Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Pipeline of tax money flowing to oil companies

The Common Sense Canadian: "... Ottawa is using tax dollars to subsidize things that Enbridge should be doing at its own expense – like $78 million for bitumen-specific marine spill studies. Add to that another $42 million to develop improved weather monitoring systems for the rugged north and central coast waters which tankers would transit if Northern Gateway goes ahead.

Federal monies for such core elements of Enbridge’s National Energy Board application amount to a government hand-out, says Weaver:

This is another example of federal money being used to essentially subsidize industry, and industry’s inability to actually provide effective response to marine dilbit (bitumen) oil spills because the tools don’t exist."

'via Blog this'

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Candidate for Green Party leader in PQ is #freetransit advocate

Alex Tyrrell
My Ideas | Alex Tyrrell | Uniting the DMP: "The free transport is one of the best ways to fight against air pollution and climate change. A well-funded and non-tariff transport system will encourage greater use and we will significantly reduce the number of vehicles on the road passengers.

Free transit will allow us to:

Reduce the number of vehicles on the road

Eliminate costs associated with the collection of rates and reinvest

Reduce traffic congestion and increase social and economic productivity

Reduce financial pressures on families and low-income citizens

Encourage the use of public transport without penalizing motorists

When we should encourage the use of public transport, the Government of Quebec is quite the opposite and increasing rates of transport. The price of a monthly pass to Montreal has almost doubled in the last ten years. Families, workers and students have a strong need for affordable and effective in order to thrive in our modern society transport.

Free transportation is a concrete that the Quebec government could take now to reduce our oil consumption gesture without forcing people to abandon their cars.

Free transport will also benefit motorists and users of network transport. Hours and hours lost in traffic congestion greatly harm the economy! It is quite time that the Quebec government to take concrete steps to reduce traffic congestion, without expansion of the road network.

The abolition of freight rates would have an impact on the workers who collect these funds. A Green Government will ensure that these workers will be offered associated with the expansion of network positions.

Transit, it is the future.

In financial terms, the STM plans to raise 590 million dollars in transit fares this year. This represents less than half of what the Minister of Transport, Jean-Froincois lysed, reportedly announced on May 6 for only exchangers Decarie, Dorval, and Turcot. Note that free transport is a matter of priority and that remained the need for the expansion of road networks."