Spillage

Warren Kinsella;

Canada Steamship Lines is a company owned by a certain Canadian politician.� It doesn’t fly the Canadian flag to avoid paying taxes here, it has had a ship seized for drug running and, now this, found in this.

From the link;

By the time the tunnelmen were done, the Tadoussac would be in Lake Erie. The ship’s master would swing the boom out over the water and pass Macdonald the word to have the electrician start the conveyor belts. The belts would whir into motion, and the sweepings would pour off the boom into the waters of Lake Erie for half an hour, leaving a trail of iron-ore dust in the ship’s wake-the only visible sign of the environmental degradation.
It was a routine task but, even though he was a seasoned sailor, it never sat right with Macdonald. He is certainly no tree-hugger, but thinks there must be an alternative. “It’s been a bone of contention for me for years,” he says. “They call this spillage. I love the term.”
CSL is only one shipping company dumping sweepings into the Great Lakes. Ships have discharged cargo residue there ever since armadas of ore carriers started criss-crossing the lakes in the 1870s. No one knows how much has collected on the lakebeds travelled by major carriers, but cargo sweeping is routine for the 130 lakers that ply those waters today. Fourteen of these lakers are owned or operated by CSL, the company held by Paul Martin from 1981 to 1993, when he became finance minister and transferred management duties to a trustee.

Luckily for Martin, he has Rick Mercer on the payroll and most in Canadian media filling their environmental news quotas with “suspended disbelief reporting” to distract Canadians from the rapidly chilling body of Kyoto.

32 Replies to “Spillage”

  1. Another carrier on the lakes is FED NAV, tightly controlled by PMPM’s good buddy Lawrence Pathy. I wonder if FED NAV has ever been on the receiving end of federal government contracts, loan gaurantees or grants?
    Pathy sponsored the $182 million dollar loan that was used to finance PMPM’s 100% takeover of CSL in 1990.
    So, Liberal friendly companies get a free pass on environmental laws?

  2. re this, environment, re health care (see how his doctor owns private clinics and how Quebec, the biggest purveyor of privatization, is beloved, and Alberta, who pays twice the equalization per capita of Ontario for 40 years is demonized for trying to even suggest fixing an obviously dead system), re equal rights (see how Ontario auto industry gets a free pass on Kyoto and Alberta oil (aka wallet of joe western worker)gets a full mugging), re non-confidence (a vote is only a vote if and when i say its a vote), re justice (gun registry stopped 10 billion murders last year… I swear)…re unity (see how the PQ flourishes now), re Indian Affairs and how liberals are the saviors of the poor (only the richest of Liberals and the chiefs seem to be getting moolah), HE’S A PATHOLOGICALLY LYING HYPOCRITE. PERHAPS EVEN A wholly absorbed narcissistic SOCIOPATH… when a leader is insane who’s job is it to commit him to an asylum??? where’s the medical profession when you need it?

  3. Speaking of Kyoto, why is the government suddenly inundating us with those obnoxious Rick Mercer “One-Tonne Challenge” ads again? It must have something to do with the upcoming conference in Montreal.
    What makes these ads even more annoying is that Environment Canada’s own research has shown that nobody knows what the hell Mercer is talking about. After spending $26 million on the campaign this past spring, they did research to see if the message was understood. Normally you test your advertising first to see if your message is understood before you spend millions of dollars of your advertising budget.
    http://www.cbcwatch.ca/?q=node/view/1161
    …internal government focus groups conducted earlier this year for the federal department by polling firm Ipsos-Reid.

    The pollster found most Toronto residents had seen the advertisements, in which Mr. Mercer asked Canadians to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by one tonne by curbing the use of energy and water. Similar ads featuring actor Pierre Lebeau in Quebec were not remembered as well by the Montreal group.
    “None of the participants could articulate what the challenge is about or why it is important. They had no understanding of why they would want to participate or even what a tonne is,” the report states.
    The report even provides direct quotes from the anonymous participants.
    “I saw it on TV [but] I still don’t know what it is,” and “He should just explain it. We still don’t know what it is.”
    Previous reports show that the One-Tonne Challenge campaign has cost $26-million, including $85,000 to Mr. Mercer.

