The plan's first year ended $933,034 over budget, according to an internal review report tabled at the board's Tuesday meeting. As well, a number of targeted schools can no longer be considered for closure due to enrolment increases, including Connaught, Glen Elm, Kitchener and Walker. The report recommends putting the plan on hold or altering it significantly. Although the review has been tabled, there is no guarantee the board will act on its conclusions.

(Photo - A kid's poster protests the closure of 14 Regina schools. M. Plante)

While the west was bailing out the banks, China has been plowing money into clean technology projects and a smart grid system.  Perhaps the shameful air quality of Beijing and other megacities as seen during the Olympics has pushed them on this building spree.  Maybe it has seen the end to cheap oil and is getting ready for the global scramble for diminishing resource supplies.

Each year, the Energy Information Administration of the United Statd Department of Energy submits a summer report called the International Energy Outlook.  This is filled with data and analysis on the ever changing world energy file.

This summer, the 2009 report provided some very significant revelations.  it predicts a sharp drop in projected future world oil output and a corresponding increase in reliance on what is called unconventional fuels.  These are principally seen as oil sands, ultra-deep oil, shale oil and biofuels.

So here's the headline for you: For the first time, the well-respected Energy Information Administration appears to be joining with those experts who have long argued that the era of cheap and plentiful oil is drawing to a close.

On August 20th, an international coalition of environmental and aboriginal organizations have vowed to challenge a permit given to a pipeline to bring the dirtiest oil on earth from the Tar Sands in Alberta to the United States.

“The State Department has rubber-stamped a project that will mean more air, water and global warming pollution, particularly in the communities near refineries that will process this dirty oil,” said Earthjustice attorney Sarah Burt. “The project’s environmental review fails to show how construction of the Alberta Clipper is in the national interest. We will go to court to make sure that all the impacts of this pipeline are considered.”

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On August 7th, several environmental groups and one county in Colorado filed a lawsuit saying the energy corridor the Bush administration designated through thousands of miles in the West doesn’t do enough to encourage renewable energy and it puts wildlife and public lands at risk.

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In February 2008, project partners Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls, Inc., and Jones Lang LaSalle began working with existing and newly created modeling, measurement, and projection tools to fully analyze the Empire State Building's energy use. RMI's Built Environment Team then provided realistic recommendations that would help increase the building's energy efficiency without harming bottom-line performance.

     All of the important political pundits, government officials, the mass media and the business press have declared that the Great Recession is over and we are now entering the recovery. Green shoots are seen everywhere. The stock market has led the way with a recovery of around 48% since hitting bottom. The $12 trillion of taxpayers' money thrown into the markets by government fiscal stimulus programs has been a success.
     Canada has fared very well compared to the other industrialized economies. Indeed, while U.S. house prices have fallen and homeowners have lost over $4 trillion in equity, house prices in most of Canada have remained high, near the peak of the bubble. The largest increases over the past year have been in Saskatchewan. With record low mortgage interest rates, and no money down mortgages again guaranteed by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation [The Taxpayers], first time buyers are plunging into the market.
     It is only the economists and political economists outside the mainstream who are still not convinced that we are in a recovery. Many believe we are in a long term bear market and the future will more likely be a period of stagnation if not deflation and/or depression.