Dec 21

First Nations “Steward” Risks Oil Spill In Line 9 Sabotage Stunt (Feat. Vanessa Gray)

For a criminally stupid protest...

For a criminally stupid protest…

Update: Vanessa Gray, Sarah Scanlon, and Stone Stewart have been charged with mischief over $5,000, and mischief endangering life. The courts have released all three on their own recognizance on Tuesday morning.

At 7:30 this morning a small group of protesters gathered in Sarnia, Ontario to protest Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline. Professional protester Vanessa Gray claimed “tar sands projects represent an ongoing cultural and environmental genocide.” Her partner Sarah Schanlon declared “when, not if, when it leaks it will be polluting and making water and air filled with chemicals across Ontario…we understand that bitumen is untreatable- which means that there’s no way to get it out of the drinking water, there’s no way of getting it out of the water that’s going into the food that we need consume.”

So, how do a group of anti-energy activists protest the “environmental genocide” of an future “untreatable” oil spills from a pipeline they’ve claimed is “too old” to be operated reliably? Simple – but dangerously stupid – they cut through the locks of a manually operated valve station, executed an unscheduled shut-down of the pipeline, and locked their necks to the wheel to prevent maintenance and emergency staff from turning it back on or off.

The protest was a copy-cat of the December 7th Line 9 tampering in Quebec. Both cases caused unscheduled shut-downs of Line 9, neither appear to have consulted experts who could tell them how safe or dangerous their actions were. In the worst-case scenario people could have died- if they truly believe that pipeline spills are “untreatable”, it took a special kind of stupid for them to have taken this risk.

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Dec 07

Anti-Pipeline Extremists Tamper With Enbridge Line 9

Yesterday the Canadian Press published a story based on a Transport Canada intelligence report outlining the risk of extremists might inflitrate pipeline protests and use them as a cover to engage in violence. The report, of course, is way off mark- most of the pipeline protests I’ve been to and reported on were already led by people who promote and engage in activist violence. Stay tuned for a story listing some of the most extremist activists involved in the anti-pipeline movement.

A video was released this morning by Al Jazeera associate Franklin Lopez of a Quebec protester tampering with Enbridge’s recently reversed Line 9 pipeline. In the video a village idiot named “Jean” simultaneously complains about how “old” Enbridge’s recently inspected and upgraded pipeline is while manually shutting it down. This is outrageously stupid, and not the action one would expect from someone who respects the environment- they know nothing about how pipelines work, shutting it down without notifying the control room could cause serious environmental damage.

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Dec 04

350.org Climate Activist Pulls Race Card On Vegan Critics (Feat. Cameron Fenton)

Cameron Fenton with Thomas Mulcair

Astroturf Alert: Cameron Fenton with Thomas Mulcair

One of the greatest challenges for radical environmentalists can be explained with the idiom “the left eats its own.” I saw this first hand during Occupy where radical-left activists tore each other apart, often for minor violations of political correctness or other perceived transgressions of lefty code. Readers who harbour fears that Naomi Klein’s revolution will take over the world shouldn’t- she and her friends will eventually eat each other up for breakfast.

When it comes to self-righteous jerks, there’s no better example than the vegan community. It’s every carnivore’s nightmare to discover they’ve invited a vegan to a dinner party. It doesn’t only screw-up your menu options, but odds are you’ll have to put up with them gloating over their lifestyle choices- and your prime rib will be a lot less enjoyable under the gaze of your vegan guest’s ugly looks.

But despite vegan’s reputations for being unbearable jerks, there’s one thing that can be said on their behalf- they actually walk the walk (at least, while everyone is looking). It might be unimaginable, but there’s a bigger set of jerks than the vegans- the jet-setting Fiji Water connoisseurs at 350.org. Cameron Fenton gave us a great example this week, pulling the race card on his vegan critics.

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Dec 03

City Councillor Helps Make Ryerson University Less Safe (Feat. Kristyn Wong-Tam)

Kristyn Wong-Tam is making Ryerson a less safe space...

