Tuesday, April 10, 2018

That's Another Fine Mess He's Gotten Himself Into



In a post yesterday, The Mound offered a searing assessment of Justin Trudeau's abject failure on the climate-change file. Only the most ardent acolytes of the Prime Minister will fail to see that his soaring rhetoric has far outpaced his level of achievement. Says Mound:
Raising public awareness about climate change as needed to secure public support for carbon taxes only shines a spotlight on the hypocrisy of Trudeau's pipeline policy. You can't have people thinking too much about climate change when you're trying to ramp up the extraction, transmission and export of dangerous, toxin-riddled, environmentally devastating, high-carbon, ersatz petroleum. You simply cannot square that circle.
And Trudeau's dilemma is deepening as he is hoisted on the petard of his own pleasing rhetoric about social license, indigenous rights, etc., all of which some people, especially residents of British Columbia, have taken seriously, putting them on a collision course with both Alberta and the federal government.

Alberta's Rachel Notley is warning of an approaching constitutional crisis over B.C.s refusal to play ball with the twinning of the Kinder Morgan pipeline:
The lack of action followed Monday morning comments by Premier Rachel Notley that British Columbia’s actions to halt construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion aren’t “too far off” from a constitutional crisis.

“If the national interest is given over to the extremes on the left or the right, if the voices of the moderate majority of Canadians are forgotten, the reverberations of that will tear at the fabric of Confederation for many, many years to come,” Notley said.



In his determination to get the pipeline built, Trudeau has a panoply of unpalatable options, all of which would entail a huge political price. As the following clip states, he could suspend transfer payments to British Columbia, impose economic sanctions on the province, or, most draconian of all, invoke the Federal Emergencies Act, which would allow him to call a state of emergency in both B.C. and Alberta, enabling him to suspend provincial law, thus paving the way for the pipeline construction.



None of these options is desirable, but again, Trudeau has brought himself to this precipice by his love of his own public image and rhetoric. One thing is certain in my mind,whatever option he chooses: in 'going to the mats' for the petroleum industry, Justin Trudeau will be making abundantly transparent that he is little more than a servile enabler of the neoliberal agenda.

6 comments:

  1. This is for the provinces to work out. Since when has Alberta ever wanted the federal government to get involved in their business. Trudeau approved the pipeline - period. That's all that's really appropriate for him to do. The rest is up to Alberta. Maybe they should offer BC some kind of compromise.

    UU

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    1. I think the problem for Trudeau, UU, is that he has boxed himself into a corner - whether he dithers or is resolute, he will pay a heavy price.

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  2. .. as we set about, or accept leaving nothing for our children or grandchildren.. we should ensure we are pithy sanctimonious losers, loud n proud.. partisans of some stripe, rooting for some party mired in quicksand

    That's it?

    That's 'legacy' ? (a gift ?)

    Its astonishing..
    When did a septic tank
    become a rose garden ?
    Did I skip that lecture ?

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    1. The debasement of politics and public discourse, although long in formation, has accelerated remarkably over the last several years, Sal. Somehow, I don't think our 'leaders' would have it any other way.

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  3. No matter what Justin does, Lorne, he'll come out of this damaged.

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    1. He's about to find out how rough public life can be, Owen.

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