The Ontario government has temporarily waived some of the work rules governing truck driversI'm sure many of us have had to work a 70 hour week at one time or another. They aren't particularly fun, and for me at least, life becomes a grey fog by about day four. Ever drive for 70 hours in a week? It doesn't take long to feel foggy and sweaty, with the smell of the vehicle soaking into your skin, eyes bloodshot from concentration, edgy from caffeine and traffic. Now picture a driver, working that sort of week, hauling tens of thousands of litres of highly volatile gasoline at 90+ km/h down your nearest motorway. Feel safe?
to help cope with the province's fuel supply crunch.
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Among the waived rules is the regulation that drivers and operators cannot drive after accumulating 70 hours on-duty in a seven-day period.
A fire in a single refinery has so affected fuel supply in Ontario that the government has apparently been forced to compromise road safety regulations so the province can continue to function. Feel safe? I don't.
A Dene Elder once told me that oil was buried so deep by the Creator because humans were never meant to use it. "Poison" he called it. He should know. He is now watching the promise of money from pumping oil and gas, as well as climate change from burning it, destroy what remains of his ancestral homeland, culture, and traditional value system. I'm sure Iraqis and maybe soon Iranians feel something similar. And if it gets much worse, the entire world will.
I hope we wake-up soon.
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