Do Oil Pipelines Make Any Sense? (Part 1)

Presently Canada is engaged in a highly conflictual national struggle over pipelines, to build or not to build. Ricardo Acuna of the Parkland Institute argues that a proper debate on the merits and pitfalls of pipelines would be a good thing for Albertans to engage in. Such a debate should include the impact on the provincial economy and our climate change targets. The problem is that the elevated rhetoric from both sides of the debate, along with a constant barrage of inflated, unsourced and questionable stats and data from both sides makes a healthy debate next to impossible. Ricardo Acuna will try to make sense of the numbers, stats and data – so that a more sane discussion can take place. He will tackle the central question of whether pipelines are in the public interest or not. Speaker: Ricardo Acuna Ricardo Acuna has been the Executive Director of the Parkland Institute, a public policy think tank in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, since May, 2002. In that capacity, he is also on the Steering Committee of the Corporate Mapping Project, a SSHRCC-funded six year research project exploring the corporate and political power of the fossil fuel sector in Western Canada. Ricardo has written and spoken extensively on topics of energy, fiscal issues, taxation, education and social policy in Alberta. He has a degree in political science from the U of A, and writes a regular column on provincial politics for Vue Weekly in Edmonton. He is currently chair of the Board of Oxfam Canada, and Deputy Chair of Oxfam International, as well as treasurer of the Association of Academic Staff at the U of A. Moderator: Terry Shillington Date: Thursday, June 14, 2018 Time: Doors open 11:30 am, Presentation 12 noon, buffet lunch 12:30 pm, Q&A 1 – 1:30 pm Location: Royal Canadian Legion (north door) 324 Mayor Magrath Dr. S. Lethbridge Cost: $14 buffet lunch with desert & coffee/tea/juice or $2 coffee/tea/juice. RSVP not required.