While Justin Trudeau will undoubtedly be praised by some for his polite reaction to these activists, his perfunctory response tells all you need to know about the disparity between his usual soaring rhetoric and his increasingly disappointing environmental performance.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked a pair of environmental protesters for their "activism" after they interrupted a press conference in Vancouver to question his commitment to fighting climate change.
Hayley Zacks, 20, and Jake Hubley, 24, rose from their seats to ask the prime minister for a "moment of his time" so that he might explain why he approved the contentious Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
The prime minister let the protesters say their piece but did not defend his position on resource projects.
Zacks noted the project will run through unceded First Nations territories and said young Canadians are scared the planet will become "unlivable" because of climate change.
"The Kinder Morgan pipeline is going to increase emissions from the tarsands, it is going to poison our water, our lands, and everything that we hold dear," she said before being escorted away by security members.
"Thank you for your questions, for your activism. Keep up the activism please," Trudeau said. "It's great to see young people stepping forward and sharing their concerns and views. We certainly take those very seriously."
UPDATE: This is the kind of environmental disaster that seems inevitable, Mr. Trudeau's enthusiasm for pipelines notwithstanding:
TransCanada Corp. said its Keystone pipeline has leaked an estimated 795,000 litres of oil in Marshall County, S.D., just days before Nebraska is set to decide the fate of its Keystone XL pipeline.
The company said its crews shut down the Keystone pipeline system early this morning between Hardisty, Alta., and Cushing, Okla., and a line to Patoka, Ill., and that the line is expected to remain shut while it responds to the spill.
Could he possibly be more disingenuous? Sadly Trudeau's poll numbers suggest that his base doesn't care. They're so much like Harper's supporters or Trump's in that respect.
ReplyDeleteUncritical adulation is dangerous, no matter what one's ideology is, Mound. The problem with those who champion Trudeau thus is that with a majority government, he can ignore the initiatives that need to be undertaken. Of course, the same would be true of the other parties were they enjoying such public favour.
Delete.. most of us Canadians have a very vague idea of how & where copper in mined or refined.. and who sells, who buys it.. and for what purpose, how it is delivered in its refined state or seperated from other useful or even more valuable minerals.. nothing surprising about this, we just accept that copper comes from mines.. and it has a certain value.. and Canada has lots of it.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that most of us will admit we have a much louder, but even more vague understanding of all that's involved re tar sands/dilbit or fracking/LNG or basic well bores/oil
Without listing all the aspects involved re Big Energy, Big Oil or Big LNG (and the list would be astonishing) I would suggest that government & mainstream media seem to have a pact, to keep everyday Canadian as in the dark as possible..
We get the low hanging fruit, the talking points.. and the majority of the time we are ill served or fed bullshit.. Because the scope & consequences of such resource extraction & sale is so gigantic, complex & shocking.. they can repeat the same old moronic & tired generalities. 'its for the economy' 'its all about jobs' 'it means energy security' 'world class oil spill cleanup' 'pipelines to tidewater' 'its nation building' 'Alberta oil is unfairly discounted' 'the window of opportunity to harvest this wealth' ... aghk !
They can get away with never examining or understanding the consequences, never betraying the actual cost of the subsidies, or the feeble royalty returns.. and keeping the related environmental, species at risk facts from science & biology muted or muzzled. We need to recognize ourselves as one of the endangered species.. and seemingly helpless ..
Points well-taken, Sal, and a reason that I like to read reputable alternative news sources, such as Alternet, Truthout, The Observer (nominally a newspaper, but really a force in environmental matters), etc. As well, some of the investigative and long-form pieces in the Star are worthy of note. By and large, however, papers seem too willing to echo government talking points and, let's face it, not lose more of their readers.
DeleteFar too many people seem content to live in a willful ignorance that is tantamount to abdication of their responsibilities as citizens of this world.