Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Northern Gateway: Welcome To Our Next National Unity Crisis

Depending how hard The Feds and Alberta push, it could get very ugly.  "The West" fragmented; B.C. NEP-ed; West-Coat  independence movements galore; The ROC forced to choose between beautiful B.C. and Alberta sludge miners.  I suspect that the Harper government won't push too hard, but they are betting the eventual construction date is so far beyond 2015 that this decision won't cost them.  I think it will, out in B.C. especially if the folks out there can swing a (non-binding) referendum.  You betcha this will be top-line news on election day 2015.  And Den Tandt is a kook if he thinks this decision will work to Harper's advantage in Ontario.  The polls out here side with B.C. over Alta. about three-to-one, and I doubt Jim Prentice has the rhetorical skills to change that ratio much.

3 comments:

deb said...

so Harper knew this wasnt going to hurt him too much politically? I am not sure how he will convince us westcoasters to forget about his decision in 2015, but I do wonder if he has other tricks up his sleeve to get this pipeline built.
its been suggested that his international agreement with the chinese could supercede all of our rights and the native legal fight.
im really sick of Harper and I hope he is just written the pipeline off, but my guess is he outmaneuvered all of his enemies. I Hope the Chinese have a lovely condo waiting for the Harper family in 2015.

The Mound of Sound said...

His work done it is entirely possible that Harper may soon leave. A veteran Ottawa Tory backroom guy (since Stanfield) keeps telling me that Harper could be gone this summer.

Read the entrails - he can't get any heavy-hitters to join his PMO. You can't fight a difficult election with the kid who sleeps in the rooms above your garage as Chief of Staff. People like Flanagan and Carson are now writing kiss-and-tell memoirs that are unflattering to Harper, something no one would have risked even a year ago. I also keep hearing that Mrs. H has a "commitment" that will require her to leave Ottawa.

I think Harper can foresee what lies ahead on the Northern Gateway and, with a wife anxious to get out of town, no decent help to be had, and the underlings beginning to speak plainly, the future is anything but bright.

deb said...

MOS, nice reading you, miss your blog:) God I hope your right, but if he abandons ship, could that mean the cons have a better chance of taking the election as that new leader feel to the party might just work:P
and ms h, I thought they already had sort of separated,the poor woman is gonna be stuck with him, soo sad.