Ed Stelmach - Canada’s Fossil Fool

Fresh from his provincial election landslide, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has snagged a more international — and dubious — title as runner-up Fossil Fool of the Year, beating out several of North America’s top energy and automaker chief executives.

Stelmach’s unwavering support for massive oilsands development in northern Alberta earned more than 25 per cent of about 6,000 votes cast worldwide in a vote organized by the San Francisco-based Energy Action Coalition.

The coalition, which represents 46 environmental groups across North America, plan to crown him “Canadian Fossil Fool of the Year” on Tuesday, April 1, to mark their newly minted Fossil Fool’s Day — targetting the energy industry across Canada and around the world.

Stelmach was nominated for his refusal to slow down the rapid pace of harvesting and refining the province’s massive oilsands deposits — a plan the coalition says has “the potential to lay waste to an area the size of the state of Florida.”

Cool views on hot issue

Brian Towie/Metro Toronto

31 March 2008 09:36

brian towie/metro toronto

MuchMusic VJ Hannah Simone believes climate change will be the defining struggle for future generations.

There’s nothing quite like a little star power to raise awareness about global warming for the younger set. And when you’re Hannah Simone and Steve Jocz, you use it if you’ve got it.

Simone, a VJ at MuchMusic, Jocz and Cone McCaslin, the drummer and bassist, respectively, for Canadian pop-punk vanguard Sum 41, travelled to oil-rich Alberta for a MuchTalks television special on climate change that aired in February. Metro picked the brains of the celebrities on the front lines of coolness and where they stand on the issue.

As journalistic and objective as they had to be, the experience was a harsh eye-opener, Simone and Jocz said. Seeing the first-hand effects of large-scale pollution at the hands of a Fort McMurray oilsands drilling outfit brought them a fresh, urgent perspective that transcended the show.