Also.

[electricland]

The Fraser Institute? Still on crack.

So let me get this straight... we should all be using all the air conditioning we can, because they don't have it in France, and look at all the people over there who died in the heatwave!

(In their slight defence, the version that appeared in the Gazette was titled "Restricting Energy Use Can Be Deadly" -- I don't know if this was a subversive attempt on the headline writer's part to show just how stupid the argument was, but it certainly made me see red much, much sooner.)

The lessons of the blackout, as far as I can see, should be:
1. Energy conservation, people! Where are my incentives to use less energy? Where are my tax credits for energy-efficient appliances (including air conditioners, thank you) and insulation? Why am I being sold super-cheap electricity when the government can't afford to subsidize it and the utilities can't afford to upgrade their systems?
2. Bring the energy production and distribution system into the modern world.

If the Ontario election call is any indication, however, good bloody luck getting anyone to recognize this.

Comments

Feeling slightly more ignorant than usual about my Northern neighbors...

[alierakieron.livejournal.com]

Umm... how can he "Call for an election"? Are they not regularly scheduled? Sorry to ask stupid questions...

Re: Feeling slightly more ignorant than usual about my Northern neighbors...

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Not to worry... no, we don't have regularly scheduled elections. I believe what happens is that the prime minister (at the federal level) or premier (at the provincial level) calls an election pretty much at a time of his or her choosing, but it has to be within 5 years after the last election (http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=ele&document=next&lang=e&textonly=false). If the Prime Minister falls on a no-confidence vote I believe an election is generally called right away. Hm. I don't know as much about it as I should.

Governments have been known to call elections after only 3 years or so in office, but then the voters tend to get pissed off and punish them. ;)

Elections Canada website (http://www.elections.ca/home.asp?textonly=false)
Elections Ontario (http://www.electionsontario.on.ca/en/home_en.shtml) (more relevant to the present case)

(I love Elections Canada. No Florida voting scandals for us, thank you.)

Hm. The Canadian Parliamentary System For Dummies. (http://www.filibustercartoons.com/parliament.htm)

Re: Feeling slightly more ignorant than usual about my Northern neighbors...

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Here's a breathtakingly candid and/or cynical look at when elections are called:

http://www.csis.org/americas/canada/focus/focus0900.html

[thebitterguy]

I could have sworn Hydro offered incentives for better AC this year. Or at least for trading in an old, crappy one.

Slight rant... sorry :P

[bryghtboy.livejournal.com]

I've never understood how the Fraser Institute gets away with saying a lot of the dumb shit they pop up with. Drawing direct analogies between vastly different demographic groups in entirely different social, economic and ethnic backgrounds is silly. Pointing at some stat and saying that there is one cause and there is a quick and easy solution or using that stat as a scare tactic ... Well, those sorts of conclusions are just wrong.

Its amazing to me how everybody involved at any level of this mess with the power system seems to be able to slide right out of responsibility... except those poor slobs in Ohio. Everybody seems to have been aware that the company wasn't doing such a great job at safety or consistancy. Yet, all of the other power conglomarates around it kept them hooked up to the system. A system that is apparently more finicky and jittery than a cat on crack in a room full of rocking chairs...

I'm hesitant to say that I have a frickin' clue about how our power distrubution system works, because there seems to be a fair bit of evidence that it doesn't. Which makes me wonder how the money flows between us and the people who produce power... cause they obviously need to spend more money somewhere.

I would think that with the way the system is organized and the fact that the government at one time operated it... that they might have a little bit of responsibility to keep it running. And the fact that they have failed to provide safe drinking water in the past makes me somewhat dubious of them.

Re: Slight rant... sorry :P

[punmeister.livejournal.com]

Almost every system in our society is as fragile as glass, most people just prefer to look through them rather than at them. As long as a system works mostly the way it should, most people aren't going to put much effort into improving it.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Really? Good. More of that there, then, please.

Re: Slight rant... sorry :P

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Interesting interview this morning on The Current with Thomas Homer-Dixon (http://www.homerdixon.com/) discussing this very thing. (It's not up yet, but the show log will be here: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2003/200309/20030903.html)

Re: Slight rant... sorry :P

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to come up with good things about the Fraser Institute. So far, I've got:

1. Superbly good at playing devil's advocate. If they're playing.
2. Force me to codify and support my views in opposition.
3. They're out in the open where we can see them.
4. They're a long way away.

I don't think the power distribution situation is desperate -- yet -- but I do think it behooves all of us as thinking citizens to do something about improving it and encourage our governments to do likewise.

Re: Slight rant... sorry :P

[raithen.livejournal.com]

They aren't "a long way away" from all of us. . .

Re: Slight rant... sorry :P

[electricland.livejournal.com]

There, there.