PROVIDENCE

NDP candidate Mary Rita Holland
answers questions from Sister Anna
Moran.
The other three candidates wait their
turn to speak l to r: Liberal John
Gerretsen, Green Robert Kiley and
Conservative Rodger James.
Election candidates from the
four major provincial political
parties spoke to a group of
Sisters of Providence before the
October 6th election. They
fielded questions about healthcare
and disease prevention,
poverty and home care for
seniors. The candidates also
addressed affordable housing,
green energy and education.
BY BRIDGET DOHERTY
ACanadian company plans to
build a pipeline from
Alberta’s Tar Sands to
Texas. If approved by both the
Canadian and American governments,
the pipeline would transport
diluted bitumen, a mixture of oil and
sand.
Environmentalists, farmers, and
affected communities are all
concerned that this mixture, which
includes cancer causing benzene and
toxic heavy metals may end up
spilling into ground water thereby
polluting precious drinking water and
aquifers. The company argues that
there is no such risk even though a
pipeline leaked more than one million
gallons of diluted bitumen into
Michigan’s Kalamazoo River in July
2010.
Other concerns include an increase
in the Tar Sands production adding
to the already destructive environmental
and social consequences
experienced in Alberta. This increase
will accelerate climate change causing
more carbon dioxide gases to be
Say No to Tar Sands
released into the earth’s atmosphere.
Instead of reducing our emissions
and protecting God’s creation our
country will be implicit in risking the
future of many generations to come.
Canadians and Americans who care
for the integrity of creation have responded
by arranging protest “sit
ins” where supporters are asked to sit
in acts of peaceful civil disobedience.
A “sit-in” organized by Ottawa
Action took place on Parliament Hill
September 26th.
The JPIC office of the Sisters of
Providence, the Kingston & District
Labour Council and the Ontario Secondary
School Teacher’s Federation
(OSSTF) sponsored a bus to give
Kingstonians an opportunity to
support this day of action. Sisters of
Providence Shirley Morris and Susan
Pye, along with JPIC staff Tara
Kainer and Bridget Doherty
attended. They were joined by Sr.
Maureen Killoran, CND, Ottawa,
Monica Lampton, CND, JPIC Staff
Montreal and Kingston MP Ted Hsu.
Many Sisters supported the day with
prayers.
9
Photos: Tara Kainer
Sisters of Providence Shirley Morris and
Susan Pye attend the Ottawa sit-in.
Two giant syringes with the words “TAR
SANDS, CANADA’S CARBON BOMB”
represent our addiction to oil. It carries the
dire warning that if we don’t act now to
reduce our dependancy on oil, we will
overdose.