Canada's oil sands means "game over" for planet, warns NASA scientist James Hansen

The Stephen Harper Canada government is ramming through an omnibus budget bill that erodes Canadian democracy and ends decades of Canadian environmental   protection.

It's all all for the tar sands of course.

It's so big, so bad and so ugly:  Harper government's C-38 omnibus budget bill is a planet killer.

It is really the Tar Sands Promotion Act, disguised as a budget bill. 

Bill C-38: run down of the low down.

Canadian law- the Bill rewrites more than 70 different laws

Environment and Natural Resources —  guts Canada's environmental review process for industrial projects. The federal environment minister gets to decide which projects will be subject to environment assessments – not the law.  Environmental Assessments are no longer required for projects involving federal money. The bill would set time limits on reviews, restrict the ability of some Canadians to participate in the environmental hearings process, and allow Cabinet ministers to grant certificates for "major pipelines."

Navigable Waters Protection Act – Pipelines and power lines will be exempt from the provisions of this Act. The National Energy Board absorbs the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) whenever a pipeline crosses navigable waters. The NWPA is amended to say a pipeline is not a "work" within that Act.

Canadian Oil and Gas Operations Act –will exempt pipelines from the Navigational Waters Act.

Coasting Trade Act – will promote seismic testing allowing increased off-shore drilling.

National Energy Board Act – NEB reviews will be limited to two years – and then its decisions can be reversed by the Cabinet, including the present Northern Gateway Pipeline review.

Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act - scrapped - it requires annual reports on the effectiveness of federal climate change policies and an independent review of results.

National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy – Scrapped. The NRTEE brought industry leaders, environmentalists, First Nations, labour, and policy makers together to provide non-partisan research and advice on federal policies. Its demise will leave a policy vacuum in relation to Canada's economic development.

Fisheries Act —eliminates protection for all fish habitats from industrial projects. Creates an incentive to drain a lake and kill all the fish, if not in a fishery, in order to fill a hole with mining tailings.

The Species At Risk Act, which restricts industrial activity in critical natural habitat, would be changed so the minister of environment exempt industrial projects.

Environmental NGOs made powerless - would face restrictions on what political activities they can undertake or lose their charitable status.

The Security Intelligence Review Committee- scrapped. It monitors the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). The 2012 CSIS anti-terrorism strategy lists environmental activists as a top threat.

If we keep the world economy fixed on fossil fuels global climate catastrophe is a scientific certainty. 

Tar sands oil is the global lynch pin of continued world oil dependency now we are past peak oil (2006 IEA). It also means the price of oil, along with fossil fuel energy corporate profits, and already record sky high atmospheric greenhouse gases- can only increase. 

That makes Stephen Harper a threat to the survival of humanity and most life.

It's the clearest case for united concerted Canadian uprage!

Oh! Canada

pps Peter