Neil Young protests our oil sands

valve37
Community Member

Neil Young nneds to go live in an igloo for a spell and burn whale oil to keep warm. But then Greenpeace would be after him for that. Better switch to seal or warlus oil instead.

 

 

“It’s all marketing. It’s all big money. This oil is all going to China. It’s not for Canada. It’s not for the United States. It’s not ours – it belongs to the oil companies, and Canada’s government is behind making this happen. It’s truly a disaster.”

At a press conference held on the stage of Toronto’s Massey Hall this afternoon, the environmentally concerned singer-songwriter Neil Young spoke out strongly against the federal government’s role in the industrial development of Northern Alberta oil sands.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/neil-young-blasts-harper-government-for-allowing-oilsan...

 

 

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands

valve37
Community Member

Where's Art on this one? Perhaps in the Artic skating on the polar ice cap! LOL

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands

I would suggest if Neil was so concerned about this topic maybe he could move back to Canada and pay just a little income tax on his earnings and then he would actually be entitled to have a vote on the matter.

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Follow the money....

 

A left-wing lobby group in San Francisco wired $55,000 to the bank account of an Indian chief in Northern Alberta, paying him to oppose the oilsands.

And sure enough, that chief – Allan Adam, from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation – earned his money. Last weekend, he flew to Toronto to sit on a stage next to Neil Young, the folk singer who was in town to demonize Canada’s oil industry.

Now, $55,000 might sound like a lot of money to pay, just to rent a politician for a day if all the chief did for his money was to appear on stage in Toronto beside Neil Young. But to the Tides Foundation, it’s well worth it. Think of Adam as an actor, hired to play a part in an elaborate theatrical production.

Neil Young had his role: he’s the American celebrity who can draw crowds of fawning Baby Boomer journalists. But at the end of the day, he’s just another millionaire celebrity. When he talks about the oilsands, he quickly reveals himself as a low-information know-nothing.

Adam brings what Young can’t: authenticity. Young likes to wear an Indian-style leather vest, but Adam really is an Indian, and he really lives near the oilsands.

Adam didn’t do a lot of talking in Toronto. He was more of a prop than an actor. See, the Tides Foundation is from San Francisco. And Neil Young lives on a 1,500-acre estate near San Francisco. Without Adam, this would have just been some California millionaires coming up here to boss Canadians around. That’s why they had to hire Adam, to aboriginalize their attack on Canada. It was political sleight of hand, to distract from the fact that this was a foreign assault on Canadian jobs.

Tides could have hired an actual actor, like maybe Lorne Cardinal, who played the Aboriginal policeman in the comedy series Corner Gas. But they didn’t hire an actor. They hired an elected public official. That’s the problem.

Adam’s official title is “chief.” But it’s not a religious or cultural title. Under the Indian Act, that’s just the legal title given to the elected mayor of an Indian Band.

The Tides Foundation put $55,000 into the bank account of a mayor to get him to take a particular political position. Depending on what Tides was getting the Chief to do, the payment might well have been a bribe. But we won't know, because no one is talking about the $55,000 payment.

How is it acceptable that a foreign lobby group can simply deposit cash into a bank account of a Canadian politician? Who else is being paid cash to oppose the oilsands?

This fact almost escaped detection. It was buried in the Tides Foundation’s 138-page filing with the IRS, who only disclosed it to get a tax break. Even then, it was shrouded in secrecy.

The money was paid to a numbered company, 850450 Alberta Ltd. Only a search of Alberta’s corporate registry revealed that 850450 Alberta Ltd. was owned by another company, called Acden Group Ltd., that had changed its name twice in the past four years. Adam and other band politicians were directors and shareholders, in trust for the band.

The payment was well-hidden – and Adam certainly didn’t disclose it when he was on stage with Young.

The same IRS disclosure shows Tides made 25 different payments to Canadian anti-oilsands activists in a single year, totaling well over a million dollars. And that’s just one U.S. lobby group. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund out of New York, spends $7 million a year in Canada, with an explicit campaign strategy of fomenting Aboriginal unrest, through protests and lawsuits.

If a foreign oil company – say, ExxonMobil – was depositing secret payments in the bank accounts of MPs, it would be a scandal. Those MPs would face an RCMP investigation, Exxon would likely be charged with bribery, and the media on both sides of the border would have a field day.

