We recommend the book Fire Weather by Canadian John Vaillant. It is so beautifully written you will stop from time to time while reading to allow the prose bathe over you. But it will also give you a very good idea of the absolute abomination that is the tar sands, and their extraordinary costs to Canada and the world. I read the book from the library and do not have it at hand or I would quote a few passages for you.

On other than environmental reasons (other than that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?) We are very upset about the MOU because-

- We don’t for a second believe this will turn Smith into a loyal Canadian.

- rewarding Smith’s deeply cruel and anti-democratic behaviour seems obtuse at best, dangerous, at worst. And a betrayal of the millions of Albertans who are being harmed by the UCP and need support from the federal govt

- not consulting with BC first is disrespectful, even if it is “just” an MOU

- dumping this in the laps of First Nations to fight is deeply cynical and harmful to our progress on Reconciliation

- reviving the fault lines between FN on this—especially as it is “just” an MOU and will likely not proceed—is foolish.

- what does this say to Quebec and the separatists there? And the millions of environmentally-minded Quebec voters?

And so on…