Tar Sands: The Selling of Alberta - CBC, Thurs Mar 13

[DevO]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

White Pine Pictures & Clearwater Media present:

TAR SANDS: THE SELLING OF ALBERTA

What price is Canada willing to pay for a stake

in this century's greatest energy bonanza?

Director Tom Radford

Producer Peter Raymont

World Premiere broadcast on Doc Zone

CBC TV - Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 9:00pm

"Tar Sands: The Selling of Alberta" captures the

intersecting storylines of a remarkable cast of characters

eager to cash in on the oil boom in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Washington lobbyists, Newfie pipefitters, Chinese investors

and Norwegian industrialists descend on tar-soaked "Fort

McMoney", a modern-day Eldorado, where rents are sky-

rocketing and cocaine abuse is four times the provincial

average. Up for grabs - a stake in a $100 billion energy

bonanza and Canada's economic sovereignty.

This one-hour documentary, commissioned by the CBC,

tracks the growth of the world's largest reserve of

"unconventional" oil. A Florida-sized "environmental

sacrifice zone" has become Canada's contribution to U.S.

energy security in the post-9/11 world. But for many,

the Tar Sands are a global warming disaster.

As Fort McMurray bursts at the seams, children from Thunder

Bay to Cape Breton are made tar-sands orphans by their

migrant-worker parents. Canada's petrodollar breaks the back

of the manufacturing economy in the East. Cancer rates

skyrocket downstream of Fort McMurray while Rocky Mountain

glaciers melt and disappear. And all the while, Alberta

crude goes south to US markets while Eastern Canada pays

ever more for insecure Middle East oil. In an isolated

region of the north, Canada's future is being carved out of

the forest at a breakneck pace. "Tar Sands: The Selling of

Alberta" questions how much Canada is willing to sacrifice

for a stake in this century's greatest energy bonanza.

"Tar Sand" features interviews with stake-holders from all

sides including former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed

(1971-1985); journalist and author Andrew Nikiforuk; General

(retired) Charles Wald, Former Deputy Commander, USAF;

oil broker Paul Michael Wihbey, President of the U.S. company

GWEST Consulting; Jeff Wiscombe, welder from Newfoundland

and Stig Bergseth, Senior VP, STATOIL, Norway's largest

company.

After co-directing the award-winning Arctic Dreamer in

2004, two of Canada's most respected documentary filmmakers

reunite as Director and Producer of Tar Sands: The Selling

of Alberta. Edmonton-based director Tom Radford's

career spans thirty five years, portraying the distinctive

character of the West and North to Canada and the world.

Producer, Peter Raymont is celebrating the 30th year of

White Pine Pictures, having traveled to Ethiopia, Nicaragua,

India, Rwanda, Chile and the High Arctic to direct and

produce over 100 documentary films, including the Emmy

Award-winning Shake Hands with the Devil: the Journey

of Romeo Dallaire.

Running Time: 41:38

http://www.whitepinepictures.com

http://www.clearwatermedia.com

USEFUL WEBSITES:

http://www.oilsandswatch.org

http://www.oilsandsdiscovery.com

http://www.tarsandswatch.org

http://www.capp.ca/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=688

http://www.oilsandsreview.com

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/tarsandsfaq

http://oilsandstruth.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you missed it, you can still see Much Music's special on climate

change and the Alberta Tar Sands. The one-hour special is on-line at

http://www.muchmusic.com/tv/specials/muchtalks/climatechange/

Thanks to Mike Hudema at Greenpeace for passing it along.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[AWeeJig]

I was wondering when something like this was going to pop up. Thanks for the heads up KevO

[DevO]

This is on again right now on Doc Zone on CBC Newsworld.

[Kanada Kev]

It's repeated a few times tonight. I've got it recording in the middle of the night sometime. Look forward to watching this one.

[dancingbear]

great review. too bad there was not a bit more on Danny who stood up for the province (NL), got a share in the oil game, and although excavating oil, at least is trying to make life better for the people in the province, unlike alberta.