Kristyn Wong-Tam is helping make Ryerson a less safe space…

On December 1st, the Ryerson Feminist Collective held a rally about “reclaiming” safe spaces on the university’s campus called Take Back The Campus. The event was lead by the collective’s two founders; Social Work major and Planned Parenthood volunteer Jackie Mlotek, and another Social Work major named Alyson Rogers. Prominent speakers included Associate Professor of Social Work Cyndy Baskin, and city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam,

The protesters gathered to complain that Ryerson’s campus isn’t safe for them. They labelled the event as “an opportunity for people who have experienced discrimination, marginalization and hate on campus to take up space and share their experiences” and to send “a clear message that Ryerson is an equity-based campus and hate will not be tolerated.”

If genuine, their demands are absolutely fair. Universities are not a place for hate, discrimination, and marginalization- they’re meant to be spaces where people of all backgrounds and belief structures can grow and learn from each other. The problem is that they’re not as genuine as they frame themselves. Ryerson is one of the most left-leaning and feminist friendly universities in the country, what it isn’t is a safe space for people with opposing points of view.

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Nov 19

Jet-Setting Extremist Says Climate Change Will Lead To Canadian Civil War! (Feat. Eriel Deranger)

Eriel Deranger: Love is the movement!

Eriel Deranger: Love War is the movement!

In our last story about the zaniness of the climate change movement we covered how jet-setting activist Clayton Thomas-Muller celebrated his promotion at 350.org with an airplane selfie! Clayton was in California last month with fellow Love Is The Movement tattoo cult member Eriel Deranger where they both spoke to the groovy California new age social engineering group Bioneers. Deranger and Thomas-Muller are both gearing up for the UN’s Paris COP climate change talks.

Two days later Deranger has decided to go all Bernie Saunders on us in the APTN article Could climate change lead to civil war in Canada, where she claimes that “It’s climate change that brought that country (Syria) to its knees.” Forget ISIS, Assad, and the influence of the Saudi’s, it’s all about climate change! Deranger, and APTN’s article, goes on to say that Canada is at risk of similar “civil unrest.”

It’s moments like this I’m thankful the RCMP is tracking these people…

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Nov 17

Jet-Setting NGO Climate Campaigner Celebrates New Job With Airplane Selfie! (Feat. 350, Bioneers)

Save the Planet, drink plastic bottles of Fiji water!

Clayton Thomas-Muller: Card carrying Aeroplan Elite member

Our last 350.org story featured jet-setting Canadian climate activist Clayton Thomas-Muller’s September trip to New York. Clayton showed his contempt for 350 founder Bill McKibben’s position that it’s crazy to import water from Fiji to the USA by enjoying a cool & refreshing plastic bottle of Fiji water with his New York Pastrami sandwich. “Ohhhhh the anticipation” Clayton exclaimed, drooling over a drink and sandwich many say symbolizes American’s problems with overconsumption.

When I asked McKibben about Clayton’s connections to Canadian extremist groups at this summer’s Jobs Justice Climate march he responded saying “I like Clayton, he does a great job”. I followed-up asking, “Are you aware Clayton has been on a list of extremists kept by the RCMP?”, Mckibben responded by saying “I like Clayton, he does great work.” Any doubt about how much McKibben likes Clayton was recently wiped out after he recently rewarded the jet-setting Canadian activist a permanent position.

Clayton is a valuable asset to the ENGO industrial complex, few first nations activists have expressed such enthusiasm to fight their pro-energy indigenous brothers and sisters on behalf of the American billionaires and groovy California new agers who fund him. On October 20 Clayton announced he’s now a full-time 350.org “Stop it at the source” Campaigner- as the Hollyhock regular likes to say #Hella! So, how did he celebrate?

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Nov 10

CBC Winnipeg Targets Family Owned Startup Over Half-Baked Gripe About Racist Typo

Tasteless to the extreme...

Tasteless to the extreme…

Halloween has passed, and as this site predicted on October 2nd, the media was overflowing with criticism of politically incorrect costumes- the CBC published almost a dozen. CBC Regina reported on a teacher who was “really surprised” an American company sold “inappropriate” costumes and subsequently showed them to her elementary school students. CBC BC reported on a Thompson Rivers University social work instructor who claims he noticed the problem shopping with his sister and nieces.

