Remember When...

...Canadians used to boast and brag about being able to travel all over the world while Americans had to pretend they were Canadian to get the same advantage?

That's changing, but only the Canadian advantage part. I don't think there's yet any advantage to be gained by Canadians pretending to be Americans, so that hasn't changed, but can Americans still gain any leverage by pretending to be Canadian?

Canada takes fight for oilsands crude to Europe

"Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is in Europe to fight new requirements the EU hopes to slap on oil producers he says "discriminate" against Canada.

The EU's new Fuel Quality Directive, which stipulates that fuel suppliers reduce greenhouse gases in energy intended for road transport, singles out oil from Alberta's oilsands as more polluting than conventional crude.

In addition to telling the Europeans Canada is an "excellent destination for investment capital," Oliver also hopes to convince them their emissions reductions "aren't fair," largely because they "discriminate against oil they're not importing."

Oil from the Arab Gulf states, Oliver says, is produced with much higher emissions than that in Alberta.

California and Venezuela, he claims, don't even know how much carbon they emit. Without emissions numbers from all oil countries, Canada shouldn't be singled out, he said.

"(The Europeans) are targeting the Canadian oilsands by name, giving it a rating, but they're not looking specifically at other emitters who haven't disclosed their emissions," he said.

Oliver said Canada "doesn't necessarily" want to have Europe as an export market for its crude, adding he only cares about what the EU is saying about Canadian oil because it's "being stigmatized."

On the other hand, I don't think it will be long now before Western Civilization's malcontents will slink back into their caves, like they have always done.