Ross McKitrick’s Presentation in Calgary
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More Sneaky Underhanded Tricks From Kathleen Wynne, and the Liberals!
Kathleen Wynne’s $317MM Secret Bailout
MAY 29
“Kathleen Wynne approved a $317 million bailout to a private company without the public’s knowledge or approval of the Legislature,” said former Ontario PC MPP Frank Klees. “She needs to explain why this secret deal was never made public.”
This morning, Klees released a series of confidential Cabinet documents outlining Kathleen Wynne’s secret plan to bailout the MaRS office building in downtown Toronto.
“Kathleen Wynne approved a multi-million bailout without the public’s knowledge and in a Cabinet room right before an election,” said Klees “Not only was this hidden from the public, she needs to explain why this secret deal was made after she dissolved the Legislature.”
The McGuinty–Wynne Liberals gave $234MM to MaRS and Alexandria Real Estate, Inc. to build a brand new office tower on prime real estate in downtown Toronto. Now that the private company and MaRS are unable to repay their loans, the government is using tax dollars to secretly bail them out to avoid political embarrassment.
The documents go on to say that failure to act will likely result in MaRS defaulting on its loan, causing foreclosure.
“Kathleen Wynne approved this deal in secret to avoid another public embarrassment for her scandal-plagued government,” said Klees, “Kathleen Wynne will do and say absolutely anything to cling to power, no matter what the cost to Ontario taxpayers,” Klees concluded.
“These documents read like a repeat of the Ornge documents that were sent to me by whistleblowers who could no longer stand the corruption that was going on there,” said Klees, “Millions of taxpayer dollars poured into a federally-incorporated charity, with no government oversight.”
The government will justify taking over the MaRS Phase II project by making the currently un-leased office space in the MaRS building home to the Ontario Public Service at prices that will not have to be put to competitive scrutiny.
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS
http://ontariopc.com/files/treasury-board-of-cabinet-submission-mars-phase-2.pdf
http://ontariopc.com/files/mars-phase-2-briefing-for-secretary-of-cabinet.pdf
Sitting on the Fence Doesn’t Work…..Your Either In, or You’re Out!
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The same old pledges and platitudes are being rolled out, from Sadiq Khan’s apology in an open letter to UKIP supporters, which then outlines policies designed to entice former Labour voters back to Labour; to David Cameron’s ‘understood and received the message’ soundbite before he went on to proclaim what voters want – with neither party actually asking anyone outside the Westminster bubble why 4.3 million voters put their ‘X’ next to UKIP on the ballot paper A common thread among the legacy parties is that the EU has to ‘change’. Having pushed this line for many months, they now use it as a crutch to declare that this is what voters want, and they all declare that if only we vote for them they will bring about the reforms we apparently want. It is, of course, one huge steaming pile of freshly laid bullshit. Snake oil isn’t close to the product these people are trying to sell. Rather they are pushing a product that makes the fictional element ‘Unobtanium’ in the film Avatar, or the dragons storyline in the TV series Game of Thrones look real in comparison. Whatever ‘reform’ the EU might be persuaded to adopt, it will be trivial and will not result in the return of any powers to the UK that reduce Brussels’ control over the free movement of people, control over the free flow of money to different tax jurisdictions within the bloc, control over the movement of goods and services and the tariffs applied to them. But despite these facts and despite the legion of Eurocrats, Commissioners and MEPs who have stepped forward to point out these facts and explain that the principles of the EU that underpin it are non-negotiable, our politicians and media continue to talk about EU reform as if it is just a negotiation away – and groups claiming to be Eurosceptic continue to make public demands that renegotation is undertaken. So it is that a significant proportion of those people who say they want the UK to remain inside the EU do so because they have been fooled into believing reform is possible. They are being taken in by fantasies and distracted from reality – therefore allowing the politicians to avoid the reality that only invoking Article 50 of the EU Treaty (Lisbon) will result in a renegotiation of the substantive issues and only by leaving the EU will the UK be able to take control of the areas where people want to see change. We can be in, or we can be out. But we can’t be a bit in between. |
The Documentary, “DOWNWIND”, Premiers – JUNE 4, AT 8 PM. & 11 pm… Don’t Miss It!
TELEVISION PREMIERE OF DOWN WIND ON
SUN NEWS NETWORK — JUNE 4TH AT 8 AND 11 P.M.
