As the video included in yesterday's post shows, Justin Trudeau likes to defend the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline as in 'the national interest." The term itself is a contentious one, given its nebulous nature. For the Prime Minister, it seems to mean economic growth, moving Alberta's bitumen to port, and bolstering Rachel Notley's climate change initiatives.
As the following letter from a Toronto Star reader indicates, however, there is a more crucial definition that Mr. Trudeau and his fellow bitumen and pipeline enthusiasts are entirely dismissing, one that should take precedence:
PM’s pipeline woes of his own making, Harper, April 11
According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, B.C. Premier John Horgan should compromise because this pipeline is in the national interest. Why is that? He doesn’t say.
I see the national interest as one where all of us move in a planned and purposeful way toward an economy that does not depend on oil and gas. In that world view, giving oil companies breaks on environmental assessments or emissions rules or buying pipelines so they can move their oil is against the national interest. It is the interest of oil companies not to leave stranded assets. The national interest is to move forward into a low-carbon future in Canada and around the world.
Mr. Trudeau speaks out of both sides of his mouth. “Yes,” he says, “we will meet our Paris targets.” Then he approves drilling in Nova Scotia, refuses to sign on to an Arctic heavy-oil treaty and permits Alberta oil to triple production of a very inefficient, high-greenhouse-gas emissions product, and approves a pipeline without ever reviewing its climate impacts or demonstrating that bitumen can be cleaned up.
Meanwhile we have never reduced our emissions targets as a country and are not projected to meet those targets any time soon.
And how can he say he has consulted with First Nations when the B.C. Federation of Indian Chiefs is standing at the Watch Tower, committing civil disobedience, and getting arrested to make their voices heard? Yes, let’s act in the national interest. Let’s all of us move toward a low-carbon future in right relations with our first peoples.
Rev. Frances Deverell, Nanaimo, B.C.
.. what a wicked ass teardown .. WoW !
ReplyDeleteThe vox populi, Sal, can be very powerful indeed.
DeleteIt dawned on me today that if there is one core aspect of "national interest" it must be the preservation and strengthening of Confederation. Something that undermines our national unity cannot, simply cannot be in the national interest. Our man/boy prime minister has stood the term "national interest" on its head, transformed it into a strawman, a shabby tool to advance his partisan political fortunes. At CBC's web site, even Eric Grenier, explores the Trans-Mountain pipeline from the primary perspective of how many seats the Liberals stand to gain and lose and concludes that it's a winner for Trudeau's LPC. This is about whether Trudeau can benefit electorally from subjugating British Columbia. Nothing else truly matters.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to see such a perversion of values, Mound, and, reading your blog, I can see how rightfully distressing this entire situation is to our West Coast brothers and sisters, as well as the rest of us who care about our planet's fate.
DeleteToday I wrote two environmental posts. One dealt with the decline of the Gulf Stream and the possibility of a tipping point that will collapse it entirely. The warning from scientists couldn't be more pressing. We must avoid disrupting the Gulf Stream "at all costs." We must stop global warming as soon as possible.
DeleteThe other enviro post dealt with oceanic heat waves and the effects they're already having on everything from corals to fish to marine mammals to sea birds. I tied this in to the other man-made stressors we're inflicting on our oceans and marine life including the sea of plastic waste, ocean acidification, coastal contamination and dead zones, over-fishing and the collapse of fish stocks as we "fish down the food chain." Yet we argue it is in Canada's national interest to add fuel to this marine conflagration. When we kill our oceans we're also drawing a knife across our own throats. We kill it, we kill ourselves. Where is the national interest in that.
I revere the Pacific Ocean. I've experienced it in the far South Pacific, the Central Pacific and the Pacific Northwest. I have swum in it, I have sailed on it, I have fished its bounty. It has nearly killed me, twice at least. Like the other oceans and seas, the Pacific is an enormous, life-giving, life-sustaining gift to mankind and yet we abuse it horribly.
All of these things reveal how stupidly selfish this bitumen trafficking is.
It is as if we occupy two realities, Mound, the one our political overlords foist upon us, and the truth offered unsparingly by nature. Unfortunately, far too many of us choose to be seduced by sweet lies rather than be upended by bitter truth.
Delete.. Mound points to critical territory.. there cannot be anything 'partisan' to such discussion. It must be clear, coherent with strong reference.. peer reviewed science or biology or hydrology yes.. but the public require effective condensed versions, easily consumable one might say.
ReplyDeleteWe are not well served by elected public servants and their ilk and mainstream media is failing at its job.. these are truly dangerous times..
To think the Gulf Stream is slowing or parking, blows my mind. But then this is the era of The Great Barrier Reef dying.. Antactica melting, the great glaciers, death of the caribou, the east coast fishery dead long ago so lets kill the west coast salmon now.
Like Mound I have explored the oceans on and below.. the Pacific has almost killed me several times and the Atlantic took some shots at me. Hell, Lake Ontario came the closest to ending me, but I gleefully leaped in somewhere near the border of the USA.. and unlike my tall lifeguard son with his size 14 feet flippers I am not the strongest of swimmers.
He was taken way out by a powerful Australian rip and confidently waited till it let go of him way out in the way beyond and stroked in after. we can’t let the scumbags ruin the majesty of species and habitat.. our environment.
I am getting my mean face on for Trudeau & Notely.. the Kinder Morgan creeps and Jason Kenney.. There won't be any niceties.. it will Like Joe Frazier catching lighting in a bottle medium heavyweight Bob Foster who was slapping him silly with combos with a true heavyweight hook.. bam.. and Bob Foster admitting his arms went limp his chin drooped.. Just one real hit from a true heavyweight and he knew he was toast. That's the way we need to go after media and public servants and politcal parties.. cut off the ring.. get them in the corner.. bam
All very true, Sal, but I do often wonder about the willful ignorance so many embrace so as not to allow discord or unease into their lives.
DeleteI have just started reading a book called The Death of Expertise, the early thesis of which seems to be that we live in an age where everyone believes that their opinion is worth as much as anyone else's. That kind of infantile narcissism is what allows the demagogue and the political 'leader' to enact their shameful and harmful policies. If you have a constituency, as Trump has and as Doug Ford seems to be capitalizing on, it is amazing how far you can go.
.. you & Mound et al stimulate another area for thought.. Canada (our country last I looked) needs to evolve and adapt, not just keep plunging ahead. That means overhauling our economies. Sorting out our culture, envisioning progressions, recognizing our exemplars, filtering away the garbage thinking political talk talk. Promoting bright industrious leadership to help take us forward. From province to province to territory coast to coast this must be fostered and accomplished.. the greening and regreening of Canada must get going.. and the population growth needs to get parked.. we need time to stabilize, get to know our community neighbors and their children
ReplyDeleteWhen we most need it, Sal, real political leadership is egregiously absent. Were it not for our craven politicos, people would understand and be prepared to accept the changes and sacrifices demanded in truly tackling the worldwide climate crisis engulfing the world.
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