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Those not up on Canadian politics may not see what a Canadian would see here. These are three politically conservative premiers (think US state governor) that a

Those not up on Canadian politics may not see what a Canadian would see here. These are three politically conservative premiers (think US state governor) that are often aggressive in their policies; cuts to social programs, anti-environmental, no carbon tax. Knowing their policies it makes this out-of-the-blue project seem suspicious. I'm all for nuclear power especially if it's using CANDU reactors and thorium. But these guys ream the carbon tax or anything remotely environmental or socially progressive. In Canada only Ontario (Ford) and New Brunswick (Higgs) have nuclear reactors generating electricity. Saskatchewan (Moe) doesn't have any reactors but they do have oil from the tar sands sharing it with Alberta on their border. Saskatchewan also has an abundance of uranium. So colour me surprised and a bit suspicious these guys would push for this. Imagine if Trump suddenly swore off coal and wanted to build more solar and wind farms. Saskatchewan has more to gain than the other two premiers.

deleted 7y ago
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ghomrassen 7y ago
Or they have a better working relationships because they same similar goals. Conservatives aren't evil bogeymen who want to destroy the environment wholesale, they want to find a realistic solution to the problem. Add to the fact that Ontario has a history of failed green projects in wind power that have eaten billions of dollars. If these conservative premiers can throw some money together, cut some red tape and get projects moving in the right direction, we should all be applauding.
- bwood 7y ago
  I can't speak for the other provinces, but New Brunswick has a track record of throwing money at ridiculous energy projects that don't have a chance of working. For a recent example, this: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/joi-scientific-technology-update-1.5340245 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/joi-scientific-... Summary: New Brunswick's energy utility NB Power (a crown corp) spent $12M to license a nonexistent tech that violates the second law of thermodynamics.
sunstone 7y ago
Saskatchewan also has fracking oil, along the border with North Dakota, in addition to tar sands deposits.
bregma 7y ago
These guys also just came off a federal election in which the environment was a major issue, and their federal counterpart party was the only one without a solid environmental program in their policy. These conservatve premiers all campaigned against the federal environmental programs and launched civil court cases to defeat federal environmental policies after being elected, and then saw the federal government reelected based on those policies they oppose. They're not fools, they can see the writing on the walls. The primary beneficiaries of these MRDs would be isolated northern communities (eg. Kashechewan) that currently use diesel generators. It's incredibly expensive to ship in diesel, it's widely acknowledged as polluting, and there are political problems associated with relegating indigenous communities to cast-offs from the south. Most of Canada is not on the grid and with the sun gone six months of the year, solar is a non-starter. Wind requires high maintenance and incredibly high construction costs so it's not really viable in remote communities. MRDs look like a god-send for conservative premiers: be seen to be proactive for indigenous communities, be seen to be pro-active on the green front (but without carbon taxes or targeting the fossil fuel producers), pour money into tech research in Saskatoon and Toronto (two areas that don't traditionally vote Conservative), and one-up the federal government. What's for a conservative premier not to like?
Tiktaalik 7y ago
YEP. This is sadly most likely an attempt to change the channel and muddy the conversation by creating the illusion that there exists a viable alternative to deal with climate change other than the carbon tax and other demand side measures. It's the "Technology will save us" non-solution that is mostly about kicking the can down the road and excusing doing nothing in the short term because a wondrous solution is 'just around the corner'.

deleted 7y ago

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ghomrassen 7y ago

Or they have a better working relationships because they same similar goals. Conservatives aren't evil bogeymen who want to destroy the environment wholesale, they want to find a realistic solution to the problem. Add to the fact that Ontario has a history of failed green projects in wind power that have eaten billions of dollars. If these conservative premiers can throw some money together, cut some red tape and get projects moving in the right direction, we should all be applauding.

bwood 7y ago
I can't speak for the other provinces, but New Brunswick has a track record of throwing money at ridiculous energy projects that don't have a chance of working. For a recent example, this: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/joi-scientific-technology-update-1.5340245 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/joi-scientific-... Summary: New Brunswick's energy utility NB Power (a crown corp) spent $12M to license a nonexistent tech that violates the second law of thermodynamics.

sunstone 7y ago

Saskatchewan also has fracking oil, along the border with North Dakota, in addition to tar sands deposits.

bregma 7y ago

These guys also just came off a federal election in which the environment was a major issue, and their federal counterpart party was the only one without a solid environmental program in their policy. These conservatve premiers all campaigned against the federal environmental programs and launched civil court cases to defeat federal environmental policies after being elected, and then saw the federal government reelected based on those policies they oppose. They're not fools, they can see the writing on the walls. The primary beneficiaries of these MRDs would be isolated northern communities (eg. Kashechewan) that currently use diesel generators. It's incredibly expensive to ship in diesel, it's widely acknowledged as polluting, and there are political problems associated with relegating indigenous communities to cast-offs from the south. Most of Canada is not on the grid and with the sun gone six months of the year, solar is a non-starter. Wind requires high maintenance and incredibly high construction costs so it's not really viable in remote communities. MRDs look like a god-send for conservative premiers: be seen to be proactive for indigenous communities, be seen to be pro-active on the green front (but without carbon taxes or targeting the fossil fuel producers), pour money into tech research in Saskatoon and Toronto (two areas that don't traditionally vote Conservative), and one-up the federal government. What's for a conservative premier not to like?

Tiktaalik 7y ago

YEP. This is sadly most likely an attempt to change the channel and muddy the conversation by creating the illusion that there exists a viable alternative to deal with climate change other than the carbon tax and other demand side measures. It's the "Technology will save us" non-solution that is mostly about kicking the can down the road and excusing doing nothing in the short term because a wondrous solution is 'just around the corner'.