Pen Meets Paper Oct. 12 '09

Opinion by Helge Nome
A fight is emerging between vested interest groups, working through elected politicians and people in the government bureaucracy, and taxpayers being held to ransom to pay for profit making schemes cooked up by private individuals.
An excellent contemporary example of this is Bill 50, currently before the Alberta Legislature. Bill 50 seeks to override normal processes involved in establishing public infrastructure on private lands, to the detriment of land owners and for the benefit of private special interest groups, in this case power companies seeking to establish a highway for their electricity exports from Alberta to the US.
On top of that, Alberta electricity consumers are being told that Alberta needs this magnificent $15-20 billion power grid in order to satisfy consumption increases within Alberta. “Better being safe than sorry” we are told by the province’s electricity regulator
without any substantive figures to show how we are going to use all that energy.
Meanwhile, I have heard on the grapewine that the American portion of the great new energy highway is already under construction and is set to meet up with its Alberta counterpart, sooner rather than later.
And to put some icing on the cake for the power exporting companies, Alberta’s electricity consumers are going to be required to pay for the new transmission line by way of their electricity bills.
It is all being arranged by behind-the-scene manipulators through their connections to politicians and bureaucrats.
To find out more about this sorry state of affairs, and what can be done about it, come to the Leslieville Elks Hall on Thursday, October 22, at 7pm and hear Joe Anglin explain in detail what is happening and what can be done about it.
Bill 50 is only one example of bullying attempts by vested interests, acting through politicians and bureaucrats, against ordinary people.