CBC News showcased a Toronto protest led by a couple who assisted a defrocked United Church minister as he lied to Six Nations elders about discovering a mass grave of residential school children, and a woman who assisted as he pulled the bones out of his pockets at an Occupy Toronto meeting. All three stood by him long after APTN proved they were animal bones (a story I proudly assisted with). Annett was one of the most notorious cultural appropriators in Canadian history.

Most of the CBC’s stories focused on a couple of large-scale seasonal costume retailers. They were textbook examples of lazy and uncreative journalism but – to be fair – the company’s decisions to market products with names like “Reservation Royalty” is tasteless to the extreme. CBC Winnipeg took a different approach, attacking a family-owned startup for selling a relatively innocent kids costume. Adding insult to the injury of putting the owner’s fledgling new business at risk- the story focussed on a mistake, an allegedly racist typo on costume’s price tag.

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Nov 04

Interactive Chart: Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet

This chart is a work in-progress outlining Justin Trudeau’s new Cabinet ministers and their external relationships. Click on a person or organization for more information, click on the link between them for info on how they connect, hover over them to expose their relationships- you can zoom in/out with your mouse scroll wheel, or using the “+/-” buttons on the chart.

For a larger format of the chart please click here

Please send me a message is there’s anything you think I should add to it: grenouf(at)kitstech.ca

Oct 23

Toxic Feminism Part I: Occupy, Antonia Zerbisias, Gregory Alan Elliott, And Petty Vandalism

Now that's my kind of feminism!

Now that’s my kind of feminism!

I take great pride coming from a family of strong women, they might not have called themselves feminists, but that’s how I saw them. My maternal grandmother was a real-life Rosie the Riveter who welded aluminum fighters and bombers during WWII. My paternal grandmother was a technical draftsperson who continued working after the war- helping the UK Army design machine guns, military vehicles, and the infamous rubber bullet.

One of my earliest memories was going to the bank with my mom when she went to apply for a mortgage. Years later she explained to me how the manager was incredibly resistant, Canadian banks didn’t give mortgages to women back in the early 70’s. She resisted and fought back hard, they eventually gave in and she became one of the first women in the country to be issued a mortgage in her name alone.

Feminism was borne out of a fight for freedom- the right to vote, the right to own property, and the ability to get a mortgage to buy it with. My grandmother’s feminism – through the airplanes and guns they helped create – saved the world from the horrors of fascist regimes.

I know contemporary feminists who are making an important difference- one whose contributions leave me in awe. I’m not an enemy of feminism, I’m an ally; that said, Canada is ground zero for a new form of the movement- and it’s toxic.

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Oct 17

Green Party Candidate Funds Racist’s Astroturf Attack On First Nation’s Democracy (Feat. Lisa Barrett)

Elizabeth May: Wolf in sheep's clothing...

Elizabeth May: Wolf in sheep’s clothing…

Correction: This story mistakenly said Flores Island is on the East coast of Vancouver Island, it’s on the West.

Elizabeth May and the Green Party have made indigenous issues at the centre of all they do. May tells us that a Green government would work tirelessly to accelerate First Nations reconciliation, prioritize land claim and treaty negotiations, honour Canada’s fiduciary responsibilities, to always act “in good faith”- and, most importantly, that the Greens will respect native sovereignty like no government ever has.

Greens work hard to demonstrate their heartfelt respect for First Nations, often opening their meetings and media events with indigenous women drummers singing traditional songs. Greens feel it’s important to start off their speeches by first acknowledging they’re standing on the local First Nation’s territory. When May stepped up to the stage at this years Press Gallery awards, her first words were a vulgar attack on earlier speakers for their non-compliance:

“like what the fuck was wrong with the rest of you and you didn’t notice you were standing on traditional territory!”

But while Green’s and environmentalist’s enthusiastic support might indeed be powered by love, it’s conditional, and no less paternalistic than the Hudson Bay Company. Their movement’s respect for indigenous sovereignty terminates the moment a First Nations community’s priorities deviate from their own. Their response is to use the oldest trick in the colonist’s cookbook- identify angry, weak, and/or corruptible locals and get them to work on your side.

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