Sun News Network will air the television premiere of the documentary film DOWN WIND on Wednesday, June 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET and 11:00 p.m. ET.
DOWN WIND is a tell-all film that deals head on with how Ontario politicians rammed through green energy laws and dashed forward with the installation of thousands of wind turbines across the province’s farmland and countryside.
The film exposes how the lights of liberty went out for Ontario citizens deeply opposed to wind turbine projects. It tells the stories of communities torn apart, and the rural warriors now fighting for their rights, health and happiness.
Sun News Network host and contributor Rebecca Thompson joined Surge Media Productions to create this passionate, yet alarming story of a flawed attempt to green Ontario’s electricity grid.
DOWN WIND debunks the Ontario Liberal government’s propaganda that wind power is economically and environmentally sound, by pointing to jaw-dropping wind subsidies and a fossil fuel back-up system.
The film tells the ugly truth about lucrative big wind power contracts, skyrocketing electricity prices, and the political connections behind it all.
It uncovers the skeptical sales pitch that wind turbines are good for the air and won’t impact health. And it provides a glimmer of hope that this nightmare can be overcome with fair-minded solutions.
Passionate stories, eye-dropping footage and never-before seen interviews are showcased in this highly anticipated Sun News Network film backed financially by hundreds of concerned citizens.
A DVD version, including bonus features, will be available for purchase atwww.DownWindMovie.com following the television release.
Sun News Network is available on cable and satellite across Canada; check your local listings to find it on your dial.
Confusion about duplicate “Mothers Against wind Turbines”? Heres the facts!
To Whom it May Concern….
I have been receiving a lot of calls and e-mails, from concerned, and confused people, regarding my website, and another with a similar name.I am writing this letter, to clarify my position, and to explain why there has been a division, in the Mothers Against Wind Turbines organization.
People deserve to know the truth!
Two of the original board members, gave their resignations, verbally, two days before the April 11th, Spring Fling, fundraiser. They gave the reason, that they were no longer able, to do their jobs. I had no problem with the situation, as they had not been heavily involved, for several months, and others had been doing the work, that they would have done. Things would carry on, as usual.
Then….the night of the Spring Fling, April 11th, they took the money that we had raised, without allowing the organizers, and main contributors to the event, to even count it. They later announced, that they would be “removing” me, taking the name I had invented, to protect my son, and other children, as well as keeping the money, that we had raised, with very little help from them.
In order to protect my name, I have trademarked it, and I own the domain name, mothersagainstwindturbines.com. The other group is under the domain name, mothersagainstturbines.com. Please do not get the two confused. I am in no way affiliated with Mothers Against wind Turbines “Inc.” That is the two people that verbally resigned!
I have made the other group aware, that I have trademarked the name, and that a trademark supersedes a Corporation, but they refuse to stop using our trademarked name. When they attempted to “remove me”…there was no proper meeting, no minutes taken, no agenda, no accountability, on their part. They did not even call in a mediator, as they should have. They accused me of breaking rules, that they themselves did not follow, and there was NO accountability, for their actions…..it was disgraceful!
As many of you are aware, Susan and I hosted, and organized all of the MAWT dinners. We did this with help from our community. Now I’ve been made aware, that the other group is hosting a dinner, in Lowbanks. As I said, this is the other people, from the Lowbanks/Haldimand area. I am not involved in this event, in any way! Our group is now known as “the original Mothers Against Wind Turbines TM”. I thank you all for your continued support, and understanding! I am sorry that this has happened, but as you can see, it was not my doing! My focus is still to protect my son, and by doing so, protect all of our children!
Sincerely,
Shellie Correia
Global Cooling is What is Really Happening, and it’s NOT our Fault!!!
GLOBAL COOLING UNDERWAY
With global temperature data now available for the first three months of 2014, an interesting trend has clearly emerged: global cooling. No longer is it just a hypothesis. For the first quarter of each calendar year since 2002, it is effectively a fact at reasonably strong statistical significance. Here is the data:
That downward trend since 2002 has a p-value of 0.097 (r=-0.48), which is below the p=0.10 (90%) threshold used in many climate science studies for statistical significance, and very close to the standard p=0.05 (95%) threshold generally employed across the physical and biological sciences. The same level of statistical significance is obtained regardless of whether parametric or non-parametric trend analysis methods are employed.
