innocentboy
11-20-2005, 02:30 PM
from one part of the net to this part of the net,
guy said that it's from a Calgary newspaper or something.
i dunno. i'm just copy and pasting it.
By Ted Byfield
The federal government should prepare now, writes former premier Peter Lougheed, for a concerted American attack on Canadian water resources, because the Americans "will be coming after our water aggressively within three to five years."
A few days later, climatologists warn of world-wide water shortages because high mountain glaciers are everywhere rapidly melting.
When this process is finished, the prairie rivers will dry up and much of the land in southern Alberta could become a desert.
So federal and provincial governments should start immediately, Lougheed urges, to assemble reliable data on what is occurring, to hold first ministers' conferences on water, and special legislature and parliamentary discussions on possible responses.
And we should convince private sector research groups to give water a priority.
Lougheed is no doubt right -- he's been right on quite a few things, heaven knows -- but is there not a reality here that we should face up to from the start?
It's this: If they are confronted with the ruin and depopulation of southern California, Denver and much of the American southwest, where the water shortage would no doubt be worst, are the Americans likely to shrink from just coming and taking the water?
How could we stop them?
The most fascinating solution to the long-foreseen American water problem has been discussed for years.
How real and technologically feasible it is, I don't know, but it is usually presented with impeccable engineering credentials.
It makes use of a geophysical oddity of the North American continent, known as the "Rocky Mountain Trench."
Alongside the western flank of the Canadian Rockies there runs a 700-mile-long trench, all of it about 2,500 feet above sea level.
The trench carries several rivers.
From northern Montana to Canal Flats, B.C., it forms the channel of the Kootenay.
From Canal Flats to the "Big Bend" of the Columbia, it carries the Columbia.
From there, north to Valemount, B.C., it carries the Canoe.
From there to Prince George, it carries the Fraser, and from a point northwest of Prince George it carries the Parsnip and Williston Lake which flow into Alberta's Peace River, the Slave River, Great Slave Lake, and the Mackenzie.
In other words, the trench accommodates the headwaters of three great river systems -- the Columbia and the Fraser, which flow to the Pacific, and the Mackenzie which flows to the Arctic.
It also offers a natural channel from the water-rich lands of the sub-Arctic, directly to the Central Washington (state) Desert on the fringes of the parched American West.
To connect them all would probably be the biggest construction job in the history of the world.
But, say some engineers, it's entirely feasible.
And faced with the loss of half of California, the Americans would surely regard it as very feasible indeed.
But how would they get it?
How would they persuade Canadians to part with all that water?
Lougheed very accurately recalls the passionate resistance he encountered even to the proposal to move water from the north of Alberta to the south.
My bet is they would address, not all Canadians, but only some, notably those who reside in Alberta and B.C.
Suppose there had been, with some American contrivance, a severe recession in the Alberta-B.C. economy.
Not as bad as the Dirty Thirties, but bad enough to cause severe unemployment.
Suppose then that the Americans came forth with their plan for the trench.
Ten years of massive construction with top-paying jobs.
Lots of overtime.
The two provinces must OK the water plan, or perhaps become states of the union?
How would that vote go?
In other words, how deep is our real commitment to Canada?
Not very deep, I suspect.
I think we'd vote to part with the water, provided, of course, enough of it was diverted to our own prairie farms.
But what about the rest of Canada?
Would it not have a say?
The provinces are supposed to "own" the resources, but never yet have they been able to make this stick against Ottawa.
The Big Guy always wins, that's the rule.
True enough, except that this time there would be a much Bigger Guy involved.
Well, it's all speculation, of course.
But while all these preparations are going on, somebody might consider the above possible scenario.
God bless,
innocentboy
http://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/isaiah.jpghttp://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/jellobello2.jpghttp://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/das2.jpghttp://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/david2.jpghttp://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/richard2.jpg
my visual art: http://www.innocentboyproductions.com (http://www.innocentboyproductions.com) last updated Nov. 17, 2005
Song of Songs the Comic Book: http://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com (http://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com) last update Nov. 17, 2005
"NICE ARTWORK. I RESPECT YOUR TALENT ... REAL RECOGNIZE REAL" - Ill Bill
nosebleed, nosebleed, rain, nosebleed, nosebleed, yawn
guy said that it's from a Calgary newspaper or something.
i dunno. i'm just copy and pasting it.
