OPINIONS
Marcy’s
OPINIONS
OPINIONS
Adventures
Page 14 - AUGUST 11, 2016 - mArTenSville meSSenGer
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Email: [email protected]
Pipeline rules
lax: Auditor
Those that want t o argue
the Husky Oil pipeline spill
happened because Premier
Brad Wall was just too
cozy with the oil companies
are missing a couple very
important points.
First, the pipeline that
ruptured was installed in
1997 during the days of the
former NDP administration
and, frankly, before the
existence of Wall’s Sask.
Party. Much is being made
by conspiratorial Wall critics
that his cozy relationship
with the oil sector (and
supposed interest in oil
board appointments postpolitics)
is
somehow
directly connected to what
happened. This is nonsense.
Well, lest we forget that one
of the first things the great
Tommy Douglas did after
his career in politics was
to accept an appointment
to the Husky Oil Board of
directors. (Yes, for those of
you too young to remember,
the much-vaunted social
democrat leader went to
the supposedly hated oil
companies.) And while it
is true that Wall eagerly
attended Husky Energy’s
opening of its Edam East
heavy oil thermal project
just a week before the
election, a big part of a
Premier’s job is to promote
such economic growth and
activity.
It had nothing to do with
the spill of 250,000 litres
of crude oil into the North
Saskatchewan River late last
month. Even if, according
to Husky, the spill was
triggered during the startup
of the pipeline connection
of the company’s heavy
oil connection in west
central
Saskatchewan,
let us be clear that
project
was
repeatedly
reviewed
by
the Ministry of
Environment for three years
before startup.
In fact, the ministry
conducted
reviews
in
August 2013, July 2014,
December
2014
and
December 2015. This
takes us to the second,
critical point: There is
really no evidence that
the Wall government has
been specifically more
lax than the former NDP
government.
The Environment Ministry
contended that no specific
environmental
impact
assessments were needed
for these projects because
they were not considered
“developments” under the
existing act and did not
warrant an environmental
impact review.
So notwithstanding that
Brad Wall is a far greater
proponent of pipelines,
no laws have changed to
benefit the oil companies.
But this, by no means,
suggests that no one in
Saskatchewan saw potential
problems with the existing
pipeline safety rules or how
they were being enforced.
In fact, the Provincial
Auditor wrote back in
2012, the then Energy and
Resources Ministry “did
not have effective processes
to ensure full compliance
with The Pipelines Act,
1998 and The Pipelines
Regulations, 2000. There
are requirements under
this legislation that are not
being acted upon. Failure
to
regulate
pipelines
effectively could harm
people or the environment.”
Provincial
Politics
with
Murray Mandryk
Among
the
problems
identified by the Auditor
was the lack of “documented
policies and procedure for
its staff to use to monitor
compliance with the law
including the Canadian
Standards Association (CSA)
standards for pipelines.”
Moreover,
the
auditor
said “the ministry did not
have the required staff”
to ensure there was the
required documentation to
“support their assessment
of an application against the
Standard.”
It
all
sounds
rather
bureaucratic. It is. But for
those who are in love with
the notion of cutting all
forms of red tape (and the
Wall government is certainly
in this category), there are
consequences - especially
in areas involving selfregulation.
So if self-regulation is to
work - and it does seem
to work in regulating
everything from elevators
to ultrasound - government
still has to vigilant about
ensuring companies are
at least adhering to CSA
standards set out in its own
pipeline law.
According to the Auditor
five years ago, there was
little documented evidence
to support pipeline licensing
decisions or “sufficient
assurances as to whether
pipelines are built as
planned” or to ensure
any “maintenance after
construction is carried out.”
Rules don’t work if we really
have no idea whether they
are being followed.
