enbridge Alberta Clipper pipeline
September 8, 2009
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Fort McMurray Today staff

True to their word, an environmental coalition has filed suit in California challenging the recent U.S. presidential permit granted to a controversial pipeline running from Alberta across the Canada-U.S. border to Wisconsin.

A greener Washington? Not in the pipeline
Aug 29, 2009

Southern Ontario's smog days will be even dirtier thanks to a decision by the U.S. State Department on behalf of President Barack Obama.

It has granted a presidential permit for construction of the U.S. portion of an Enbridge Inc. pipeline to carry oil – initially, 450,000 barrels a day and eventually, 800,000 barrels – from Alberta's tar sands to refineries in the U.S. Midwest, as near us as Detroit.

BP’s “Bloody Petroleum” targeted in protest by indigenous activists and Climate Camp
Yesterday at 22:01
***Post far and wide***

31st August 2009
For immediate release

BP’s “Bloody Petroleum” targeted in protest by indigenous activists and Climate Camp

Photo and filming opportunities on Tuesday September 1, 2009 from 11am (London, UK time) at the North East corner of Trafalgar Square, press conference 12.30pm (London, UK time) outside BP Headquarters, 1 St James’ Square. Photos of the day will also be available for publication by request.

City-B.C. oil pipeline sighted

Enbridge could apply for approval this year, bank says
Edmonton Journal
August 28, 2009

And Scotiabank commodities specialist Patricia Mohr said developing new export markets in Asia is vital if Canada is to fully exploit the economic advantage of owning the world's second-largest oil reserves.

"The Alberta oilsands represent a key 'strong suit' for the Canadian economy; the development of lucrative export outlets and transportation infrastructure for this resource is key to Canada's growth prospects," Mohr said in the report.

Return to Tarmageddon
An Italian company's plan to develop tar sands in the Congo has activists worried
by Ben Powless

The Dominion
August 28, 2009

IGLESIAS, ITALY—You’ve likely heard about the tar sands in northern Alberta. You’re probably familiar with the devastation—environmental and social—this megaproject has brought to the land. Maybe you even have a relative who lives or works there.

Climate Camp: Wat Tyler would have felt at home among the 'fluffys' in Blackheath
The green activists might be posh, says Ed West, but even the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt were "middle-class" by today's standards
By Ed West
29 Aug 2009

History records that in the year 2009, the peasants of England rose up in protest, marching on Blackheath to demand change in the kingdom. They came from up and down the land – from Crouch End and Hampstead, from Chiswick, Richmond and Notting Hill, and some even from Gstaad and Verbier.

From margin to mainstream
Once seen as outsiders, green protest groups now have a big influence on government policy
Jonathan Leake
The Sunday Times
August 30, 2009

For Ed Miliband it was a moment of acute embarrassment. What he needed, the environment secretary had told a recent press conference, was a “mass mobilisation”, with green activists taking to the streets to put pressure on the government. This, he said, would give ministers the political space they needed to get tough on climate change.