Minister Leonard’s prank on shale gas

Minister Leonard’s prank on shale gas by Guillermo Castilla, November 30, 2012, NB Media Coop
“Both reports [Dr. LaPierre’s and Dr. Cleary’s] came to the same conclusion – a moratorium on shale gas exploration was neither required nor desirable in New Brunswick.” I don’t think so. Dr. LaPierre’s conclusion is a personal opinion derived not from the content of his report but from fallacious arguments he puts forth in the conclusion section itself, like that a moratorium is nothing but “an authorized period of delay or waiting without defining the issues that would be addressed during that period” (but then how can a moratorium finish if the issues that prompted it are not defined?), or that the laws of nature are different in New Brunswick and therefore failures in other places may become successes here (yeah, right). As for Dr. Cleary, we may congratulate her for the incredible deed of reaching a conclusion on something she does not even mention (yep, you got it right: there is no talk of moratorium in her report). Perhaps we should remind Leonard that Dr. Cleary is addressing public health measures under the scenario that the government goes ahead with shale gas, which does not imply that she is for it, in the same way that a woman who carries pepper spray in her bag is not for being raped. [Emphasis added]