Some readers may be looking at this plot and thinking that the global climate data since 1880 looks a lot like a cycle, with a stable period (of neither warming nor cooling) of, say, 140 years in length between the approximately 70-year long alternating cool and warm periods. It certainly has that appearance. If such is the case, we would expect a return to “normal” January-March global temperatures by 2050, give or take a decade or two.
In the United States, the January-March 2014 temperature was well below the 20th-century average. There has been no statistically significant trend in January-March temperatures in the contiguous USA since 1980. None, for 35 years and counting. The same lack of trend applies for the December-February temperatures. Depending on how you define winter, either – or both – of these timeframes is considered the wintertime period.
So there has been absolutely no change in wintertime temperatures in the United States since before Reagan was president, and yet the The Guardian is reporting that the latest National Climate Assessment finds climate change to be a “clear and present danger” and that “Americans are noticing changes all around them … Winters are generally shorter and warmer.”
There is no trend – I repeat: no trend – in wintertime temperatures in the United States since 1980.
On an annual basis ending in March, there has been no change in the contiguous U.S. temperature since 1986 (actually, probably since 1985, but we’ll give the alarmists the benefit on this). You get the same result on a calendar-year basis. That’s right: there has been no change in annual temperatures for the United States since Bon Jovi had a number-one hit with “You Give Love a Bad Name,” the Bangles were telling us to “Walk Like an Egyptian,” Madonna was asking her papa not to preach, and Robert Palmer was “Addicted to Love.”
According to Virginia Burkett, the chief scientist for global change at the U.S. Geological Survey, “all areas are getting hotter.” All of them? So bold, yet so inaccurate. The entire Ohio Valley climate division has not seen any significant warming on an annual basis since 1896. The entire U.S. South climate division hasn’t warmed since 1907. Neither has the entire Southeast climate division since 1896.
The National Climate Assessment claims that “summers are longer and hotter.” Hotter summers? There is no trend in the average June-August temperature (aka summer) in the USA since 1930. Same lack of trend for July and August average temperatures.
On an annual basis ending in March (allowing us to use the most complete dataset possible), global warming stopped cold in statistical terms during 1997. And since 2002, the correlation coefficient has – in fact – turned slightly negative. Very weak evidence for global cooling, but on the balance of probabilities, since 2002, there is more statistical evidence for global cooling than there is for global warming. Scientists such as Don Easterbrook, a professor emeritus of geology at Western Washington University, have been making similar predictions for global temperatures.
In the Southern Hemisphere, where climate scientists are now apparently warning that the “Antarctic Ice Shelf [is] on [the] brink of unstoppable melt that could raise sea levels for 10,000 years,” the annual cooling trend since 2003 is even more probable (r=-0.22, p-value as low as 0.34 using non-parametric approaches).
The poor-quality science reporting on climate change is ubiquitous. Over at the Daily Kos, we find a plot of “Global Temperature (meteorological stations).” Given that oceans cover 71 percent of the planet’s surface, what possible meaning could a “global temperature” derived only from “meteorological stations” have? The answer is none. Any talk of a global temperature must include both land and sea data, and be properly weighted according to station type and location. And this assumes that the data itself is correct. Various climate skeptic websites have repeatedly shown that we need to doubt the data itself, not just the analyses.
As the countdown to the proposed climate agreement in 2015 ticks along, expect more of this hysterical nonsense not founded in the underlying data, as well as more concerted and emphatic denials of the global cooling phase we may be entering. One can only hope that the moderately conservative leaders in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom will not fall prey to the hysteria, but instead take a principled scientific stand in 2015 and lead the charge to reject any international climate agreements.
Unfortunately, many crony capitalists – including a number in the fossil fuels industry itself – are starting to see greater financial benefits for themselves by going along with the hysteria, rather than fighting for reality.
Perilous times indeed. The next couple years may not only see the end of America’s economic domination on the world stage, passing the torch instead to communist China, but also witness the final death throes of rigorous, objective science in the public interest.
What is the University of Queensland, so Desperate to Hide?
University of Queensland threatens lawsuit over use of Cook’s ’97% consensus’ data for a scientific rebuttal
Wow, just wow. Not only have they just invoked the Streisand effect, they threw some gasoline on it to boot. It’s all part of the Climate McCarthyism on display this week
UPDATE: Ironically, Cook’s “97% consensus paper” was published one year ago today, under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Data in the SI was added 16 days after publication, but not all the data, not sure if they have any legal basis to withhold the rest and still keep CCL license – Anthony
Brandon Schollenberger writes:
My Hundredth Post Can’t Be Shown
Dear readers, I wanted to do something special for my hundredth post at this site. I picked out a great topic for discussion. I wrote a post with clever prose, jokes that’d make your stomach ache from laughter and even some insightful commentary. Unfortunately, I can’t post it because I’d get sued.
