There are the obvious focus elements on energy resources but in the context of sustainable development. There is a promise of provincial energy strategy focused on innovation, new sources and responsible energy use, efficiency and conservation. Balance needs to be restored and the Royalty Review issue is not really resolved yet and this energy strategy may help compensate for the short coming of the GOA respsonses.
The pace of development is noted as an on-going issue – particularly in terms of housing in Fort McMurray. The GOA holds the keys to unlocking this problem by releasing land to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo so the servicing can get done and housing built. The cumulative effects of the growth challenge are now being considered and that is good news, especially for Edmonton and region with the pending impact of billions of dollars of upgrader construction.
The down side realities of the livestock and forest industries are going to be addressed as these folks are in dire straits. The need to look at the “cultural and economic importance of vibrant rural communities…” is noted and something I will be doing a number of posting on as I work on two new projects to get the SuperNet missing link to non-profits, local economies and rural Albertans through the Rural Alberta Development Fund and the Access to the Future Fund. These SuperNet based initiatives are foundational to Premier Stelmach realizing this Throne Speech aspiration...and he knows it.
Lots more coming this summer in consultations on Land Use Management and a new Parks Policy hopefully based on conservation, preservation, reclamation, water quality and quantity concerns and wildlife habitat protection as guiding principles – not just a negotiation of priority listing of users.
I am biased but if you look past the health care headlines in the MSM speech coverage, I see a lot of potential in this Throne Speech. There is a wide array of issues and concerns mentioned. It has the usually pomp and puffery but a careful read shows a definite and more progressive agenda and tone in this document. Now we need to see how it gets acted upon and if the agenda that we end up with is as comprehensive as the content of the Throne Speech indicates.
The pace of development is noted as an on-going issue – particularly in terms of housing in Fort McMurray. The GOA holds the keys to unlocking this problem by releasing land to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo so the servicing can get done and housing built. The cumulative effects of the growth challenge are now being considered and that is good news, especially for Edmonton and region with the pending impact of billions of dollars of upgrader construction.
The down side realities of the livestock and forest industries are going to be addressed as these folks are in dire straits. The need to look at the “cultural and economic importance of vibrant rural communities…” is noted and something I will be doing a number of posting on as I work on two new projects to get the SuperNet missing link to non-profits, local economies and rural Albertans through the Rural Alberta Development Fund and the Access to the Future Fund. These SuperNet based initiatives are foundational to Premier Stelmach realizing this Throne Speech aspiration...and he knows it.
Lots more coming this summer in consultations on Land Use Management and a new Parks Policy hopefully based on conservation, preservation, reclamation, water quality and quantity concerns and wildlife habitat protection as guiding principles – not just a negotiation of priority listing of users.
I am biased but if you look past the health care headlines in the MSM speech coverage, I see a lot of potential in this Throne Speech. There is a wide array of issues and concerns mentioned. It has the usually pomp and puffery but a careful read shows a definite and more progressive agenda and tone in this document. Now we need to see how it gets acted upon and if the agenda that we end up with is as comprehensive as the content of the Throne Speech indicates.
I will post again soon on some of the important social and cultural aspects of the Throne Speech that have not been covered much. Stay tuned.
The Great Firewall of China has lifted for a spell, so I'll drop a note in.
ReplyDeleteWas at a conference on climate change accounting and low-carbon fuels in Beijing this weekend, and was as usual, not surprised to see Alberta as one of the lone hold-outs on a carbon reduction project, in this case, the California Climate Action Registry, a program that allows governments and companies to quantify and track their carbon inventories.
When I talked to the speaker after the session, I asked her about Alberta and to my delight and surprise, she'd mentioned that the Premier had agreed to get the province on the registry, and that it's likely filtering its way through the policy tree now.
Well, maybe after King Ralph, by comparison it would be easy for anyone to appear to be doing better. In this case, it seems that Alberta is still catching up to the rest of Canada, but I'm glad to see that it's happening, and I'm glad to hear that Premier Stelmach is so open to innovative ideas like this. I suppose it's a good sign of things to come.
Did you hear what you were looking for in regards to land use and the environment??
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear from you Neo and thx for the update and great information on climate change.
ReplyDeleteIs China really into it and doing something about it?
How is China really responding to the Tibet demos around the world...not sure we can trust CNN to know.
Anon @ 2:54...no I have not heard what I am lookng for regarding land-use and the environment - not in the Throne Speech nor in the trial balloons that are being floated.
ReplyDeleteWe need to do more that negotiat access between competing human users. We need to much braode5r approach.
I am encouraged by the Calgary Herald story of April 15 on the leaked copy of the Land Use Framework document. Tying land use to the capacity of the water basins is such a good step in the right direction.
That said - I would not be buying development property or housing in Calgary for the long haul. They are soon to be rationing water by the looks of it if the glacier melts continue and keep accelerating.
I will wait and see what is in the mill once the LUF document is released and the next round of consultations begin.
Not sure if their plan made it into the long run, but as I recall in 1998 or so, the town of Strathmore was already planning around water consumption as the main limiting factor.
ReplyDeleteGoodness, I hope that in the future with serious environmental issues like this, we can take the cues for change more than 10 years in advance...
On the climate change/energy issue. The International Energy Agency predicts that under a "business as usual" case, China will be importing 13.1 m barrels crude/day by 2030, and in the same period, emitting 11 billion tonnes of CO2 related to energy per year. Compared to the US's current 6 billion t/year now, or about 7 bn t/year in 2030. It is a situation that even the Chinese find unacceptable as their own nation faces serious glacial melt, desertification, water shortage, extreme weather and sea level rise.
ReplyDeleteIntense programs to promote the use of renewable and biofuels, migrating to gas as energy feedstock, increasing end-use electricity efficiency and fuel efficiency, they hope to decrease those emissions (energy-related) to 9 billion t/year by 2030. Total emissions would be reduced to 23 billion t/year as opposed to the "business as usual" total of potentially 42 billion t.
I might note that at any of these enormous emissions in per-capita rates still fall short of our northern North American per cap. emissions.
There's huge benefit to be made by promoting biofuel production as extra income for poor farmers. Development of efficient technology is a huge national university distraction, and policy development is taking the best ideas from around the world to try and make things work.
I wouldn't hestitate to say that within 10 years, China will be the major exporter of intellectual property, technology and policy with respect to climate change and energy intensity reduction.
I might also say that like the US, various organizations in China are presently developing fuel standards that might limit dirty oil from entering their economy in one way or another. If Canada/Alberta hope to be able to sell bitumen to markets outside of Canada, they might want to be working a little faster on that.
As for Tibet and the torch run, western media is taking a beating. Anything related to France and Louis Vuitton is under serious criticism. It's amazing how quickly trash cans made with fake LV patterns on them have been produced.
ReplyDeleteCNN...the Criticise China Network is the topic of the day for office workers, street sweepers and blind Chinese massage doctors.
There were rumours of some sort of riot near the French international school in a popular expat area of Beijing a few nights ago, and it is becoming harder and harder to get visas approved or extended.
I do hope cooler heads prevail in the coming months.
And honestly, we've talked a bit on your blog about government failing democracy. Even though I know the Chinese media is unreliable, I also have quite a strong suspicion, suddenly, that a great deal of our own media is unreliable. It is indeed possible that we've been failed on this front as well, especially with respect to the way we see the world outside our borders.
To reinforce that idea, some Africa experts I've spoken with in recent days have quite a different view of Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe. Some would even suggest that he is Britain's Saddam Hussein - once a good friend, and now blackmailed and backed into a corner for reasons that only Britain could control.
But we wouldn't read that in most Canadian publications, would we?