General Bullmoose rides again!(impact of United States' energy crisis on Canada) (Brief Article) (Column)

Hewers of wood and drawers of waters? I thought maybe Canada had put that demeaning role behind us. I mean we have given up our colonial status, haven't we? We are masters of our own destiny, aren't we?

Surely our political leaders meant what they were saying in recent years as the urged us to concentrate on adding value to our natural resources. Surely they believed that we could end the export of manufacturing and processing jobs and process our natural resources and manufacture goods here in Canada, didn't they?

Maybe not. Or, maybe our prime minister is just a bit too-opportunistic and trade-oriented for our own good.

Witness the current energy crisis in California and the recent pronouncements by Dick Cheney, vice-president of the United States.

California is experiencing brownouts and is expected to suffer from periodic blackouts this summer when everyone turns on their air conditioners. The vice-president has decreed that energy conservation is futile and alternative energy sources impotent to meet the growing energy needs of the United States. He also declared that the United Staters will not, in any way, agree to slow or manage its growth levels. Abundant, low-cost energy is what America needs to preserve its evermore prosperous way of life, regardless. Full steam ahead! And damn the torpedoes!

Some of you might be old enough to remember the Eisenhower presidency (in the 1950s) when the then secretary of defence stated, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." (He was a former General Motors executive and remained a shareholder.) Al Capp, the L'il Abner comic strip creator, parodied this event, creating a blustering, overbearing character called General Bullmoose who proclaimed, "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for the country!" General Bullmoose rides again!

Unfortunately, the United States has been shutting down its nuclear generating plants (which are deemed unsafe), has regulated to block new coal-fired generators, stopped new hydroelectric projects and enacted price protection measures for consumers which doomed the economics of smallscale natural gas power plants. Moreover, in California they deregulated producer prices, but...