The provincial government is promoting an expansion of the nuclear industry as an economic ("valueadded") strategy. It's too bad it hasn't taken time to study what has happened elsewhere before jumping on the nuclear industry bandwagon.
I was recently invited to speak at a provincial meeting of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) at Watrous. The other presenter was Dave Shier of the Canadian Nuclear Worker's Council (CNWC). Unlike the Chamber of Commerce, many unions thankfully want to hear "both sides" of the nuclear controversy.
It's hard for supporters of Prime Minister Harper to grasp how a call for a $15 billion cut to spending during the election turns into a $40 billion stimulus package, and big deficit. Polls show most Canadians think it's about keeping power. However, if this helps restructure Canada so the economy is more ecologically sustainable, something good could come of it.
The nuclear industry appeals to our concerns about global warming when it promotes itself as being the "clean energy". You've probably seen the ads. And advertisers know if you repeat something enough times it starts to be taken as "fact". We hear "nuclear is clean" over and over, including from provincial government officials who reflexively say nuclear is the way to reduce greenhouse gases.
