My oil is safer than yours

I wasn't surprised to see Premier Ed Stelmach down in Washington tactfully exploiting the Gulf spill to promote the tar sands. I am, however, a little surprised to see our federal environment minister playing the same game. Expressing his horror at the tragedy in the Gulf, Jim Prentice said it put the tar sands into perspective as a less risky alternative to offshore drilling. I guess it all depends on what you are risking.

Trying to make tar sands production look good by comparing it favourably to a deep water blowout is a bit like saying being killed with an axe is better than being shot to death. It's a mark of desperation. And when you are the environment minister, you must be very desperate indeed.