Yet none of those things will likely happen with Adam.

Because the Tides Foundation knows that the Canadian media and even the police are cowards when it comes to Aboriginal politicians. They don’t dare hold them to account, for fear of being called racist. If you doubt this, look at the continued success of Theresa Spence, Attawapiskat’s chief.

Tides got its money’s worth.

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Should be interesting if Obama approves Keystone, protests all the way to the refineries in the sunny southland. He may be waffling leaving the decision to the next president.

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands

So, you're quoting Ezra Levant and The Sun that Faux-Nooze-North wannabe rag on a substantial issue ?

 

Recognizing that if the writer's relationship with the truth, on many issues, were flexible and variable, and that outright racist character assassinations may not remain outside the scope of his ideological toolkit, is a detailed point-by-point rebuttal of this attack even warranted?

 

A few observations of the obviously false and fraudulent logical contortions are offered:

 

The allegation that the ACFN is mounting a legal challenge to a deeply flawed decision to approve the Jackpine mine expansion despite the hazards and harms to the environment and First Nations people in the area by Shell Inc itself only because a foreign "left-wing" lobby group bribed the ACFN chief is pretty suspicious.


Doesn't it presume that the ACFN band, many of whose people are already afflicted with rare diseases lacks the initiative and integrity to defend its _own_ interests from threats against it ?

 

The allegation that Allan Adam has personally benefited from the $55000 payment by Tides Foundation as a deliberate act of corruption has not been proven. Coupled with a dismissive "he's not a chief, he's merely a mayor, because I say so" attitude reduces that irresponsible allegation to a racist slur, an act of character assassination.

 

Is it not more likely that the $55000 was in support of the legal defense fund, and that the funds were channeled through accounts not directly connected with regular ACFN band accounts to prevent comingling of funds ? Would not regular ACFN funds coming from the federal government to support regular band programs be specifically prohibited from use for legal actions against the federal government ?


In the absence of definitive proof that the $55000 was personally used by the chief for his own purposes, would not such an allegation be potentially actionable?

 

Is it not plausible that Neil Young decided, from his own long history of awareness of and activism against injustice and corruption, after having personally seen Mordor, and knowing about the Treaty Violations to have decided to do a fundraising concert tour even without the presence on-stage of some "token indian bribed to give him some authenticity"?

How many people who went to the concerts cared who was on stage with him ?

 

Is it not far more plausible, that the chief of the ACFN band who was launching the legal action for which the concerts were raising funds would be present simply because it would be the right thing to do?

 

Neil Young is gratuitously dismissed as "a low-information know-nothing" yet his knowledge of the issue exceeds and is far deeper than his critics and detractors who are so attached to their own insecure and predetermined and conflicted positions that they are unable to hear any alternative views.

 

He has raised funds as he intended, and raised awareness and active discussion about these issues more than anyone else.

 

How the discussion and actions continue will depend on others.

 

 

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

So, you're actually suggesting that a Canadian citizen who has been appointed to the Order of Canada should have no say in Canadian affairs? Smiley Frustrated

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Sounds like someone who ignores the importance of future pipelines and resource development in order to secure the long term prosperity of Canada. Without generating resource royalties we become another 3rd world country. QC and ON now the two largest have not provinces receive division of revenue in the billions. What happens if that drys up? What happens to our native population who receive 14 billion a year from the Federal and Provincial coffers?

 

Just another tree hugger who is programmed to bite the hand that feeds him.

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands

"...should have no say in Canadian affairs?'

 

How much was he paid and by whom to express that anti-oil opinion?

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

To be seen tonight on US television networks:

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/anti-keystone-pipeline-tv-ad-air-during-obama-state-union-spee...

 

Same old... same old.

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Once they stop the Keystone pipeline build they can then start on shutting down bitumen by rail.   

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands

By the way valve what do you think of your Minister of Veteran Affairs:

 

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2013/10/07/veterans-call-for-resignation-of-veterans-affairs-minister...

 

Do you support your guy?  Really?

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Excellent cop but this thread is about the oil sands. Create a new thread if you like.

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands

You seem to be laboring under the assumption that making money is the only motivation anyone could possibly have in this life. How sad. 

