As Bugs Bunny might have said ‘what a bunch of ultra maroons’. My main question is: can no one, in this founding province of Canada, read French?
Those rarified consumers of my blog, which if you are reading this, means you; will perhaps have noticed I have attempted a transformation to back seat driver in the debate, whose debut was our major discovery of natural gas in Quebec.
The back seat has been more comfortable than the pointy end of @sebrioux and company’s stick or could I say schtick. We should all be greatly relieved that many Quebecers, including the current government, are rediscovering the spirit of the coureur des bois and the pride of being the best in the world at resource development.
Thus I should likely leave it to others to say what they think of the supercilious decision to impose a moratorium on fracking in Nova Scotia. However, for no better reason except I have missed the good fun, let me jab that pointy stick at the decision of the Government of Nova Scotia.
This decision was oriented by a report from the Council of Canadian Academics . They somewhat disingenuously suggested the result of giving them taxpayer money for academic study was to recommend there is a need for more taxpayer money for academic study.
To be fair I have often said just because industry is biased does not mean we are wrong and it follows just because the council has an inherent conflict does not mean they are wrong either.
Interestingly in their call for more study, the Council exclaimed the travesty that of all the Canadian provinces including Nova Scotia, only Quebec had undertaken the type of study they felt funding for academic study was lacking.
They of course refer to the Strategic Environmental Assessment. This is the only Canadian comprehensive environmental study on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing of natural gas reservoirs. A study that said in essence the exact same thing all such studies have said – when its done safely its safe.
So why not translate this significant undertaking of the Quebec government in to English? If even the Quebec environmental study shows hydraulic fracturing is safe why not get on with the job of creating jobs in Nova Scotia. There are daily flights from Nova Scotia to Alberta for oil and gas workers. Why shouldn’t they apply their training and skills at home in Nova Scotia where they can have supper, after a good days work, with their spouses and children?
Moratoriums on progress are a medieval concept. Why should Nova Scotia hold itself back? Perhaps Bugs Bunny has the answer.