Dominion of Canada

When Canada became an independent nation, the founding fathers adopted the title “Dominion of Canada”. The term was taken from Genesis when God said to Adam, “You shall have dominion over all of creation” God was saying to Adam, “I have appointed you to be the caretaker over the land which I have given you”. It was a vice-regency title given to Adam from God and the connotation for Canada as being part of the Realm of the British Empire.

The term “Dominion” can be traced to a suggestion by Samuel Leonard Tilley at the London Conference of 1866 discussing the confederation of five of the British North American possessions, the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island into “One Dominion under the Name of Canada”, the first internal federation in the British Empire. Tilley’s suggestion was actually taken from the 72nd Psalm, verse eight, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth,” This verse is echoed in our national motto, “A Mari Usque Ad Mare. latin for “from sea to sea”

By adopting the term Dominion, the founding fathers took on to themselves and passed on to us and all generations that follow the responsibility to be caretakers of the lands, the resources and ecology, the flora and fauna, the waterways, the land and the environment. To be a member of government is to shoulder that responsibility. It was written into the name of Canada – Caretaker. We are the caretakers of this land first before all other responsibilities, the onus is on us to make sure that Canada is passed on intact and viable for all generations that follow. Not only our children, but our children’s’ children forward to all generations.

The shame for Canada is that we have slowly but deliberately dissolved our responsibilities as vice-regents, as caretakers, and now only give lip service to care taking of our lands that make up this nation of Canada. So determined to not be labeled as “Caretakers”, our governments dropped the name Dominion Day and called July 1st Canada Day instead.

Alberta Oilsands #1 GHG Emitter

The Province of Alberta is ranked #1 of all jurisdictions, provinces and states, in North America for GHG emissions.
World wide, the highest source GHG emitter is the US military. The single entity highest source GHG emitter in the world is the Alberta oil sands.

The Governments of Canada and Alberta try to downplay the oil sands role as a GHG emitter.

This from: OilSands-GHG Emissions

“GHG Emissions – a shared challenge
Regardless of the source, GHG emissions are a shared global challenge. In 2009, GHG emissions from European electricity generation, which make up about a quarter of EU GHG emisions, were nearly 30 times greater than GHG emissions from the oil sands. On a per-country basis, GHG emissions from electricity generation were nearly seven times greater in Germany than emissions from the oil sands, while GHG emissions from electricity generation in the United Kingdom and Poland were each about three times greater.

Oilsands make up 6.5 percent of Canada’s emissions: 0.1 percent of global emissions.
Extracting bitumen and other heavy crude oil requires more energy than the production of lighter and more accessible forms of crude oil. This tends to make heavy oil production more emissions-intensive per barrel of oil produced.”

That is like saying, “My contribution to litter is so minor when compared to all the litter on the street, why should I recycle?”