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Train Carrying Crude Derails, Destroys Large Part of Canadian Town (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsA large swath of a town in eastern Quebec was destroyed Saturday after a train carrying crude oil derailed, sparking several explosions forcing the evacuation of up to 1,000 people, killing at least one.

Several people were reported missing and officials reported one death in the town of Lac-Megantic (Lack-MAH-Gan-Tic), about 155 miles east of Montreal.

The explosions ignited a blaze that sent flames shooting into the sky, and billowing smoke could be seen from several miles (kilometers) away hours after the derailment. Some of the train’s 73 cars exploded and the fire spread to a number of homes in the town of 6,000 people.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Absolutely Incredible’: Canadians Outraged After Flooding Prompts Involuntary Firearm Confiscation (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Canadians in the High River area of Alberta – many already “irate” at not being able to return to their homes after massive flooding last week – were shocked to learn late Thursday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have seized a “large quantity of firearms” from their evacuated houses.

RCMP Sergeant Patricia Neely said that “Firearms that were unsafely stored in plain sight were seized for safekeeping,” but Sgt. Brian Topham told the National Post that officers forced their way into many of the homes because of “urgent need.”

“We just want to make sure that all of those things are in a spot that we control, simply because of what they are,” Sgt. Topham said. “People have a significant amount of money invested in firearms … so we put them in a place that we control and that they’re safe.”

They will be returned to residents with proof of ownership after the evacuation order — which is now into its eighth day — is lifted, authorities say.

Business owner Brenda Lackey told the Globe and Mail: “Now what they’re doing is looking for firearms and ammunition. How do they have the right to do that? What does that have to do with the disaster? …This is martial law. What has happened to our country?”

Read more from this story HERE.

Troopers, Mounties Square Off in Shooting Competition in Palmer This Weekend

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Troopers and Mounties(PALMER, Alaska) – Alaska State Troopers will try to defend last year’s win over the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on home turf at the 53rd Annual International Police Shooting Competition taking place at the Palmer Shooting Range this weekend. A team of Troopers has won the team honors the past two years in a row – winning in both Whitehorse, Yukon in 2012 and Fairbanks in 2011.

The contest, known as “The Shoot,” pits a team of Troopers against a team of Canadian RCMP counterparts. After a day of practicing, on Sunday they’ll shoot side by side using the Troopers’ standard issue pistol, a .40-caliber Glock, to go through an AST course of fire, then use the RCMP’s standard issue 9 mm Smith and Wesson to go through the RCMP’s course of fire. The competitors then switch weapons and each shooter must complete the other teams course of fire using their partner’s sidearm. This relates to a case years ago where the Mounties and Troopers were working together to track down a suspect near Hyder, a border community in Southeastern Alaska with a neighboring Canadian community just across the international line. Policy prevented the Trooper from using his service weapon in Canada when the trooper crossed the border. The Mounties had to provide him with one of their weapons to use during the apprehension.

While the event is built up around a shooting contest, the occasion is more about camaraderie between the Troopers and Mounties. Shortly after Alaska became a state in 1959, Inspector Joe Vachon, commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, wanted to find a way for the Mounties and Troopers to get to know each other better on a personal basis as well as strengthen their working partnership. It is the longest standing international shooting competition in the world. Some of the Troopers competing this weekend have had to reach across the border and work with Mounties. The Shoot gives them an opportunity to establish and strengthen those long-standing relationships with the RCMP.

After the team portion on Sunday, members will compete individually in a tactical course that is separate from the overall team competition. Spouses also get a chance to compete in the Significant Other Shoot Off on Saturday. Visitors can watch the competition from designated areas at the range.

Schedule of Competition:

Saturday, June 22
09:00 – Team Practice at Palmer Range at end of S. Brooks Road off of Outer Springer Loop near Palmer
13:00 – Significant Other Shoot Off Competition at the Palmer Range

Sunday, June 23
08:00 – 53rd Shoot at Palmer Range
13:00 – Tactical Competition at the Palmer Range

Waxman On Keystone: ‘We Don’t Need This Dirty Oil’

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Photo Credit: APRepresentative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) – the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee – said that America does not need the “dirty oil” that would be imported through the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, which received long-awaited favorable environmental review from the U.S. government.

“We don’t need this dirty oil. To stop climate change and the destructive storms, droughts, floods, and wildfires that we are already experiencing, we should be investing in clean energy, not building a pipeline that will speed the exploitation of Canada’s highly polluting tar sands,” Waxman said in a statement on Friday responding to the government’s analysis.

In its draft environmental review released Friday, the State Department said the construction of the pipeline through much of the Midwest would not have a meaningful impact on climate change.

Read more from this story HERE.

Canadian Officials Make Climate Case In DC Ahead Of Keystone Pipeline Decision

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Photo Credit: rcboddenAlberta’s provincial government is trying to burnish its image on climate change as top Canadian officials make the case for U.S. approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

“Even though we have had a presence here for some time, I don’t think we have really communicated as effectively as we need to on this,” Alberta’s Premier Alison Redford said in an interview at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

Redford and her environment minister, Diana McQueen, are in D.C. this weekend for meetings during the annual National Governors Association summit, which brings together U.S. governors and Obama administration officials.

The visit arrives as green groups are pressing the White House to scuttle the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline, a demand that was the focus of a major climate change rally in Washington on Feb. 17.

Advocates of the pipeline, which would bring Canadian oil sands and oil to Gulf Coast refineries, have long made their case on economic and energy security grounds.

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Ambassador: US Wants More Canadian ‘Progress’ On Climate

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Photo Credit: alexindigoThe U.S. ambassador to Canada said more progress by the Canadian government on climate change will help shape Americans’ views of its northern neighbor’s massive oil sands resources, according to a published report.