  4. Meursault:
    A little too much coffee today perhaps? Dead-on in your thought process though.
    New term for the hypocritical Liberals – HypoGrit!!

  5. Reported in yesterday’s Glob & Pail: Rothsay, a subsidiary of Toronto- based Maple Leaf Foods Inc. will today officially unveil the country’s first large-scale biodiesel plant, using animal fats, leftover restaurant grease, and the chemical Methanol, in Montreal. (Gotta be a governmint grant in there, someplace.)
    On Nov. 1, this same company was fined a total of $682,500.00 after pleading guilty under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), Ontario Regulation 347, and the Ontario Water Resources Act, (OWRA), for 18 counts which include failure to supply shipping manifests for the transportation of wastes from it’s plant in Hamilton. (Hmmm- I wonder if CSL ships those wastes?) Somebody out there ought to have a blogsite dedicated to this subject.

  6. Here’s a petition you can sign, and don’t forget to send a copy to your MP.
    Go to”
    http://act.thismagazine.ca/cargosweeping/
    “Do the Right, Honourable thing, Mr. Prime Minister:
    Stop polluting our drinking water!
    WE the undersigned:
    WISH TO REGISTER OUR DISGUST at the ongoing practice of cargo sweeping by companies shipping cargo on the Great Lakes.
    DEMAND that Prime Minister Paul Martin set an example for all shipping company owners, and order an immediate investigation of Canada Steamship Lines cargo sweeping practice through Transport Canada and/or Environment Canada.
    REQUEST an immediate apology from the Prime Minister for Canada Steamship Lines� cargo sweeping during the time this company was under his direct care and control (1981-93).”

  7. Further to my last posting:
    If we can make a big enough stink about this issue, then maybe it will find it’s way into the MSM…worth a try.

  8. North Korea is ratifing the protocol, and will have a delegation in Montreal Nov 28 to lecture Canadians about what our government is doing wrong. South Korea is exempt from Kyoto. I don’t know why.
    p.s: Iron dust is a fertilizer…

  9. The scarecrow: Gilles Duceppe
    The Tin man: Stephen Harper
    The cowardly lion: Jack Layton
    The wicked witch of the east ( the one that gets a house dropped on em): Chretien
    The wicked witch of the west: Paul Martin
    Flying monkeys: Scott Brison, Anne Mclellen
    Goblins: Stronach, McCallum
    Munchkins (the little people): the MSM

  10. heck with a prewritten letter to the Pm. I wrote a personal email of discust as well as signed the petition. I think that when they see the prewritten email they forward it to Junk autimatically. Personalize it and they might actually take a look.

  11. Previous reports show that the One-Tonne Challenge campaign has cost $26-million, including $85,000 to Mr. Mercer.
    It may look like money down the drain to you, but up here in the Great White North, $85,000 invested in meaningless advertisements can buy you a hell of a lot of anti-American and anti-Conservative satire down the road.

  12. z
    I thought all greenies would know that Iron dust is a plant nutrient. Scientists propose using Iron dust to fertilize the ocean, creating more plant life to combat global warming. Thanks for chimmin’ in though…
    I would rather talk about “flags of convienience”.

  13. Kyoto Protocol Is Dead. Maurice Strong in mourning.>
    UK will embrace ‘voluntary’ Kyoto targets
    Something entirely different is necessary
    Interest groups on both sides of the Kyoto divide are calling remarks by Margaret Beckett, Prime Minster Tony Blair’s Environment Secretary, the death of the protocol.
    Ms Beckett told The Observer that future work on climate change could involve “voluntary” targets rather than the compulsory targets that are Kyoto’s engine.
    Like Mr Blair before her, she said that achieving consensus on compulsory targets would be impossible in the present political environment.
    But where Mr Blair appears ready to embrace the approach advanced by the US-led Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, Ms Beckett appears to be engaged in seasoning an apparently unpalatable stew in order to help reluctant international partners consume what’s really on their plates.
    And that dish is, essentially, the end of Kyoto.>>>
    http://www.rapp.org/url/?4FPBX4CI
    nationalbusinessreviewnewzealand

