How Much They Worry About First Nation's Rights, The Environment, And Stuff In Calgary

CALGARY - A public hearing on a proposal to build a pipeline to ship oilsands bitumen from Alberta to the British Columbia coast has been cancelled in Calgary due to a lack of interest.


Kudos to Christy Clark, no matter how late she is to the game or how equivocal her position.  I actually disagree a bit with Rafe Mair on this latest development. The B.C. Libs, NDP, Greens, and Conservatives are all aligned  against the Northern Gateway pipeline as currently conceived.  Since Ms. Redford seems unbending, this amounts to them all being (for the moment at least) aligned against the pipeline.  The future has yet to unfold and we cannot anticipate it.  Nor is there a need to.


And, as an x-BCer, it wouldn't bother me too much if  the folks there did sell out for filthy lucre, even though my personal preference would be for the pipeline to die.  If Enbridge and the blue-eyed sheikhs from Alberta can sweeten the pot enough--with money or safety assurances-- to win over the various First Nations and everyone else affected along the route, then it is really their decision for me to respect.  Most likely though, this will not transpire, in which case I will happily chain myself to the tree  one down from Mr. Mair when the time comes.

Another Shoe Drops In Northern Gateway Debate

Following Bob Rae's somewhat watered down but nevertheless not bad interjection yesterday, the NDP brings a bit more rhetorical muscle:

OTTAWA -- If the independent review panel studying Enbridge's Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline proposal gives its OK to the project, the interim leader of the federal NDP says that still wouldn't settle the matter for her.

If both Bob Rae speaking yesterday in Vancouver and Turmel speaking today are trashing the pipeline, then you know somebody has whispered into their ear that its good politics.

And by the way the secret weapons in the anti-NGP fight aren't the First Nations or hippy enviro types from California.  They are the weird, homegrown Left/Right amalgams that B.C. kicks up in times of trouble.  I'm thinking Rafe Mair, guys like Van Der Zalm in his latest anti-HST incarnation (remember: his policies may have been far right but his 60's side-burns were left of Neil Young) and, most significantly these days, Terry Glavin.  Thank Gawd the pointless Afghan Mission is winding down, because Terry can quit bashing all us folks who knew that both it and the Iraq War were going to be a gigantic bloody waste of time, and turn his considerable talents for invective and outrage in a more useful direction. When the tractors come, I expect he and Rafe will lie down in front of the first one, and rage agin' it together.

Rafe Mair On The Northern Gateway Pipeline

 I oppose violence with every remaining sinew in my body but I’m saying to Harper and Oliver that violence is what their policies will bring. I haven’t had a fight since about Grade VII and I lost that one but I can tell you that I’m prepared to stand in the way of that first shovel and take the consequences. And I say to you both that you’re making a mistake if you think you can do these things without very serious consequences.

There is no middle way, Prime Minister – this Tar Sands gunk has to go by train or truck through Alberta to Houston because it isn’t coming though BC or through her waters.

Rafe Mair served as a Cabinet Minister  in Bill Bennett's SoCred government; his various portfolios included Environment,  Health and Education.  Incidentally, I think Mair's playing of the NEP card (National Energy Plan) is quite astute.  Ottawa is in effect NEPing British Columbia for the sake of Alberta and saying its in the national interest.