CCL Canada Education Call – September 2018 – Dr. Kevin Taft

Kevin Taft is the author of five books, including Oil’s Deep State, published by Lorimer in 2017. Kevin served three terms in the Alberta legislature with the Alberta Liberal Party, and was Leader of the Official Opposition from 2004 to 2008, through two general elections. He has a PhD in Business from University of Warwick and is a distinguished research fellow at the Parkland Insitute at the University of Alberta, and served as a visiting fellow at Western Sydney University in Australia. Taft grew up in Edmonton, where he and his wife Jeanette still live. He is no longer involved in party politics, and is a frequent public speaker.

Listen to the call here:

Apologies in advance for the wonky audio at times. The internet connection was not stable.

Helpful to read before listening:

  • Democracy is new and fragile.
  • Democracy was born out of the “state” system where royalty and barons controlled the masses.
  • In Canada, key institutions have been captured include regulators, political parties and universities and have been short-circuited to serve the interests of the oil industry and not the public.
  • The state does not need democracy. States are accountable to big power and not the people.
  • One of the big battles of this struggle to save the planet is democracy vs some in the fossil fuel industry.
  • Coincidently, CCL’s big message now:  Our solution to climate change? Democracy.
  • CCLers are doing the right things. Everything Dr. Taft said we should do we are doing: building a broad base of support in our riding, doing our homework, presenting studies, building relationships etc.
  • CCL is not against pipelines, we are for carbon fee and dividend. Read more here.
  • A harrowing side story of all this is the liabilities of the tailing ponds and abandoned oil wells.
    https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/05/12/opinion/kevin-taft-stories-alberta-government-and-oil-industry-dont-want-tell (See below for more).
  • Gentle reminder: our official talking points are our laser talks and media releases and that we are for carbon fee and dividend. Please read our 2018 Leave Behind for Parliament to know what we lobby for.

At CCL volunteers welcome all viewpoints and want to listen and learn. Thie call was enlightening,  and a bit distressing if you are not aware of the extent of the problem.


Here are some recent data:

To book Dr. Taft to speak at an event please go here:
 https://kevintafttour.ca/

Be sure to read his book:
Oil’s Deep State: How the petroleum industry undermines democracy and stops action on global warming.

 

Knowledge is power.