Month: July 2011

Remembering Allan Cassidy

Although there are many things that Allan will be remembered for, it is his deconstruction of the recent Oak Bay Beach Hotel rezoning that will stay in my mind for the longest. With his usual style, he looked at the list of zoning variances and then the two plans and asked, quite simply: Why did these two things not agree with each other? End result: away goes Kevin Walker to come back with a complete list. Details matter.

I have no idea why that little episode happened, but I do know one thing: this was one of many ways Allan made our community better. And while, he and I disagreed on bike lanes, he always had a good reason why. So goodbye, my former Beaver leader. Thank you for your service.

Destroying the environment is making us rich…

…according to Statistics Canada. At least by the very screwed up definitions of wealth we attached to the natural environment. So sayeth StatsCan:

Canada’s natural wealth, defined as the dollar value of selected natural resource stocks and land, stood at roughly $3 trillion in 2009. In 1990, it was just under $1 trillion.

But what really is annoying is the wording Postmedia used to spin this:

“due to in large part to the high price of the oil that’s trapped in the country’s vast oilsands reserves”

Trapped? People get trapped down wells and cats up trees. Trapped things need to get out, be rescued. This doesn’t look much a rescue operation to me:

Athabasca Oil Sands. Photo credit: Shell (The irony of this amuses me)
Dig to save the oil! Athabasca Oil Sands. Photo credit: Shell (The irony of this amuses me)

The media has the power to shape our world, mostly through the words they use to describe the world. I just wish they were a bit more careful when they used that power.