"Montreal gas prices jump 17 cents in a week"
Titles The Gazette this morning. Prices went from 1.26 $ to 1.44 $ a litre. A litre!!
That's quite a jump in a week and I truly hope it is only the beginning. Read the rest here. It can only go up my friends! It is a structural situation you see.
It is official now, peak oil is behind us. Authoritative figures have admitted it. It is no longer an issue for underground greenies and pinkos. In Europe, the issue is beginning to get discussed in the open by regular people.
Shale gas exploitation is being bravely fought by the people of the Eastern townships. A provincial source of gas is not for tomorrow let me tell you!
As everyone must know by now, Montreal's road infrastructure is falling apart. We are up to billions in repairs. That alone is enough to seriously disrupt the normal course of traffic around town. More here. And I am not even mentioning the possibility of the streetcar as well as the Turcot interchange mega project. Let alone the gazillions of new condominiums being built in town!
Bridge tolls are coming our way. Oh yeah, by the way, Montreal is an island. Which means that if you are to come onto the island for work, you MUST cross a bridge. Ahem... Hard times in sight...
Montreal metro system (the underground or the tube) is having more problems than ever before. EVERY goddamn freaking day there is an "interruption of service" due to (plug your own valid explanation). So much so that everyone's butt is totally itching to get back on their bicycles!!
Consequently, I forecast a tough year for motorists and another big increase in cycling rates!!!
Lots of heads in the sand here in the States and the price of gas is once again an election years issue. This time we're blaming the black guy for a moratorium post the gulf oil spill, as if it might not be a little bit prudent to understand what went wrong, why and whether or not other deep sea oil wells are similarly at risk.
ReplyDeleteAll we have to do is commit a bit more to the alternatives and actively promote their use. As you point out in your examples in Canada, it's not as if we here have the money or the will to fund the maintenance of infrastructure we already have.
I don't know about Canada, but in the U.S. we are told that Americans won't, can't and shouldn't change our lifestyles for the sake of our personal economies, our climate (the extreme weather is all a hoax cooked up by Hollywood liberals), or to avoid unnecessary military engagements over oil. Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, we're told we won't give up our addiction to cars. I wonder how bad it has to get for our electeds to begin speaking to us like adults or for our electorate to start demanding it?
In western Canada, people have the same rethoric. In Eastern Canada, we are starting to hear a bit of another discourse. However, both people and government still nurture the secret dream of a miraculous GREEN energy source that is going to solve it all: wind, solar, algae etc.
ReplyDeleteWe've got a long way too!