In that case, how much are you being paid, and by whom, to express your anti clean environment, and anti honoring the treaty opinion?

 

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Pierre, are those oil wells you own still pumping in this colder than normal weather we're faced with?

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands

"Without generating resource royalties we become another 3rd world country. "

 

Actually, revenue from the tar sands accounts for approx. 2% of Canadas GDP.  A tiny drop in the bucket.

 

If governments are making so much money from oil, why is Alberta running a deficit every year? Why are there potholes the size of smartcars everywhere in Edmonton? (Only a slight exaggeration! lol) Answer: 2/3 of the profit leaves the country, since 2/3 of the oil companies are foreign owned.

 

FYI, the tourism industry in BC employs a similar number of people as are employed in Albertas energy sector.

 

See here for numbers on the tourism industry in BC:
http://www.destinationbc.ca/getattachment/Research/Industry-Performance/Value-of-Tourism/Value-of-To...

And numbers from Albertas tar sands:
http://www.energy.alberta.ca/oilsands/791.asp

Now why should BC risk one of their main sources of income to allow pipelines carrying diluted bitumen? It's a huge risk for them, since dilbit can't be totally cleaned up. They gain almost nothing whatsoever, and risk an awful lot (on behalf of those investors - foreign and domestic - who obviously care nothing for the wildlife or environment here..)

 

"Unlike conventional crude, dilbit floats briefly in water but then sinks, causing a much more difficult cleanup particularly if dredging is considered too ecologically damaging."

 

4 years and around 800 million$ later, the Kalamazoo river still isn't fixed. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalamazoo_River_oil_spill

IMO, oil and energy sector jobs in Alberta are no more important than tourism jobs in BC. 
(Of course, Steve, Ezra Levant, and their corporate sponsors think otherwise)

 

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

"Without generating resource royalties we become another 3rd world country. "

 

Excellent response by Rickster.

 

You can also point to many seemingly impossible economic scenarios that worked out just fine. For example, the rebuilding of Japan after WWII.

 

Or, as has been pointed out in the past, there are many countries with minimal natural resources, such as Denmark, whose economies are healthier than ours. One might even suspect that some of these resources actually handicap us - because it encourages us to live on relatively low-tech resource extraction, instead of developing more sustainable industries and specialties.

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Rickster

 

You seem really pro green and with such an opinion I would assume you do not own a car and bike to work .. Run your house of solar panels or wind power.. Recycle ... Composte ... Saving money for an electric car ... Heat your house with electric power created by Solar,wind or water power energy ...

 

Or are you just one of those guys on the board saying how horrible these things are well doing nothing about it yourself other then voicing an opinion ....

 

My opinion is those who do not practise what they preach should not preach at all....

 

Example .. If I heat my house with oil I would want to convert to give less demand for the supply to help the situation because if a company does not have the demand they close there doors or move on ....

 

Example ... SAVE THE WHALESSSSSSS ... how many people preach things like this but have never done a **bleep** thing not even written a $100 check to help the people who work to save endangered wildlife but they will be the first to say how wrong it is ...

 

 

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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Brand, excellent post, underscores Art as well.

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands

Not good news for the greenies!

 

U.S. indicates Keystone impact on emissions negligible at first

 

CNN) -- A long-awaited environmental report by the U.S. government on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline indicates the project would have negligible immediate impact on overall carbon emissions.

The report released Friday by the State Department is considered crucial to the Obama administration's eventual decision on whether to move forward with the project.

The pipeline that would transport oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast has been a political football, pitting the oil industry and its Republican backers against environmentalists and liberal Democrats who complain it bolsters the especially dirty fossil fuel production from the tar sands of northern Alberta.

The State Department analysis makes no final conclusion on the merits of the project but suggests in parts that the impact will not be "significant" on natural resources or the rate of oil production.

In a speech last year on climate change, President Barack Obama said the pipeline should be approved only if it is carbon-neutral, meaning that approving it would have no more impact on climate change that not approving it.

In a political twist to the decision, Senate Democrats from energy states, including some like Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana facing tough reelection battles this fall, want to see the pipeline approved.

They have criticized the administration for taking several years to review it. Obama has made holding onto the Senate in November a political priority.

