Oil sands will pollute Great Lakes The environmental impacts of Alberta's oil sands will not be restricted to Western Canada, researchers say, but will extend thousands of kilometres away to the Great Lakes, threatening water and air quality around the world's largest body of fresh water. *****Report: How the Oil Sands Got to the Great Lakes Basin***** (pdf) Policy makers around the lakes, in both Canada and the U.S., are largely unaware that the tar sands will lead to massive industrial development in their region, and consequently have no strategy to minimize the environmental impacts. [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu on Oct 8, 2008 - 33 comments

Vacations in Alberta's Oil Sands. Courtesy of Greenpeace.
posted by gman on Jun 26, 2008 - 55 comments

Ducks die a crude death. Alberta's oilsands (previously) (map) have a new emblem -- hundreds of ducks coated and killed in oily toxic sludge. About 500 birds landed and died in an oil sands pond. The pond full of toxic sludge sits along a major flight path for migrating waterfowl. [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu on May 1, 2008 - 50 comments

Alberta voted on March 3, 2008. Or did it? The record low turnout of 41.3% is causing questions to be asked. [more inside]
posted by never used baby shoes on Mar 5, 2008 - 68 comments

Shifting Sands. A great series from the Globe and Mail on the Alberta Tar Sands: An Empire Made of Goo, Black gold, Texas tea, The hollowing out of small Atlantic towns, Where rich and poor Albertas collide, Norway the gold standard for managing oil wealth, The climatic costs of rapid growth.
posted by chunking express on Feb 1, 2008 - 32 comments

Blowhard vs. Bureaucrat? A Defense of Free Speech. During the controversy over the Danish cartoons of Mohammed (original Mefi thread), one of the few Canadian outlets to republish the offending images was the now-mostly-defunct Western Standard magazine run by controversial right-wing pundit and lawyer Ezra Levant. Now, Levant is facing a human rights complaint before the Alberta Human Rights Commission, and has posted his initial interview with the Commission online. Levant is frequently vitriolic, and his interlocutor mostly bored, but the issues raised are important ones. Levant's summary of the situation is here, and his opening statement to the Commission is here.
posted by Urban Hermit on Jan 15, 2008 - 55 comments

"The vast tar sands of Alberta in Canada hold oil reserves six times the size of Saudi Arabia's. But this 'black gold' is proving a mixed blessing for the frontier town of Fort McMurray, fuelling both prosperity and misery. As the social and environmental toll mounts, Aida Edemariam reports on the dark side of a boom town" - Mud, Sweat and Tears.
posted by chunking express on Oct 31, 2007 - 45 comments

The 'Neutral Hills' is the name given to a range of hills in east central Alberta (Canada) that were shared hunting grounds for the Blackfoot and Cree Indian tribes. Because of its importance to the tribes, the area was designated as 'neutral' for hunting only, not fighting. The area ranges from the village of Veteran as far east as Major, Saskatchewan, and from just south of the town of Provost to the community of Esther. Every image posted on this site was captured within the Neutral Hills region.
posted by bwg on Aug 22, 2007 - 16 comments

The only rat-free zones in the world are the Arctic, the Antarctic, some especially isolated islands, and the province of Alberta in Canada . Alberta is unusual in that rat infestation was prevented by deliberate government action. The first rat did not reach Alberta until 1950, and in 1951 the province launched an extremely aggressive rat-control program that included shooting and poisoning rats, and bulldozing, burning down, and blowing up rat-infested buildings. By 1960 the number of rat infestations in Alberta had dropped below 200 per year and has remained low ever since. We clubbed them with brooms and 2x4s, got most of them that way
posted by KokuRyu on May 18, 2007 - 54 comments

Delusional Calgaria (De-luge-unul Cal-gu-ree-uh): An affliction that affects 4 out of 5 Nova Scotians living away from home in Calgary. And a second opinion...
posted by Old Man Wilson on Mar 26, 2007 - 40 comments

Comments that didn't get quoted because they weren't made.. Prominent Liberals have been jumping into the fray about the crisis in the Middle East and the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon. Here are some (parodied) comments from them.
posted by orange swan on Jul 20, 2006 - 21 comments

Black Gold in Alberta. The tar sands located in northern Alberta, containing 85% of the worlds bitumen could provide for america's oil needs for the next century. The trillion barrell oil pit will continue to grow in importance as the price of oil continues to climb, and investors from around the world pour billions of dollars into the rich dirt.
posted by blue_beetle on Jun 26, 2006 - 44 comments

The US and Canadian national anthems as delivered this week in Edmonton, Ontario. [youtube video]
posted by tsarfan on May 27, 2006 - 66 comments

Canada, a 13+ link whistlestop glance at something from all the provinces and territories...Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, NWT, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, PEI, Quebec, Saskatewan, Yukon. Not to mention the talk about Turks and Caicos?
posted by edgeways on Feb 15, 2005 - 28 comments

