A letter to my elected representative: feedback requested

In response to Thich Nhat Hanh's encouragement to write 'love letters' to our politicians, to GWAG's advice to write to our elected representatives regularly as part of our civic duties, and in response to Greenpa's clarion call to take action with regard to the horrible practice of food profiteering, I've written a letter.

This is the first draft of the letter, and I would really like some feedback on it, if people have time. It is quite long, but I wanted to provide suggestions instead of just criticisms, and I also wanted to make sure that my passion and convictions were evident on a number of topics. The letter is addressed to my recently elected member of the Alberta Legislative Assembly, Jeff Johnson. It turns out that this guy has experience as a 'pit boss' in the futures trading industry. So he could either be the best person to send this letter to, or the worst one. But I'm sending him something one way or the other. And then I'll send copies to the Alberta Premier too, and to the Minister of the Environment again. And then I'll modify it to send to the Prime Minister and the Federal Environment minister, even though they blew me off last time.

So if you have time, please do check out the letter and leave a comment with any recommendations or suggestions.

Thanks!

CNSC President Fired

So I woke up to the news today that Prime Minister Stephen Harper, via his minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn, had fired the head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Linda Keen. A couple of days ago I ranted about the government's threats to do just this. In a nutshell, the government didn't like that she stood up to them when they wanted to re-open a nuclear facility that hadn't complied with the necessary safety upgrades, specifically they had "failed to install a back up power system that would keep the reactor under control following a natural disaster or a major fire." Because the nuclear facility was in the business of making radioactive isotopes for medical tests and treatment, Ms. Keen was vilified as being instrumental in witholding medical services to waiting patients. Even though alternative sources for these isotopes were available from other countries, albeit more expensively.

So this is the kind of government we have as Canadians: one which can't stand any kind of criticism, even when it comes to keeping the Canadian people (not to mention the entire world) safe from a potential nuclear disaster. A government that has to fire the people who criticize them, even when they are doing the job they were appointed to do as an independent agency, by the government. They even fired her before she could testify, at the request of the government, on the topic of nuclear safety issues. Perhaps the government has also redefined the word "independent" to mean something other than what I think it means?

This action would be similar to that of lodging a complaint against a community doctor because he was reporting on the unusually high instances of cancer in a population of First Nations people who lived downstream from from oil sands extraction plants. Oh wait, that already happened.

All of this sure gives me the pleasant glow of trust and security when I re-read in the letter the Premier of Alberta sent me that any nuclear development in Alberta would first be thoroughly reviewed by: "The CNSC... an independent federal agency that regulates the use of nuclear energy and materials in Canada in order to protect our health, safety, security and the environment." An independent agency.... right. By the time it comes to review the application to build that nuclear facility, a nice Conservative appointee will have filled Linda Keen's place as president of the CNSC. A nice, obedient, yes-man (you can bet it will be a man) who will happily do his master Steven's bidding.

Not sure if I should apologize for the bitter, angry tone or not, I'm just so SO angry about this right now.

You can seen the exchange of correspondence between Linda Keen and the Minister of Natural Resources here - it makes for some really interesting reading, including a reference to the Supreme Court's idea of "independent" which is different from the government's, apparently.

Peace and Frustration: Life has some of each....

I've been waffling lately what to write about next. On the one hand, I had a great time at our Taoist Tai Chi workshop this past weekend, and came away from that feeling very energized yet peaceful. On the other hand, I am really ticked off at Prime Minister Stephen Harper again, due to his threats to fire the head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) after she spoke out against starting up the Chalk River nuclear reactor before it had upgraded its safety features. But then I remembered what I've been reading in my latest Pema Chodron book, which is that life is a dynamic mixture of everything all the time, and I could write about both in the same post.

