OK, so there is Chief Spence's hunger strike and it coincides with the INM movement that was about to happen anyway. Well, turns out, she is not as pure as the driven snow, and needs to get back from the limelight. She was never proclaimed as a leader in the INM movement. And if you have any dirt, or the appearance on impropriety, guess what, the Harper Cons are going to exploit it. However much they show their maliciousness, thievery, blatant lies, etc. is just par for the course though.
Check out this link:
The Tyee.ca - Ernst: Frack Update On the other hand here we have a perfectly "pure" (at least pure intentioned; not running for a political seat) spokesperson standing up for all of our rights and taking Encana to task and suing for the contamination of her well water and all others in the area of Rosebud, Alberta. But hey guess what, if she can win (hopefully since the defense is pretty lame), she will set a standard/precedence for EVERYONE in Canada. The precedent will be set and a message will be sent to all BIG OIL Co's. that it is:
Not acceptable to contaminate the drinking water of one or many people!! FRACK OFF!!!This is the message that needs to go out!!! NO MORE and ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. The groundwater contamination is measurable and has been going on for at least 10 years, while the gov't keeps letting them profit hugely and carry on business as usual and play dumb (it's not proven). If you don't look for the proof of cause and effect, then it will never be "Proven", and further, they say, they have no burden to look for that link (not my job man). Well then who's job is it? I would have believed that it is the regulatory body's - whoever they are - responsibility to ensure the public's and the greater environmental protection. The USA's EPA is trying to skirt this responsibility as well. Again, I would have to ask, what have these people been doing all these years (being paid the big bucks)?
Can we make this stop? Can we support Jessica Ernst? Absolutely!! and it is in EVERYONE's best interest to do so. Piss on waiting for some "talks and meetings" with Harper. This is HERE and NOW. Let's go. If you are in Alberta, show up on the court house steps and DEMAND action. Demand that this hearing proceed without all the stall tactics that are business as usual to all the parties that have something to lose; the ones that want the complainant to either: a) run out of money; b) run out of all support and resources: c) die and/or give up.
Damn them, that they can keep getting away with those stall tactics and the courts support those tactics. Disgusting. I think the gov't (ERCB - Energy Resouces Conservation Board) agency, by stating such a lame defense; that they are "not responsible for a duty of care". Excuse me? If that is not their mandate, whose is it?
Excerpt: (from The Tyee):
How Alberta Will Fight Fracking Folk Hero Jessica Ernst In famous flaming water case, regulator to argue 'no duty of care' to landowners or groundwater.
By Andrew Nikiforuk, 16 Jan 2013, TheTyee.ca
Energy board's 'duty of care' stops where?
A common complaint among Alberta landowners is that the ERCB reacts slowly to public concerns. It was one of the continent's last oil and gas regulators, for example, to table regulations on hydraulic fracturing.
Several recent court decisions also show that ERCB has a history of not upholding its own laws.
In 2010 the Royal Society of Canada, the nation's top scientific organization, criticized the board for 2007 incident in which the regulator spied on landowners and damaged "its credibility as independent quasi-judicial board."
In a court document filed on Dec. 5, 2012 lawyers representing the ERCB argue that a regulator charged to develop oil and gas resources in the public interest owes no duty of care to protect a citizen's groundwater.
Furthermore the Ernst lawsuit does "not indicate omissions on the part of the ERCB but a failure of the ERCB to act in accordance with the Plaintiff's expectations."
Klippenstein says the ERCB's arguments are both unusual and unorthodox.
And then why do we have any of these gov't bureaucracies with a bunch of high paid ass lickers and what do they get paid for? Can I have one of those jobs where I can make good bucks, benefits, and pension without actually doing anything remotely close to what I was hired for?
Talk about who's on "Welfare" which is also considered "Government Payroll"... well there is so much dead wood out there, but yet MSM points the finger at the natives as the ones sucking all the tax money from Canadian taxpayers. I get so frustrated, the more I delve into these matters, the more I find corruption, waste, incompetence, and just plain old BS and lies.
I thought that INM might be a good movement, but yet.... now I have my doubts. It has been getting sidetracked and derailed, because the natives don't have good strong leadership that are looking out for their interests either (the peoples interests; I'm sure they are looking after their own interests) which is part of the problem.
Can we just fire all the politicians and start anew? I suggested this before.... If I were PM for a day.... Everyone is fired!! And then they can come crawling back and beg for their job, and they may get it back if they can prove that they are beyond reproach, not corrupt, and have done something - anything positive for their constituents or for anyone in Canada, and not just lined their own pocket. How many do you think would get their jobs back? I would ball park it at 5-10%. Gee, that means we could cut gov't spending by 90% in year 1 and then build it up again with the kind of people that matter and make a difference!
Alas, I got going on that Utopia thing; have to come back to reality and go stick my dinner in the microwave and remember that I'm kinda just a nobody, and can't make the kind of difference that I would like to see.
But hey... heard a line that I liked - watched the DVD "I AM" by Tom Shadyac the other day. One of the gurus on there said "how do you eat an elephant? - One bite at a time...."