You see, I wanted to talk about the Cook et al data I recently came into possession of. I wanted to talk about the reaction by Cook et al to me having this data. I can’t though. The University of Queensland has threatened to sue me if I do.
I understand that may be difficult to believe. I’d like to provide you proof of what I say. I’m afraid I can’t do that either though. If I do, the University of Queensland will sue me. As they explained in their letter threatening me:
That’s right. The University of Queensland sent me a threatening letter which threatens me further if I show anyone that letter.
Confusing, no? It gets stranger. Along with its threats, the University of Queensland included demands. The first of these is:
This demand is interesting. According to it, I’m not just prevented from disclosing any of the “intellectual property” (IP) I’ve gained access to. I’m prevented from even doing anything which involves using the data. That means I can’t discuss the data. I can’t perform analyses on it. I can’t share anything about it with you.
But that’s not all I can’t do. The University of Queensland also demanded I cease and desist from:
This fascinates me. I corresponded with John Cook to try to get him to assert any claims of confidentiality he might have regarding the data I now possess. I sent him multiple e-mails telling him if he felt the data was confidential, he should request I not disclose it. I said if people’s privacy needed to be protected, he should say so.
He refused. Repeatedly.
Apparently I badgered Cook too much. I tried too hard to get him to do his duty and try to protect his subjects’ privacy. The University of Queensland needs me to stop. If I don’t, they’ll sue me.
So yeah, sorry guys. I wanted my hundredth post to be interesting, but I guess it won’t be. Anything interesting I might have to say will get me sued. And maybe not just sued. The University of Queensland apparently wants me arrested too:
I don’t know what sort of hack they had investigate the supposed hacking, but this is silly. There was no hacking involved. The material was gathered in a perfectly legal way. I could easily prove that.
Only, proving it would require using the data I’ll be sued for using…
http://hiizuru.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/my-hundredth-post-cant-be-shown/
Donald Trump Knows Not to Invest In Wind Turbines or Areas Infested with them!
Donald Trump vows investment if turbines scrapped
Trump, 67, said he was willing to restart work at the £750 million Menie Estate course if Aberdeen City Council chiefs “took the windfarm off the table”.
The US businessman touched down at Aberdeen International Airport yesterday morning before heading off to the links at the Menie Estate in the afternoon.
He was due to fly out to Dubai later to oversee another of his golf projects.
Trump has objected to the proposed 11-turbine development off Aberdeen Bay since it was first put forward in August last year, saying it will ruin the view for people playing on the Aberdeenshire course.
He axed plans for a luxury hotel and a second course at Menie Estate and vowed to never invest in the course again after the Scottish Government rejected his appeal against the turbine plan in February. His legal team are planning a fresh appeal.
He arrived in Ayrshire earlier this week to visit the £35.7 million Turnberry course he purchased last month.
But he said he stands by his decision not to invest any more in his resort at Menie Estate, near Balmedie, unless he wins his wind-turbine fight.
He said: “We far exceeded the promise we made to Scotland.
“We have delivered a very special golf course. People all over the world are talking about it and we are getting record bookings.
“I look forward to continuing the development – as soon as that windfarm is taken off the table.”
Vattenfall, the 75% stakeholder in the windfarm project, is looking to sell its share and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group, which holds the remaining stake, last month handed over the running of the project to Aberdeen City Council.
Trump also plans to invest up to #36million in a golf course he has bought in the west of Ireland.
He visited Doonbeg Links, in Co Clare, before travelling to Turnberry.
The American tycoon said yesterday he was “sad” to see Scotland, where his mother was born, being “destroyed”.
He said: “Scotland is a beautiful country, but it has a death wish. Wind turbines are destroying the country.
“The council in Aberdeen should do its people a great favour and abandon this scheme, which is doomed to lose money.”
Watch this video, to hear Tom Adams discuss the Frasier Report on Energy!
Marilyn has compiled a list of Liberal blunders. Yes! It is a Very….Long….List…..
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"Mothers Against Wind Turbines™" Phoenix Rising... 