| Pitches |
 Fighting the Fix Walking the Gateway National Geographic calls the Gateway a "pipeline through Paradise". The image to your left, courtesy of the Edmonton Journal, is an example on how Enbridge may bulldoze its way through Paradise. In the image, it's only one pipeline, and its a rather small one at that. Imagine a much bigger trench through Paradise for the Gateway The Gateway is actually two 1,172 kilometre (728 miles) pipelines across the width of the province of British Columbia. One pipeline will carry liquefied tar from the Alberta Tar Sands to the port of Kitimat to be loaded onto supertankers bound for China. The other will be used to carry back condensate e.g. low octane gasoline (brought in by more tankers), from Kitimat to the Tar Sands to be mixed with the tar to allow it to flow through the first pipeline. The sea off Kitimat may be blue but not the panel which will decide its fate. Prime Minister Harper has appointed three government bureaucrats, whose destiny he controls to decide on the pipeline he lusts after, thereby making their decision, for many, a foregone conclusion. The vote of the lawyer from Alberta should be a sure thing, and he can be expected to expedite the hearings by finding opponents of the Gateway out of order on legal technicalities; the geologist on the panel can honestly say that the rocks that will be excavated and blasted to make way for the extra-wide trench to accommodate the twin pipelines will not feel a thing. That leaves the biologist with a Master's degree from for the University of Calgary who, prior to joining the Federal government National Energy Board, was with the Alberta Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) which conducts hearings into natural resource development projects in the province and which has a reputation of not standing in the way of any project involving the Tar Sands no matter the impact on the environment. The vote for the Gateway is expected to be unanimous considering the make-up of the panel. What if we showed Canadians what a pipeline through Paradise really means. To do that, I propose a reality program where an eminent geologist, an eminent naturalist and an eminent anthropologist, none in the pay of the government or of an oil company, walk the length of the Gateway from the Alberta Tar Sands to the Pacific Ocean accompanied by a film crew to document the twin pipeline’s impact on the geology, the wildlife, the spawning streams, rivers and lakes and the indigenous people along its route. From Kitimat, our trio would be joined by an eminent marine biologist and navigate the pristine channels and waterways the tar and gas supertankers will take to reach the port, as he or she, explains the impact of a spill, and the impact of the loud and incessant noise and vibrations caused by the oversized propellers of supertankers on marine life, with migrating fish and mammals such as killer whales being the most vulnerable. 01/01/2012 Any takers.
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 | The author was with the Department of Foreign Affairs for five years. Shooting the Messenger is based on his experience with the Department. Shooting the Messenger is an eye witness account of a multi-million dollar fraud (probably the longest sustained fraud on the public purse in Canadian history) and other breaches of the Public Trust at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. Shooting the Messenger is not only about the people who committed these deliberate transgressions but also about the people whose job it was to hold them responsible for what they had done – including a former Prime Minister and a Supreme Court judge – but chose not to, with predictable consequences for the author. Contents |
 | Imagine a world where Canada is just a memory. What has happened since Canada disappeared from history, and what do former Canadians have to say about the country that is no more. In five interviews with unique and engaging characters from varied backgrounds, the events, the decisions that led to the break-up of Canada—that caused what appeared to be a stable, representative parliamentary democracy to just collapse almost from one day to the next—are dramatically explored. The Interviews are not only meant to inform but also to teach a little bit of Canadian history to entertain by bringing to life an imaginary, near-future where Canada is no more. Contents |
 | REMEMBERING UZZA A Black Comedy in Three Acts The short sequel to The Interviews Remembering Uzzah is meant to make learning about the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad a painless and mostly pleasant experience while not sugar-coating or leaving out the naughty and nasty bits, as does Little Mosque on the Prairie. And, is there a better place to learn about Islam then in the relaxed atmosphere of a favourite pub in the company of friends and a beautiful, bright, doomed young woman to give you an insider's perspective? In Uzza, I have also tried to imagine Mary’s reaction to the re-birth of the mythical, medieval man’s world of Islam in parts of her fractured nation. |
 | The Pamphlet is the story about how the Red Cross took almost five years to develop and distribute a simple pamphlet that correctly identified those who should not give blood because of the risk that they were carriers of the AIDS and Hepatitis C virus. I chose this simple example, as opposed to a slightly more complicated issue such as: why the Red Cross took six months to test for the HIV virus in the blood system when a test was readily available from the United States (the province of Québec took even longer, about five months more, wanting to wait until a French test, that is a test from France was available), or why the Canadian Red Cross was one of the last to acknowledge that the AIDS virus was transmitted via blood transfusions and blood components and therefore did very little to protect the blood supply. |
 | A flickering light would squeeze its way through the shutter on his cell door, transforming his face into a reflection of the small steel bars that covered the shutter’s opening making it impossible to sleep. To avoid the light he slept on his side facing the wall, the blood-splattered concrete wall. Almost every day for the past six months, he had returned on tottering legs from another session with his torturers and, as he tried to steady himself before collapsing on the blood-splattered lumpy piece of foam that was his bed, he would leave prints in blood on the wall from hands that would not heal.
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 | No, that is not Holy Harry on the cover. Hollis Harris, the original Holly Harry was Robert Milton’s boss, the man on the cover. Milton would complete what his boss had started and complete the dismembering of Air Canada.
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Popcorn, Maple Syrup and the American Way
Celebrating the Lifestyle of the Rich and Irresponsible
Lies, Canadian History and the CBC
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