So, let's start with the Tai Chi workshop. Apart from doing a lot of practice on our tai chi forms, this workshop also included information from our instructor on the roots of Taoist Tai Chi and its founder, Moy Lin Shin. Our instructor was a student of Mr. Moy and gave us some background on him and the health issues he struggled with his entire life. As a child, Mr. Moy's mother brought him to the temple of the the "three traditions" - a temple that was rooted in a combination of the three traditions of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The instructor went on to say that this would be akin to a church in western society today that combined the teachings of, for example, Judaism, Protestantism and Catholicism. We all chuckled a bit at the prospect of such a church, and how unlikely such a place would be.

This idea has stuck with me ever since: can you imagine a world where a place of worship like that would be the norm? Imagine if all the religions decided to look at what they had in common instead of what makes them different. Imagine if the leaders of all faiths and churches decided that since they all only worship one God/Tao/Creator/Allah, it must be the same one, with different names. Imagine the peace!

And during the workshop we got to taste a little bit of what that kind of peace is like, as fifty people of all ages, races and backgrounds did our tai chi together, prepared and ate meals together, and learned from one another.

So now: how do I hold on to this peace even a little bit while hearing on the news yesterday about the Harper government's threat to fire Linda Keen, president of the CNSC. It is difficult. I don't seem to be able to do it. How can I have any confidence in the government of this country when Harper's minister of natural resources, Gary Lunn, is poised to fire the person who did the job she was supposed to do: make sure that the nuclear facility at Chalk River didn't get reopened until the proper safety standards were met. The government overturned her decision however, letting the facility start up again generating medical isotopes. I've got nothing against medical isotopes, but surely there had to be some kind of back up plan to generate the isotopes elsewhere when this particular nuclear facility needed maintenance and upgrading!

I'm no expert but surely it's important for nuclear reactors to be upgraded now and then? You know, to make sure they aren't leaking or anything? And maybe a regular schedule of upgrading and maintenance should be put in place, say like you would do for your car, bicycle, furnace or computer? It's a nuclear reactor after all. Maybe something other than a cavalier attitude would be appropriate, given the potential for environmental catastrophe? And the one person who speaks out about this, whose job it is to speak out about this and take safety concerns seriously, is the person they threaten to fire? By what definition can such action be considered responsible government? By what definition is this any kind of government? If a person's job is threatened because they question the government, what kind of democracy are we living in?

There is a good chance that a federal election will be called this year in Canada. When that time comes, I urge all Canadians to question candidates about their position on nuclear power and other environmental issues. Use your right to free speech while you still have it. Speak out for peace.

Picture of Guan Yin, bodhisattva of compassion, courtesy the International Taoist Tai Chi Association.

Reply from Ed Stelmach

Well, I've finally typed in the letter of response I received from the Premier of Alberta, Ed Stelmach. You can read it here. My comments, snarky, sarcastic and otherwise are embedded in the text of the letter in italics. You can read my original letter to the premier here.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Prime Minister Harper.

What to do?

There are days when I get so confused and disheartened about the state of the planet. Then there are other days where I have hope and think, even believe, that humanity will get its act together and actually do something to stop us all from hurtling down this apocalyptic slope. On those kinds of days I think Al Gore is right, if we all just get together and change our light bulbs, turn down the furnace and stop using plastic bags, maybe we'll be ok. But then there are the other days, like today, where I can't help but think along the lines that this guy does, and that it's too late to do anything but brace ourselves for frying in the dark.

And no matter what kind of day it is for me on this front, I wonder what should I do about it? Should I talk to people about my concerns or shut up because they're getting tired of hearing it already? Should I worry about the privately-owned nuclear power plant they're probably going to build a couple hundred miles north of here, or be thankful it's not another coal mine? Should I keep trying to grow my own food or quit because there's not enough time for me to learn how to grow enough and preserve it properly anyway? Should I just keep politely telling people I've become vegetarian for health reasons or scream out loud that factory farming is one of the most horrific and cruel things we humans do to the species with whom we share this one planet?

Some days, like today, I just don't know what to do.

Image courtesy: www.masternewmedia.org