Hard advice on the Northern Gateway pipeline
- January 19, 2012 3:06 PM |
- By Max Paris
So yesterday's decision by the Americans to can the current version of the Keystone XL pipeline has added new urgency to the Northern Gateway Pipeline process.
If you're an oil sands producer or a member of the Harper government, you may be thinking, "Damn it! We've gotta make sure this pipe gets built! So get outta the way, Greenies!"
If you're a "radical" environmentalist (especially a foreign-backed one, just ask Joe Oliver), you may be thinking it's time to mount the sylvan ramparts and prepare to defend the spirit bear and her pristine slice of Gaia.
But the crux of the problem for the Northern Gateway Pipeline lies nowhere near that sideshow of a fight. It doesn't matter how much money Green Puppet Masters from abroad pour into the measly coffers of Canadian environmental groups.
Nor does it matter how many names or accusations of economic treason the government throws at local tree-huggers.
The real players in this fight are the First Nations along the route from Bruderheim, Alta. to Kitimat, B.C.
I mean, just listen to Tom Flanagan, the Prime Minister's former chief of staff and now a University of Calgary political scientist and frequent contributor on CBC's Power & Politics, speaking earlier this month: Video Interview HERE
Here's the transcript and additional discussion
If you're an oil sands producer or a member of the Harper government, you may be thinking, "Damn it! We've gotta make sure this pipe gets built! So get outta the way, Greenies!"
If you're a "radical" environmentalist (especially a foreign-backed one, just ask Joe Oliver), you may be thinking it's time to mount the sylvan ramparts and prepare to defend the spirit bear and her pristine slice of Gaia.
But the crux of the problem for the Northern Gateway Pipeline lies nowhere near that sideshow of a fight. It doesn't matter how much money Green Puppet Masters from abroad pour into the measly coffers of Canadian environmental groups.
Nor does it matter how many names or accusations of economic treason the government throws at local tree-huggers.
The real players in this fight are the First Nations along the route from Bruderheim, Alta. to Kitimat, B.C.
I mean, just listen to Tom Flanagan, the Prime Minister's former chief of staff and now a University of Calgary political scientist and frequent contributor on CBC's Power & Politics, speaking earlier this month: Video Interview HERE
Here's the transcript and additional discussion
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