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Tories storm out of meeting on sharing energy with U.S
canada,com ^ | May 11, 2007 | Kelly Patterson

Posted on 05/11/2007 6:31:26 AM PDT by hedgetrimmer

Amid heated charges of a coverup, Tory MPs on Thursday abruptly shut down parliamentary hearings on a controversial plan to further integrate Canada and the U.S.

The firestorm erupted within minutes of testimony by University of Alberta professor Gordon Laxer that Canadians will be left "to freeze in the dark" if the government forges ahead with plans to integrate energy supplies across North America.

He was testifying on behalf of the Alberta-based Parkland Institute about concerns about the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a 2005 accord by the U.S., Canada and Mexico to streamline economic and security rules across the continent. The deal, which calls North American "energy security" a priority, commits Canada to ensuring American energy supplies even though Canada itself - unlike most industrialized nations - has no national plan or reserves to protect its own supplies, he argued.

At that point, Tory MP Leon Benoit, chair of the Commons Standing Committee on International Trade which was holding the SPP hearings, ordered Laxer to halt his testimony, saying it was not relevant.

Opposition MPs called for, and won, a vote to overrule Benoit's ruling.

Benoit then threw down his pen, declaring, "This meeting is adjourned," and stormed out, followed by three of the panel's four Conservative members.

The remaining members voted to finish the meeting, with the Liberal vice-chair presiding.

Benoit's actions are virtually unprecedented, observers say; at press time, parliamentary procedure experts still hadn't figured out whether he had the right to adjourn the meeting unilaterally. Benoit did not respond to calls for comment.

It's "reckless and irresponsible" of the government not to discuss protecting Canada's energy supply, says Laxer.

Atlantic Canada and Quebec already have to import 90 per cent of their supply - 45 per cent of it from potentially unstable sources such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Algeria, Laxer said.

Meanwhile, Canada is exporting 63 per cent of its oil and 56 per cent of its gas production, mostly to the U.S., he says.

"It's shocking the extent to which the Conservative party will go to cover up information about the SPP," says NDP MP Peter Julian, who also sits on the committee.

Other MPs raised concerns about recently revealed plans under the SPP to raise Canadian limits on pesticide residues to match American rules.

Questions were also raised about whether the effort will open the door to bulk water exports.

Representatives from the departments of Industry and International Trade defended the SPP as an effort to protect Canadian jobs in a competitive global market, without sacrificing standards.

They denied charges SPP negotiations have been secretive, saying civil-society groups are welcome to offer their input, and referred MPs to the government website, which lays out in general terms the SPP initiatives.


TOPICS: Canada; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Mexico
KEYWORDS: cuespookymusic; energy; freetrade; naturalgas; nau; oil; sovereignty; spp
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To: Badeye
Plus, reds everywhere are such shameless hypocrites - it's like a de facto job description.

Our anti-American vermin, aside from habitually & ironically aping the 'evil U.S. / blame Bush' nonsense of their Stateside fellow travelers, routinely lose bowel control if a Yank politico anywhere to the right of Joe Lieberman so much as casts a stray glance northward.

But ... let the likes of Bill Clinton, Al Gore or Michael Moore deem to pay a visit and they'll literally stand in line for the opportunity to kiss both cheeks!

Incidentally, you are talking to someone who - for well over 2 years until she finally vacated Ottawa - employed the FR tagline:
paraphrasing Parrish: "damned Liberals, I hate those bastards!"
81 posted on 05/14/2007 11:29:37 AM PDT by GMMAC (Discover Canada governed by Conservatives: www.CanadianAlly.com)
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To: GMMAC

You have a small minority of rabid leftwingnuts, same as we do.

Key word, thankfully, is ‘small’.


82 posted on 05/14/2007 11:31:06 AM PDT by Badeye (You know its a kook site when they ban the word 'kook')
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To: Badeye
While we may have a few more per capita - imho, largely due to having been a 'net importer' of same from the U.S. in the late 60's & early 70's - Canada (and especially Ontario) is a lot like New York State in the sense that, once you get past the urban areas, you find lots of nice 'normal' type folks.
(dunno what part of Ohio you're from but, surely merely contrasting Buffalo with surrounding Erie & Niagara Counties largely proves my point, eh?)