  14. Death to Kyoto and the LPC, this could very well be the best Christmas ever!!! and it didn’t cost a dime + GST.
    zorph,
    pretty sure you meant scraping the bottom of the bilge and it is a huge story ya maroon

  15. TimR re: Rick Mercer, from the beginning when I saw these ads on TV and in print, I immediately recognized Mercer, confirmed it was him and TOTALLY disregarded his message. First because I know he is a comedien. Second, he is a comedien who works for CBC. Third He is a comedien and mouth piece for the Federal Liberal Government. I was polled by Ipsos about a month ago and I told them that I thought it was a joke because he is a comedian. Mercer is a joke, his employers are a joke and Kyoto is another half baked (that’s being generous) Liberal waste of time and money.

  16. Off topic perhaps, but meeting the one tonne challenge is easy, turn off your TV whenever Rick Mercer’s ad comes on.

  17. where is the good Dr. —-burning jet fuel to block the sun to prevent global warming. oh yeah- adding ozone to the atmosphere.
    I think he should think green and peddle to Montreal.
    one suggestion to reduce the effect of ozone in the antarctic was to dump iron ore all around the continent- Im serious-
    Maybe PMPMS ships are just preempting the whole procedure.

  18. This cannot be credible. Not in Canada. OTOH, Librano$$$$$$$$$ ????
    Makes one pause. >>>>>
    Wed, November 23, 2005
    Martin hit target?
    Drug accused tells of how he turned down $300,000 in plot to assassinate the man who would be PM
    By IAN MCDOUGALL, COURTS BUREAU
    Police snitch accused in drug trafficking in court yesterday. (Fred Thornhill, SUN)
    BRAMPTON — A contract on the life of then finance minister Paul Martin was being shopped around Toronto’s underworld in 2003, a former police informant testified yesterday.
    Two contracts, worth up to $300,000, were offered, said accused cocaine trafficker Vincent Brown at an abuse of process hearing.>>>>
    http://www.rapp.org/url/?R45VX49S
    torontosun via nealenews.com

  19. have them use Rita McNeil for the one tonne challenge.
    we could relate.
    maybe Gagliano could use a job.or Cretan-
    “tak dat wonton challentge an be a Canadien”

  20. Bruce, do you even know how much iron oixide is dumped into our waterways? When the Fitz sank, what do you think it was carrying? Do you know how many tonnes of steel are sitting on the bottom of Great Lakes in the form of shipwrecks, just rusting away? The sweepage for the next 10 years from all 130 Great Lake freighters now plying the Great Lakes would even fill one cargo hold of a Great Laker. Also, sweepage isn’t just confined to Iron Ore, a lot of stone aggragaite is shipped via there vessels, and they clean out the holds “OH MY GOD THEY PUT ROCKS IN THE WATER, WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN???” Not to mention grains, sand,…
    Sorry, this is a bs story. But I love the fact that right is now very interest in supporting greener policies, how about CO2 controls people? Ya, I thought so,… ~evil grin~

  21. I;m surprised that Kinsella, who is so swift to point out the legal liability of incorrectly ascribing blame when it comes to his own reputaion, would say that CSL is owned by “a certain politician. The correct statement is that CSL is owned by a certain politician’s SONS.
    Now if you are a liberal this absolves him of all wrong doing….just as he knew nothing of the adscam payoffs because he was not “the boss” at the time….uhhh huh…and we have a bridge in NY we want to sell the Canadian public as well.

  22. z
    “Sorry, this is a bs story.”
    I don’t see any mention of Belinda.
    “But I love the fact that right is now very interest in supporting greener policies,” Yea. Realistic ones. Not unicorn-land-fairy-dream policies.
    “how about CO2 controls people?” Cause Kyoto’s government CO2 controls are equal to an industry tax, and are for for communists. Exception, China, or any third world communist nation.

  23. Actually, this spillage story would make a great short skit for Mercer in his rapid-fire sarcastic/disbelieving monologue mode. Fifty pounds of grain, as claimed by CSL’s Annie Pare, would be about enough to fill one sack. Try to imagine sweeping up that amount after distributing it over the bottom of the holds of a ship several hundred feet long. 300 pounds of ore (rocks) is also not exactly a large pile. Evidently the shipping lines have nearly perfected a matter disintegrator.

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