... a cover up.

A couple years ago I read a detailed numerical account of Canada's conventional oil reserves. At the rate they were being consumed they would be gone by mid-year 2003. Well, here we are, and suddenly the oil industry has decided to include oil sands in their official reserves. Why? Because their cheap pumpable oil is gone, or perhaps, the so-called Hubbert Peak is now apparent. To protect their forecasts and present a rosy picture for investors, they now proclaim that oil sands are economically viable!

I personally think it is bullshit because of the destructive manner in which oil sand and shale is extracted: hundreds of millions of tonnes of earth is strip-mined (which is bad enough), and then mixed with HOT water (consider the energy used in this process), and the tailings consist of brine, acid salts, and other toxic mixtures, that oil companies have attempted to inject into underground fresh-water aquifers to hide. We have to ride these companies constantly just to keep them from dumping arsenic into the municipal water supplies.

These are the most ruthless, most capitalist, and most dishonest industries created by mankind, and they are heavily influenced by American ideals. As a Canadian, I read this line:

"Whatever the immediate investment climate, the United States has strong long-term interests in the Alberta oil sands. According to the Bush administration’s National Energy Policy, “their continued development can be a pillar of sustained North American energy and economic security.”

If the Canadian gov't were too heavy handed with the environmental regulations (which in this case I don't think that is really possible), and it created a trade barrier with the USA, the US gov't propaganda machine would probably make up some bullshit story that the Canadian people are being economically oppressed or something.

It is already clear that the US gov't is causing a great deal of long-term economic problems in Canada, actually creating barriers to trade:

-- 30 percent tariffs on softwood lumber (what happened to the free trade agreement?).

-- war abroad, which has devasted tourism, a major Canadian revenue source; also caused long line-ups at the border, delaying shipments of goods.

-- travel alert in response to SARS outbreak, which is bullshit, but which will damage the tourism industry further, and other business travel.

We Canadians may be cynical about our country, but it is more of a love-hate relationship. We don't really want to join the US. We don't want to be your 51st state. And if you can't compete in business with us, that's too bad! That's business.

Canadian dollar has gained nearly 5 cents against the US dollar in the last several months, and keeps rising.