Andrew Nikiforuk

As I noted in 2012, 2014 and 2015, nothing will change in Alberta’s petrostate until its citizens embrace representative taxation (and pay their own way), shut down the oil revenue roller coaster and save for a rainy day. Or months of wildfires.

The oilsands have accumulated vast volumes of toxic mining fluids (1.4 billion litres or more than 540,000 Olympic sized pools) in the world’s third largest watershed under the watch of a captive regulator and an industry-dominated oilsands monitoring program.

The results of Alberta’s tumultuous election once again demonstrate how petrostates can shift political baselines. And last night they shifted mightily in the bitumen-rich province and in this mining republic called Canada.

And then comes the long-term thinking Arcadians. They are asking, how do we learn to live with less and do better to prevent the exhaustion of the Earth’s resources?

A Stanford study has confirmed the results of a Tyee investigation that identified a bitumen wastewater disposal well most likely triggered recent record earthquakes in Peace River country that rattled homes and shook Albertans as far away as Edmonton.

We are going to have to dramatically downsize the dream of a future in which we replace 150-year-old fossil fuel infrastructure with “clean energy” by 2050.