We should not be amused. This year’s United Nations conference on climate change has brought the foxes into the hen house. Whomever chose Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as a place for the conference must have a strange sense of humour. It is like getting the foxes to set the price for eggs.
And just how much do these members of the Organization of Oil Producing Countries (OPEC) know about global warming? Maybe the global warming is not as serious in the desert countries of the Middle East. Floods and wildfires might not be much of an everyday problem. And why would another degree or so of temperature extremes bother a Bedouin?
They probably think those of us of European origin as wusses who should stay out of the kitchen.
But what the Hell are all those oil company people from Alberta doing in Dubai?
I have to compliment David Climenhaga of Canada’s Progressive Bloggers for his efforts to explain why that dingbat, Alberta premier and her entourage are enjoying the scenic sights of the United Arab Emirates this December. Taking that bunch of Neanderthals from their reserved seats in Calgary and Edmonton Petroleum Clubs is the most egregious waste of public funds I have heard of in many a day.
I used to enjoy Alberta, not only when I was stationed there in the air force, but of the many fun times when visiting the province on business and pleasure and for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. I will never forget one time when visiting Calgary, I was doing some late-night editorial work at the Calgary Herald offices and being unable to get a cab back to the Calgary Inn. It was a long but brisk walk at minus 35 degrees.
Another memory of Calgary was a conference of business executives at the time that John Turner had left the Pierre Trudeau cabinet in a bit of a huff. They had shut the door on the meeting room so that John could tell us how he really felt. After he, as expected, maligned Mr. Trudeau and most of his staff, I walked up to John at the podium, waved a reporter’s pad at him and asked him if I should give it to my friends in the Calgary media. It was the first time in years of knowing John, he was speechless.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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