David Jacobson’s remarks to The Globe and Mail come amid a closely watched U.S. review of the proposed Alberta-to-Texas Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, although the paper reports that Jacobson emphasized he wasn’t linking his comments to the Keystone decision.

The ambassador on Wednesday “said that when Canadians can show progress on climate change, it has an impact on Americans’ judgment of whether the energy-security benefits of oil-sands imports outweigh the environmental impact,” The Globe and Mail reports.

“It does,” Jacobson said, according to the paper. “I think that there are an awful lot of folks who are trying to make up their minds, and trying to draw the right balance between these two things, who I think will be moved by progress.

“There has been progress. As I’ve said many times before, there needs to be more progress,” he said.
Jacobson “took pains” to note that he was not drawing a direct link to Keystone or suggesting stronger Canadian action on climate change will ensure U.S. approval of the project.

Read more from this story HERE.

Chicago-Style Diplomacy: Obama May Require Carbon Tax of Canada for Approval of Keystone Pipeline

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Photo Credit: Bloomberg Hello Canada! Are you ready — ready for a new national tax on carbon that will ding pocketbooks across the country? My bet is that a new carbon tax is coming, made almost inevitable by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s full-bore push to secure Washington’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

For early clues on the carbon tax/Keystone trade-off, tune in Tuesday night to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. As the president speaks, he will be alert to the chorus of Hollywood stars, environmental activists, editorial writers and industry leaders who are pushing for him to make the biggest climate-change decision he can possibly make: Impose a carbon tax.

It is time Canadians became aware of the giant trap being set in Washington over Keystone. The short version is this: The president approves Keystone, greatly expanding the flow of Canadian oil sands production into the United States. In return, however, Canada has no choice but to accept a carbon tax at home as part of a grand bargain.

I first mentioned the likely Obama pipelines-for-taxes strategy in comments at the annual Financial Post forecast luncheon at the New Year. “I see new taxes coming in the United States, including an energy or carbon tax, to try to cover the deficits. The new energy tax would serve as partial cover for President Obama’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.”

That Mr. Obama might offer some kind of carbon tax as a carrot to environmentalists and climate activists opposed to Keystone has since emerged as more than plausible. Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley Strassel recently outlined how the president might demand a carbon tax in return for approval of energy projects, including Keystone. Getting a carbon tax through Congress looks tricky. But Ms. Strassel reported that California Senator Barbara Boxer outlined how a carbon tax could be imposed administratively through the Environmental Protection Agency.

Read more from this story HERE.

Satire: Obama calls Canadian Prime Minister Harper a “large lump”

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Diplomatic tensions rose today after a Fox News camera caught President Barack Obama talking to one of his press aides and making some very undiplomatic comments about Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper after the two met briefly at a Washington international benefit event.

As Obama and Media Relations Director Clive Leonard walked away from reporters, the Fox newsfeed clearly picked up the conversation.

LEONARD: “The Prime Minister is requesting a 15-minute meeting Mr. President.”
OBAMA: “What’s with that guy?”
LEONARD: “Sir?” (coughs)
OBAMA: “He’s shifty…he’s never standing where his voice seems to be coming from.”
LEONARD: “Ummm…”
OBAMA: “And he’s a large lump isn’t he? All pudge and hair.”

The comments were aired after a one-second tape delay before Fox News began repeating them in their entirety with added commentary. White House officials immediately asked Fox to stop airing the embarrassing comments but the network’s leading political commentator Bill O’Reilly responded to the request live on air with “Yeah right!”

Other news outlets quickly began running the footage with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (not his real name) stating that the President’s harsh words were “school-yard” and could damage relations between the two countries at a time when cross-border issues such as the Keystone Pipeline are already causing friction. However, Wolf could be seen snickering when Obama was shown saying Harper is all pudge and hair.

Read more from this satirical story HERE.

America’s Economic Freedom Ranking Nosedives to No. 18 in the World Due to Obama’s Policies

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Canada has taken its place among the Top 5 countries with the most economic freedom, according to a new Fraser Institute report — now leaps and bounds ahead of the United States thanks to the gradual shrinking of the Canadian government since the mid-1990s as America’s just got bigger.

The annual Economic Freedom of the World report, released Tuesday, has Canada tied in fifth place with Australia — up one spot from last year. Hong Kong remains at the top, Singapore’s next, then New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the United States, once a “standard bearer” of economic liberty among industrial nations, spiralled 10 spots from the 2011 rankings to 18th place — its lowest position ever, and a huge drop from its second place spot in 2000.

And as the size of Canada’s government continues to slightly shrink due to slowed growth in government spending post-recession and America’s continues to expand, this indicator could eventually make us the industrialized world’s new leader on economic freedom, said Fraser Institute president Niels Veldhuis.

“What we have in front of us is a marked opportunity,” he said. “We can significantly exceed the U.S. in economic freedom over the course of, I would say, the next five to 10 years. The question for Canadians is are we going to seize the opportunity or are we going to let the opportunity go by?’’

Read more from this story HERE.

Canadians richer than Americans for first time in history

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Americans may enjoy teasing and taunting their neighbours to the north but now the jokes on them.

For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American.

The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202 compared to the average American household’s $319,970 worth, according to data published in Canada’s Globe and Mail last month.

That gives the average Canadian $43,232 more than the average American. And the Globe and Mail pointed out ‘these are not 60-cent dollars, but Canadian dollars more or less at par with the U.S. greenback.’

In a column for Bloomberg View, Stephen Marche, a Canadian novelist, sets out to explain how his country has stealthily crept up to overtake the U.S. in terms of a household’s average net worth.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit:  _Shward_