Propane Blues

I was driving to work the other morning listening CBC. One of the news items was a story about the fact that the cost of propane in the rural areas of Ontario had almost doubled in the past few months (as natural gas is not available in rural areas, folks use propane). The story got my attention in part because we use to cook, heat our water and occasionally our house using propane. As a young family with only one income, that sort of increase would have put a serious dent in our monthly budget. I think there would have been some months where we would not have been able to both pay the propane bill and buy food. So I turned up the radio and listened to the story and the explanation from the "independent petroleum expert"

There are apparently two reasons why the cost of propane has increased so dramatically. One is quite simply (according to the expert) because more people are using the stuff. In the fall the corn farmers of the mid western United States needed more propane to dry their bumper crop; ever since November for most of the northern US and much of Canada it has been damn cold and people are using more to heat their houses. The expert didn't say that there was a shortage of propane in the ground or that the costs to process and ship the stuff had increase - the stuff had gone up because more people were using it. In other words - it cost more because the company could charge more and knew people would have no choice but to pay the increased costs.

The second reason why the price has increased (again according to this expert) is the decline of the Canadian dollar as compared against the American dollar. Really? Apparently the North American propane prices are set in Texas, which quite frankly seems a bit strange as it is Canadian propane. I don't understand why Ontario resident's propane costs reflect American prices. We have to pay more because the price is set in American dollars (and therefore we have to pay the exchange rate) in spite of the fact it never left this country. The absurdity of this argument becomes quickly apparent when one realized that the propane that was delivered to the rural family this week was bought weeks if not months ago when the Canadian dollar was at par.

I think understand capitalism. I think I understand that under that theory those who control the resources will maximize their profit regardless of who is abused or exploited.  What I don't understand is why they bother to pretend that they are not money grubbing SOBs. If you are going to rip me off - just do it.  Stop lying to me about the reasons why.

News Flash ------Joe Oliver, the Federal Minister of Energy, has ordered the price increases to be reviewed by the National Energy Board. Maybe I am being a bit too cynical.... but as much as it saddens me to say it. If your propane bill went up this month don't expect a fat rebate check any time soon.

Pete Seeger

I have spent part of the day listening to my CD of the Weavers. It is an enjoyable double set and I like to listen to it every once in awhile but today I listened to it because Pete Seeger was one of the Weavers (along with  Ronnie Gilbert Lee Hays and Fred Hillerman) and I wanted to hear his voice.

Pete Seeger died yesterday and my world is just a bit emptier than it was on Sunday. So much of the music that shaped my musical taste was his music. So many of my political beliefs were shaped by his politics. The whole folk music scene that existed in the 1950s and 60s and still exists today does so because of people like Seeger, the Weavers, Almanac Singers, Guthrie, Leadbelly and Cico Huston amongst others. All of the groups that followed them such as the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary or Fairport Convention could only have existed because folks like Peter Seeger spent a large part of the lives traveling the country singing their songs and telling their truths about peace and justice.

He was a man of conviction and he wore those convictions loudly and proudly. He not only never avoided a political confrontation , he actively went out and found them.  Whether it was refusing to participate at the McCarthy Hearings in the 1950s  or singing at Occupy New York or participating in the cleaning of the Hudson River - where ever he was - he sang for the truths that to him were self evident.

So the next time you sing around a campfire or at a protest march.... remember Pete Seeger. He showed us how.

Time for a change?

Last week Rick Mercer during his weekly rant on CBC mentioned that he had made a New Year's resolution to not get as angry at the Canadian Government; to at least make the attempt to look at both sides of the issue. It was a short lived resolution.

I never thought about making such a resolution. I am more of a realist than Mercer is both in terms of my ability to restrain myself and the government's apparent limitless capacity to make fools of themselves.

Keeping up with the disaster that is the Harper government can be exhausting. I am almost afraid to watch the 10:00 news on CBC. I know there will be at least one item that will cause me to, at one point during the night, lay awake and wonder what I can do. I keep on having this dream/nightmare that one day I will get to chat with Mr. Harper and then I can tell him how much I disagree with him. Of course I know that that would never happen and if it did there is nothing I can do to change his mind. We come from different planets. Or at least our perceptions of reality are profoundly different that we might as well.  I think I could live with those differences if he would acknowledge that not everyone agrees with him; that there is another point of view which has validity; and people who think differently are not terrorist, anti-Semitic or bad Canadians.

I am so tired of someone from the Harper Government starting a sentence with "all Canadians believe/think/feel or agree". I am tired of them making assumptions that they know what I think or believe (it is far more likely they just don't care how I think or feel). I am tired of them weakening our capacity to protect ourselves environmentally (by laying off or muzzling our scientists) and then saying that we have more protection than ever and that they are making decisions that are in best interests of all Canadians. I am beyond tired of their sanctimonious and condescending comments to other countries. We lecture them about human rights while denying the same rights to so many First Nation Canadians or to some Palestinians. We make big announcements about how wonderful we are, and then do nothing.

Take for example the issue of Syrian refuges. As noted by the CBC Sweden has welcomed approximately 14,000 refugees from that war torn country. Canada's commitment? To take a total of 1,300 individuals between 2012 and 2014. Sweden has a population of less than ten million but have already accepted ten times as many people as Canada has promised to do. Makes Canada look rather ungenerous. We have nothing to brag about. Similarly last week Harper made a big deal about money given to Palestine. From numbers available from The Globe and Mail it looks as if the aid package committed to that country is less than it was last year although quite frankly with the way the Harper Government makes numerous announcements about the same pot of money it is hard to tell.

Most of all I am tired at Harper's assumption that I don't care or that I am stupid. Neither is true. I am hoping there are millions of Canadians who can and will say the same thing.