Wish I had a buck for every time I've posted:
Neither citizenship nor geographic locale has much, if any, bearing on liberal denial and/or stupidity.
83 posted on 05/14/2007 12:15:36 PM PDT by GMMAC (Discover Canada governed by Conservatives: www.CanadianAlly.com)
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To: GMMAC

“dunno what part of Ohio you’re from but, surely merely contrasting Buffalo with surrounding Erie & Niagara Counties largely proves my point, eh?) “

Yes, it does, especially since we have family up around Buffalo.


84 posted on 05/14/2007 12:16:52 PM PDT by Badeye (You know its a kook site when they ban the word 'kook')
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To: Badeye

Some people seem to be able to think only in terms of bumper sticker slogans. That’s great it they manufacture bumper stickers, but otherwise, it is just really annoying.


85 posted on 05/14/2007 12:46:02 PM PDT by Constantine XIII
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To: ckilmer

Oh, some people have gone off the deep end alright, but it isn’t W.

LOL


86 posted on 05/14/2007 12:46:42 PM PDT by Constantine XIII
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To: Constantine XIII

Some people can’t grasp a concept that isn’t able to fit on a bumper sticker.

Thats the bigger worry too me.


87 posted on 05/14/2007 12:47:21 PM PDT by Badeye (You know its a kook site when they ban the word 'kook')
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To: Badeye
Just to be clear, I love & routinely visit the Falls/Lewiston area while avoiding 'the Queen City' like the plague.
Growing up right across from the Niagara Frontier and easily receiving all its local TV & radio stations, trust me I'm intimately familiar with the whole area and still, for example, catch Rush via WBEN am-930.

I've always assumed it's primarily the Military presence in the former which give it its distinct far more patriotic, 'salt of the earth' & stereotypically 'good American' flavor?

Incidentally, if especially as an immediate neighbor you'd like to be added to our mostly Canada ping list, merely FReepmail either Fanfan or me indicating as much.
88 posted on 05/14/2007 12:55:15 PM PDT by GMMAC (Discover Canada governed by Conservatives: www.CanadianAlly.com)
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To: kerryusama04
Whatchya trying to say there, buddy?
89 posted on 05/14/2007 12:55:34 PM PDT by Constantine XIII
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To: GMMAC

Will do.


90 posted on 05/14/2007 12:57:29 PM PDT by Badeye (You know its a kook site when they ban the word 'kook')
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To: Constantine XIII
nah, there's just a bunch of guys who are going to pee away their time on loser projects like bulk water transfers
91 posted on 05/14/2007 1:20:07 PM PDT by ckilmer
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To: thackney
Why don’t you post a link showing where it is being done commercially somewhere in the world since you claim it more economic. I recognize the molecular structure is capable of being altered to ethanol if you spend enough energy. Plastics and pharmaceuticals are not ethanol.

I don't waste my time on anti-science luddites. You know nothing of chemistry. Plastics and pharmaceuticals are more complicated to synthesize than ethanol. Ethanol from petroleum is not commercialy done because of competition from farming subsidies that artifically lower the cost of agriculturally produced ethanol. It's the corporate welfare to farmers that prevents oil companies from making ethanol. Take away the oil subsidies and you then have a petrochemical market for ethanol. Scientific AMerican had a very good laymans article on this subject. Bottom line is that it takes about as much energy to produce ethanol agriculturally than you get out of it.

92 posted on 05/15/2007 8:57:15 AM PDT by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what an Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: doc30
don't waste my time on anti-science luddites. You know nothing of chemistry.

LOL!!! You must be new to the energy threads.

Plastics and pharmaceuticals are more complicated to synthesize than ethanol.

Yes they are. That is also why they are more expensive. Ethanol is rather relatively easy to make through fermentation compared to polymers and pharmaceuticals.

Ethanol from petroleum is not commercialy done because of competition from farming subsidies

Ethanol from fermentation of grains and sugars has been produced in this country far longer than the current subsidies. And fermentation is used in the other parts of the world that do not have the US attempted social engineering.

It's the corporate welfare to farmers that prevents oil companies from making ethanol. Take away the oil subsidies and you then have a petrochemical market for ethanol.

Ethanol and Petroleum are global products. If your claim of economic production were true, we would see it elsewhere in the world.

Scientific AMerican had a very good laymans article on this subject.

I agree it is theoretically possible to produce. I disagree that it is more economical.

Bottom line is that it takes about as much energy to produce ethanol agriculturally than you get out of it.

That is completely off topic. And I suspect the producing ethanol from petroleum would have the same problem. Ethanol is a crappy fuel in many aspects. We should not be mandating its use or using the tax code to give it preference over better fuels.

93 posted on 05/15/2007 12:02:41 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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