The next step is a 90-day multi-agency review that likely will be followed by a State Department decision on whether the project is in the national interest. That conclusion will effectively approve or quash decisions to build the pipeline.

The State Department is handling the review because the project involves Canada.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/31/politics/keystone-pipeline/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."--Unknown
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Neil Young protests our oil sands


@rickster110 wrote:

So, you're quoting Ezra Levant and The Sun that Faux-Nooze-North wannabe rag on a substantial issue ?

 

Recognizing that if the writer's relationship with the truth, on many issues, were flexible and variable, and that outright racist character assassinations may not remain outside the scope of his ideological toolkit, is a detailed point-by-point rebuttal of this attack even warranted?

 


I agree with you.  The credentials of the author aside, after reading the article quoted by Pierre above, I was about to ask him where on earth this information came from.  Besides the logical contradictions you've pointed out, there were a couple of practical non sequiturs that got my attention, in the following paragraphs, which I'm repeating here so that I can explain why they were suspicious:

 

"How is it acceptable that a foreign lobby group can simply deposit cash into a bank account of a Canadian politician? Who else is being paid cash to oppose the oilsands?

This fact almost escaped detection. It was buried in the Tides Foundation’s 138-page filing with the IRS, who only disclosed it to get a tax break. Even then, it was shrouded in secrecy.

The money was paid to a numbered company, 850450 Alberta Ltd. Only a search of Alberta’s corporate registry revealed that 850450 Alberta Ltd. was owned by another company, called Acden Group Ltd., that had changed its name twice in the past four years. Adam and other band politicians were directors and shareholders, in trust for the band.

The payment was well-hidden – and Adam certainly didn’t disclose it when he was on stage with Young."

 

It's worth taking a look at the above "journalism" because people will read it and take it strictly at face value.  However, there are at least 3 big practical holes in this journalist's statements that reveal either a complete lack of intelligent research, or (what is probably worse) a propensity to simply pass on hearsay and rumour as fact.

 

1)  "It was buried in the Tides Foundation’s 138-page filing with the IRS, who only disclosed it to get a tax break. Even then, it was shrouded in secrecy".  I'll say!  And so it should have been, as few corporations open up their tax filings to any Tom, Dick or Harry.  Revealing this little "tidbit" should have signalled to a serious journalist that an explanation was requisite in order to give credibility to the statement, i.e. how  did the writer discover this information, and why would a corporation reveal it (to anybody?).  This was the first eyebrow-raiser.

 

2)  "Only a search of Alberta’s corporate registry that 850450 Alberta Ltd. was owned by another company, called Acden Group Ltd., that had changed its name twice in the past four years". 

 

The first thing that struck me as suspicious about this statement is that Alberta has no provincial corporate registry, and hasn't had for some years.  I know this because as a legal researcher I had to order searches from Alberta quite frequently, and they were all done through private agents.  Using the term "Alberta's corporate registry" tells me that either the writer was an extremely poor researcher, or was passing on second-hand, hearsay information and/or rumour.  He obviously didn't do his fact-checking. 

 

Secondly, corporate searches do not provide ownership information.  They do provide a list of current directors, current head/registered office, historical corporate status data, such as amalgamation or change of name (common things for corporations to do, and not the same as change of ownership), and a list of officers.  Lists of shareholders (owners) are not disclosed in such searches.  

 

3)  "Adam and other band politicians were directors and shareholders, in trust for the band."  Again, the only way this information could have been revealed was from an insider of some kind, or the corporation's lawyers, directors, or officers (or perhaps a family member who knows who the owners are).  In Alberta, corporate records are usually held by a law office - generally the corporate lawyers of the company -- or are held at the head office of the company itself.  Shareholders' names are not normally revealed to anyone but a director or officer of the company, or by court order. 

 

So the question is: Is the journalist simply cooking up this information for some reason, or perhaps lazily passing on gossip that he hasn't fact-checked?  Or does he in fact have an insider providing him with confidential information?  If the latter, you would think he would at least claim a "knowledgeable source this writer has contacted". 

 

These reality gaps speak of sloppy journalism, and make me suspect that there's a big credibility issue with this piece and that everything else the writer concludes is probably erroneous.  Many people will buy the veracity of the story though, merely because it's published in the media, and that's the unfortunate part.

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