Greatest international Scavenger
Hunt the World Has ever Seen
Marcy Cross,
Martensville Messenger
The Greatest International
Scavenger
Hunt
the
World Has Ever Seen
(GISHWHES) is over for
another year. GISHWHES
is a 7-time Guinness World
Record breaking scavenger
hunt, hosted by Misha
Collins of Supernatural TV
show fame that you can
compete in from anywhere
in the world, even from
your own home. This year I
decided to join a team with
a friend from Edmonton. I
went into it a little blind, not
really having any idea what
to expect, but I was pretty
sure if I threw myself into it,
I’d have a lot of fun.
Thousands of participants
from more than 100
countries build their own
teams with friends or are
placed on 15-person teams
(of new friends!) and for
one week, through laughter,
sweat and tears (of joy of
course), they complete
tasks (items) on a fun,
inspiring and sometimes
jaw-dropping
scavenger
hunt list. The team that
scavenges the most items
with the highest quality of
submissions joins Misha
Collins on an all-expenses
paid trip to Iceland.
The items are “captured”
as videos or images and
uploaded to a website to
memorialize the annual
GISHWHES
experience
and to supply the judges
with something to judge.
The more sublime and
creative a submission is, the
more points awarded. Items
range from the sweet and
touching, “perform a sock
puppet show at a children’s
hospital” to the weirdly
sublime, “a fully dressed
storm trooper cleaning a pool
next to a sunbather,” to the
absolutely impossible, “get
the word “GISHWHES”
written on something in
space” (a team actually
pulled this off!). You don’t
need to be an amazing artist
or social butterfly to win.
You just need dedication,
drive, a little creative
thinking and a will to win.
The first item I completed
was “help someone without
access to clean water gain
access to clean water” and
so I purchased a Lifestraw
from lifestraw.com. The
straw-style filter lets you
turn up to 1,000 liters of
contaminated water into
safe drinking water. The
Lifestraw will go to a person
in a country with no access
to clean water.
The second item was to
“have a 250 word OpEd column publi shed in a
newspaper. Many people
may have seen my ‘How
Do You Plan To Spend Your
Extra Second?’ article in
last week’s Messenger. The
other part of the item was
that I wasn’t allowed to tell
the publishers that it was
an item for GISHWHES.
Thank you to Shanine and
Jocelyn for trusting me on
that one.
In total I completed just
over ten items out of a list
of more than 170. I couldn’t
have done it without
considerable help from my
WonderWomen teammate
Julianne Taylor who was
the artist behind two of
the items. She created the
‘tombstone’ I used to bury
regret and the playdough
picture that recreated last
week’s Messenger front
page.
My favorite item was to
“live out a dream”. Well my
dreams are nightmares and
people are always chasing
me and trying to kill me.
With the help of my cousins
across the street I was able
to submit a picture of them
chasing me down the road
with a bat, a pitchfork
(Ryan why do you have a
pitchfork?), a broom, and
some gardening shears.
One of the final items that
was posted for Gishers to
attempt was to fundraise
and bring awareness to four
refugee families. The goal
was to raise $150,000.00
for the Change A Life
campaign or crowdrise.com.
Misha Collins wrote to all
participants after the final
day of the hunt, “Together,
we raised - at the time I’m
writing this - $208,000.00
to help change the lives of
FOUR families thrust into
desperate
circumstances
by the civil war in Syria.
This item alone stands as
a testament to all we're
capable
of
together.
Combined with all the other
accomplishments of this past
week, it's clear that Gishers
are an unstoppable force—
not only a force of weird,
but a force for good.” Many
of my friends and family
stepped up and donated to
this amazing campaign.
Overall this was an amazing
experience. I’ve learned
so much about what a
GISHWHES week is all
about. I will be so much
more prepared for next year.
For more information about
the crazy, silly, amazing, and
good things that come from
GISHWHES, or to join for
next year, visit GISHWHES.
com.
ABOVE: Marcy getting chased down the street by her cousins, who were armed with various
“weapons” to re-enact one of Marcy’s nightmares.
Letter to the Editor
Canadian at Rio Olympics is more concerned about Toronto Blue Jays
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