By Ted Byfield
The federal government should prepare now, writes former premier Peter Lougheed, for a concerted American attack on Canadian water resources, because the Americans "will be coming after our water aggressively within three to five years."
A few days later, climatologists warn of world-wide water shortages because high mountain glaciers are everywhere rapidly melting.
When this process is finished, the prairie rivers will dry up and much of the land in southern Alberta could become a desert.
So federal and provincial governments should start immediately, Lougheed urges, to assemble reliable data on what is occurring, to hold first ministers' conferences on water, and special legislature and parliamentary discussions on possible responses.
And we should convince private sector research groups to give water a priority.
Lougheed is no doubt right -- he's been right on quite a few things, heaven knows -- but is there not a reality here that we should face up to from the start?
It's this: If they are confronted with the ruin and depopulation of southern California, Denver and much of the American southwest, where the water shortage would no doubt be worst, are the Americans likely to shrink from just coming and taking the water?
How could we stop them?
The most fascinating solution to the long-foreseen American water problem has been discussed for years.
How real and technologically feasible it is, I don't know, but it is usually presented with impeccable engineering credentials.
It makes use of a geophysical oddity of the North American continent, known as the "Rocky Mountain Trench."
Alongside the western flank of the Canadian Rockies there runs a 700-mile-long trench, all of it about 2,500 feet above sea level.
The trench carries several rivers.
From northern Montana to Canal Flats, B.C., it forms the channel of the Kootenay.
From Canal Flats to the "Big Bend" of the Columbia, it carries the Columbia.
From there, north to Valemount, B.C., it carries the Canoe.
From there to Prince George, it carries the Fraser, and from a point northwest of Prince George it carries the Parsnip and Williston Lake which flow into Alberta's Peace River, the Slave River, Great Slave Lake, and the Mackenzie.
In other words, the trench accommodates the headwaters of three great river systems -- the Columbia and the Fraser, which flow to the Pacific, and the Mackenzie which flows to the Arctic.
It also offers a natural channel from the water-rich lands of the sub-Arctic, directly to the Central Washington (state) Desert on the fringes of the parched American West.
To connect them all would probably be the biggest construction job in the history of the world.
But, say some engineers, it's entirely feasible.
And faced with the loss of half of California, the Americans would surely regard it as very feasible indeed.
But how would they get it?
How would they persuade Canadians to part with all that water?
Lougheed very accurately recalls the passionate resistance he encountered even to the proposal to move water from the north of Alberta to the south.
My bet is they would address, not all Canadians, but only some, notably those who reside in Alberta and B.C.
Suppose there had been, with some American contrivance, a severe recession in the Alberta-B.C. economy.
Not as bad as the Dirty Thirties, but bad enough to cause severe unemployment.
Suppose then that the Americans came forth with their plan for the trench.
Ten years of massive construction with top-paying jobs.
Lots of overtime.
The two provinces must OK the water plan, or perhaps become states of the union?
How would that vote go?
In other words, how deep is our real commitment to Canada?
Not very deep, I suspect.
I think we'd vote to part with the water, provided, of course, enough of it was diverted to our own prairie farms.
But what about the rest of Canada?
Would it not have a say?
The provinces are supposed to "own" the resources, but never yet have they been able to make this stick against Ottawa.
The Big Guy always wins, that's the rule.
True enough, except that this time there would be a much Bigger Guy involved.
Well, it's all speculation, of course.
But while all these preparations are going on, somebody might consider the above possible scenario.
God bless,
innocentboy
http://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/isaiah.jpghttp://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/jellobello2.jpghttp://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/das2.jpghttp://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/david2.jpghttp://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com/forum/images/avatars/gallery//songofsongs/richard2.jpg
my visual art: http://www.innocentboyproductions.com (http://www.innocentboyproductions.com) last updated Nov. 17, 2005
Song of Songs the Comic Book: http://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com (http://www.songofsongsthecomicbook.com) last update Nov. 17, 2005
"NICE ARTWORK. I RESPECT YOUR TALENT ... REAL RECOGNIZE REAL" - Ill Bill
nosebleed, nosebleed, rain, nosebleed, nosebleed, yawn