Thanks for the kind words Bob. I think there is a lot of complacency and denial here. Life is just soooo comfortable for many people that problems mostly seem a world away. Of course I would argue that much of our current prosperity is illusory - the result of easy credit and therefore accumulated at the expense of the future (ie there is significant difference between money and credit which people are about to rediscover).

Stephen Harper is on the record as proclaiming that Canada need not worry at all about energy as we are an 'energy superpower'. This is at odds with the reality that half the country exports (although conventional sources are rapidly depleting and unconventional may not scale up very quickly), while the other half imports energy in increasing quantities. This disparity is likely to lead to significant discontent in the future just as it has done in the past. With increasing regionalism in Canadian politics, I am concerned about Canadian unity in the face of a crisis.