27 | January | 2017 | Micheline's Blog

Tags

Apologies, Keystone Pipeline, Saskatchewan Oil Spill, The Economy, the environment, United States

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

When Advantages outweigh the Risks…

A dear friend, John, tells me Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and his government have studied the matter of exporting crude oil to the United States. It appears advantages outweigh the risks by far. Most of the Keystone Pipeline is in the United States and Canada’s economy is ailing, so Canada is exporting.

Voltaire at Postdam by Pierre Charles Baquoy after N. A. Monsiau (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

« Quelques arpents de neige »

I therefore stand corrected. Prudence is essential, but Canada’s economy dictates measured risks. Voltaire (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778) called Nouvelle-France a “few acres of snow” (« quelques arpents de neige ») (Candide, Chapter 23). He may have been criticizing the French government. Nouvelle-France had lost its Huguenots, Calvinist Protestants, its merchant class, when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, an edict of tolerance towards Protestants.

My Bourbeau ancestors were well-to-do citizens of New France. They were not farmers, but Huguenot businessmen. Huguenots fled to the United States when the Édit de Nantes was revoked, in 1685. They feared persecution and death. Some converted to Roman Catholicism and stayed in New France. They were good businessmen and prospered.

When François-Xavier Garneau (15 June 1809 – 2 or 3 February 1866) wrote his Histoire du Canada, he bemoaned the departure of Huguenots. His book was censored by the Church in Quebec and he had to remove his statement regarding French Huguenots. New France was an expensive venture, but there is wealth beneath our “few acres of snow.”

It may that the Prime Minister and his cabinet took a leap of faith to protect the economy.

Exporting and the Economy

Canada is committed to protecting its environment, but I am told Monsieur Trudeau needs to export some of its natural resources or take us the poorhouse. Precautions must be taken, but families should be fed. Poverty is one of the great ills of the world.

In short, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is working for the people and he and his cabinet must protect Canadians. We have taken in a large number of refugees and more may arrive. In fact, a number of Americans are buying real estate in Canada. We may be their refuge. There are no foreigners in Canada, just plain Canadians of every ethnicity and creed.

The Environment: Saskatchewan Oil Spill

Environmentalists are concerned and I am one of them. There are oil spills. Recently, on 23 January 2017, a pipeline leaked 50,000 gallons (200,000 liters) of oil on land belonging to the First Nations, Canada’s Amerindians.

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-canadian-oil-pipeline-leaked-more-than-50000-gallons-of-oil-on-aboriginal-land-2017-1

Bernie Sanders used his Twitter account to comment on the oil spill:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/01/23/saskatchewan-oil-spill_n_14350146.html

Pipelines leak occasionally. A small crack may cause a catastrophe. One worries. It could be that pipelines are affected by very cold weather. If such is the case, we need better pipelines.

I once lived in Saskatchewan and loved it. I worked in public relations for a year, but teaching was my profession. I accepted a teaching position at St Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Yet, the accident happened in a place I called home.