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Joe Oliver on P&P: "soon we'll be able to drink and fish the Alberta oilsands tailing ponds"
May 30, 2012 - 6:44pm
I kid you not! 
This guy has to be the government's biggest liability. Watch for ads by the various environmental groups soon.
And as soon as they're ready, why not have him and his family be the first to dig in?
Hmmm, can we call the fish being consumed "Northern Alberta fugu"?
I think we'll be able to walk across the tailings ponds long before we can drink from them.
ETA: if anyone in the next day or so has a good editorial cartoon on this subject, please post it in this thread!
Joe's right. This is what I caught my last fishing trip up near Fort Mac:
My favourite Simpsons episode ever!
Perhaps Joe Oliver might be fishing for one of these!
Here's the real thing, downstream:
http://firstnationsdrum.com/2010/10/sick-and-deformed-fish-prompt-review...
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/node/2963
This is from 2010: Oilsands tailings ponds kill more ducks 230 dead birds at Syncrude facility, small tolls at Suncor and Shell ponds
excerpt:
The Mildred Lake incident came days after Syncrude agreed to pay a $3-million penalty for the deaths of 1,600 ducks in another tailings pond in April 2008, in a deal its lawyers reached with the provincial and federal Crown prosecutors.
According to Greenpeace, the industry should stop using tailings ponds. "The fact is that these toxic tailings lakes pose an ongoing threat, not just to bird populations but to animals and to downstream communities as well," said Greenpeace Alberta campaigner Mike Hudema.
Link:
"The fact is the tailings ponds are being cleaned up and you'll be able to drink from them, you'll be able to fish from them," Oliver said. "The land will be brought back to its original state."
How can anyone be that fucking delusional???
Meanwhile, another spill.
Mulcair has a great opening line for today's visit to Alberta. "Are you really ready to drink from the tailings ponds?"
This is Enbridge's view of Kalamazoo after a "leak" (Enbridge Terminology]. I live in Burnaby and I think that 800,000 gallons is a little more than a leak. The companies involved in all aspects of the tar sands are very sophisticated in lies and deception.
Of course this rosy picture is not shared by all the residents in Michigan. The current corporate media is the most insidious propaganda machine ever created. Our "public" broadcaster has been mandated to mirror the MSM so it allows this kind of crap to be given respectability instead of being mocked as ludicrous.
Oliver today today is backing down from his claim. Big surprise!