Now, like good (as in docile) Canadians I suppose we should be saying, "oh shucks, I don't like that very much but, if they're saying it's for the greater good, I guess okay."
If that's what it means to be Canadian, thanks but no thanks.
The National Observer sums up the National Energy Board's predictable verdict on the Justin Trudeau Memorial Pipeline.
On Friday, the National Energy Board recommended approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, for the second time. Opponents were quick to mobilize against the recommendation. The Federal Court of Appeal quashed the original approval last August because the government hadn’t lived up to constitutional protections for Indigenous rights and hadn’t taken marine impacts into account.
A new round of Indigenous consultation is still ongoing but the NEB ‘reconsidered’ other issues. Here are the key findings, in the NEB's own words:
“... likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects on the Southern resident killer whale and on Indigenous cultural use associated with the Southern resident killer whale.
"... greenhouse gas emissions from Project-related marine vessels would likely be significant."
"While a credible worst-case spill from the Project or a Project-related marine vessel is not likely, if it were to occur the environmental effects would be significant."
"While these effects weighed heavily in the NEB’s consideration of Project-related marine shipping, the NEB recommends that the Government of Canada find that they can be justified in the circumstances, in light of the considerable benefits of the Project and measures to minimize the effects."Even the industry shills that still dominate Justin Trudeau's National Energy Board can't avoid the truth - not entirely - although they gave it a good shot. It's still a stacked deck report, literally pre-ordained.
Now, the feds have 90 days to decide whether to approve the pipeline they bought.
This whole thing has been cooked up and Justin Trudeau's own fingerprints are all over it. He rigged his own government's assessment of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Senior government officials tasked with assessing this cursed venture were summoned to a room where they were told that their "independent" assessments had to come out in favour of this pipeline. The fix was in.
Having gone to such lengths to corrupt the public service do you think Trudeau was expecting anything less from his jury-rigged National Energy Board?
I used to think that Trudeau was, in many ways, a lot like Harper. Now, on energy policy, he's coming to resemble Trump.
Both men have no qualms about flooding world markets with high carbon fossil fuels.
Both men are ignoring the understated warning of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the world has until 2030 to slash greenhouse gas emissions by at least half. If not we'll have to prepare for runaway global warming.
Both men govern nations that are major emitters of greenhouse gases and neither seems inclined to slash their country's per capita emissions. Trudeau isn't even on course to meet Harper's laughable emissions targets. He's falling further and further behind and that finding comes from his very own Environment Canada.
Both men ignore their own governments' science. Trump ignores NOAA, NASA and NCAR. He dismisses his own scientists' National Climate Assessment with a flippant, "I don't believe it." Trudeau tells us he's "done the science" but never produces it. Meanwhile experts - Alberta's Dave Shindler, the Royal Society of Canada, even Environment Canada - directly contradict the prime minister. The science has not been done and do you think there must be a reason for that. I do.
Donald Trump is in the bag for America's fossil fuel giants. Justin Trudeau has amply demonstrated that he is in the bag for Canada's fossil fuel giants. our petro-provinces and his petro-state.
I don't know if you stood them back to back there'd be any sunlight between them, at least when it comes to high-carbon fossil fuel.
Still can't believe this Liberal government is corrupt? Read this.
“I guess that's something that wouldn't have fazed me at all if the Harper government was still in power, but given the change in government, seeing as how we were told to provide serious advice, I was rather shocked at being given that kind of direction. It's not something that I would have expected from a Liberal government.”Go ahead. Read the entire article. You might also want to read how Kinder Morgan, resigned to taking a big loss on a pipeline no one else would touch, discovered how desperate Trudeau was to push that pipeline expansion through and used Trudeau's desperation to turn Trans Mountain into a handsome, windfall profit, straight from the federal treasury.
When Justin Trudeau forked out $4.5 billion to Kinder Morgan, he locked himself in. The notion that the Trudeau government will "review" the NEB report is farcical. This is, after all, the same government that twisted its senior officials' arms to ensure they gave it their seal of approval. Put it all together and it's corruption writ large.
I hope this doesn't come to violence but there's no ruling that out. Some people don't like to be steamrollered and that's exactly what's happening. Jim Carr has already let slip that the Trudeau government might call in the army. Once he realized how stupid he was to let that out, he promptly but unconvincingly retracted his threat. So, between the federal government's secret pipeline police intelligence operation (RCMP and CSIS), all the lies and corruption that have become this government's stock in trade, and the threat of calling in the army to deal with pesky protesters, some people might say "enough."
When the NEB starts talking about the national interest trumping the larger natural environment, Mound, they are breathing exemplars of the hubris that is destroying us.
ReplyDeleteNikiforuk shreds the NEB and our federal government in The Tyee.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference between the Harper and the Trudeau NEB? The devil is not in the details – it's in the whole design! Designed to fail. Designed to make Canadian oligarchs happy – and Alberta and China – at everyone else's expense.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Junior is no Donald Trump! The Donald promised to go all-in on dirty energy and he succeeded. America now exports more than it imports. (Thanks to filthy fracking which HRC promoted like gangbusters.)
That's the thing with politicians you really like – they all have their faults.
Then again, empty vessels like Junior, Obama, the Clintons, etc. – whom even partisans find hard to like – they are ALL faults! (Getting paid to play the wonkish fool.)