Let us re-introduce you to Henry Bekkering. "...Most have seen the original...but if you don't know, now you know." (video with sound. sound not necessary to appreciate 40 inch vertical leaps and a two-footed leap from the foul line) [first post]
posted by Al_Truist on Jan 26, 2005 - 10 comments

Let us say you are the premier of Alberta. Let's say you made some ill advised statements suggesting that public car insurance is the kind of socialist claptrap the forced Pinochet to stage a coup in Chile. Let us further posit that you were pursuing a degree at the time and had recently turned in a paper (word .doc) on that very topic, and presented it in the provincial legislature to back up those statements. Would you not then want to be pretty sure you hadn't plagiarized large chunks of your essay from the web?
posted by Capn on May 13, 2004 - 43 comments

"I guess any self-respecting rancher would have shot, shoveled and shut up, but he didn't do that". An annoyed Premier of Alberta Ralph Klein was quoted saying this on Sept 17th, 2003 at a weekend meeting of U.S. governors and western Canadian premiers in response to the discovery of one case of mad-cow found in his province.
Fast forward to today: USDA refused to release mad cow records , United Press has been requesting these documents since July 10th, 2003 and has been continually stonewalled as recently as Dec 17th ,2003. Especially troubling is the question of where the Canadian mad-cow possibly originated.
posted by CrazyJub on Dec 24, 2003 - 25 comments

"I prefer not to work in Canada. I prefer to work in my own country...There are better actors down here. That's why they have to import so many actors for their Canadian productions."

Oscar winner Robert Duvall claimed Canadians don't make good actors following a Kevin Costner "runaway production" made in Calgary. He should know, having worked with Canadians and been involved with Canadian projects in the past (maybe he's secretly Canadian!). Could he have been referring to these folks? Or does he just lack the patience to coach Canadian's to speak American (NY Times reg. req'd)? Hopefully it's all just be an allergic reaction to tacky-female-cheese-pop-muzik...
posted by boost ventilator on Feb 12, 2003 - 17 comments

Yesterday, the Province of Alberta launched an adoption web site for its foster care children. Detailed and often heartbreaking profiles of each child are available, including their background and behavioural problems (many, for example, suffer from fetal alcohol effect). But critics complain that too much information about the children is being made available, and that the site is reducing the children to the level of commodities. (Not the first adoption web site, but it's a first for a Canadian province, I think.)
posted by mcwetboy on Feb 11, 2003 - 14 comments

As the Alberta government ratchets up its campaign against the Kyoto Protocol (and the Canadian government's support thereof), two environmental groups release a report that argues that Canadians could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent and save $30 billion a year in the process by 2030 (PDFs of the report summary and full report). And, if reducing emissions starts at home, you can apparently cut your own energy bills and emissions in half simply by stopping leaks and drafts in your house.
posted by mcwetboy on Oct 6, 2002 - 11 comments

Alberta's sex-offender web site: public service, or invitation to vigilante justice?
posted by brookish on May 30, 2002 - 23 comments

Alberta will face a disastrous competitive and economic disadvantage if Canada signs the Kyoto accord. Meanwhile, this year has been one of the worst for smog in Toronto. Some municipalities in Ontario are voluntarily looking towards alternate energy sources because they feel, in the long run the costs will be lower (lower health costs, avoiding higher fossil fuel costs, etc. - sorry, no link) What do you think? Is it possible to have economically viable alternative energy, and is the US setting a bad example for countries that feel they need to compete?
posted by nprigoda on Jul 24, 2001 - 12 comments

Who owns your name? I could not find this story on the web. I saw it in print. It appeared in an article by Geoffrey Vanderburg in the Friday Sept. 29th Edmonton Journal.
Here's an excerpt. "An internet company with links to the National Firearms Association has been ordered to give up a Web site using Justice Minister Anne McLellan's name. Smartcanuk Internet Services has been told to transfer control of annemclellan.com to Canada's justice minister, McLellan's Edmonton lawyer said Thursday"
Al Green, owner of Smartcanuk... says the ruling sets a "very very dangerous precedent."
"Sandra Sellers, an eResolution arbitrator...., decided Monday to grant transfer of annemclellan.com and annemclellan.org to McLellan."
McLellan was able to demonstrate that the domain name was identical or similar to a trade-mark, that Green had no legitimate interests in the name, and that the name was being used in bad faith....
Green argues McLellan is not a trademark, she's not famous and his use of the Web site does not constitute "bad faith"
I think I have to agree with the arbitrator on this one. If there is one last sacred domain we should be entitled to it is our own names. Although in the case of the John Smiths of the world that position is likely to take some heat. Any thoughts people?
posted by daddyray on Sep 30, 2000 - 8 comments