Depending how hard The Feds and Alberta push, it could get very ugly. “The West” fragmented; B.C. NEP-ed, West-Coat independence movements galore. The ROC forced to choose between beautiful B.C. and Alberta sludge miners. I suspect that the Harper government won’t push too hard, but they are betting the eventual construction
Continue readingTag: Northern Gateway Pipeline
The Canadian Progressive: Five strategies to stop Enbridge’s Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline
by: Brent Patterson | First published by The Council of Canadians on June 16, 2014 A map of Enbridge’s proposed $6.5 billion Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline. Map from Mining.com The Harper government must announce its decision on the 525,000 barrels per day Northern Gateway tar sands export pipeline by midnight tomorrow.
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Northern Gateway To Be Delayed?
“We’ve heard through the grapevine that the Harper government is going to announce a delay,” said the Chief Phillip said to the hundreds of people gathered to protest the bitumen pipeline proposal.“This is the rumour — that it’s going to be a delay to allow for more consultation with First
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Oil By Rail Just Got More Expensive
An account of the feds new rail safety improvements can be found here. From it: The federal government wants a three-year phase-out or retrofit of older tank cars that are used to transport crude oil by rail, but will not implement a key TSB recommendation that rail companies conduct route
Continue readingCommon sense in Kitimat
Good news over the weekend. The citizens of Kitimat B.C. had their say on the Northern Gateway pipeline, and they said NO. In a referendum on Saturday, they voted 1,793 to 1,278 to oppose running the pipeline to their town, the proposed terminus. Mayor Joanne Monaghan promised to discuss the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Still hoping for a ‘deal’ with AUPE, Alberta Deputy Premier Dave Hancock has a Seinfeld moment
Deputy Premier Dave Hancock holds forth in the Legislature this morning as a few bored reporters half-heartedly listen. Below: Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who could have written Mr. Hancock’s script; former Reform Party and now former SIRC chair Chuck Strahl. With nothing to report in “negotiations” between the government of Alberta
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Justin Trudeau On Pipelines
From his interview with Calgary Metro News:“Because of that I have been a strong promoter of the Keystone XL pipeline and also a harsh critic on the way the prime minister has approached pushing the Keystone XL pipeline. To my mind, the only thing that has prevented Keystone XL from
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Former federal Tory Chuck Strahl’s lobbying activities break no laws, but highlight a problem
Lobbyists gather in the lobby of the House of Commons at Westminster. Below: Politician turned lobbyist Chuck Strahl, B.C. Lobbying Commissioner Elizabeth Denham. Notwithstanding his classification as a Designated Public Office Holder under the federal Lobbying Act, former Reform Party, Canadian Alliance and Conservative office holder Chuck Strahl is breaking
Continue readingAlberta Diary: In four letters, Brian Jean, the Crossword King of Parliament Hill, has Q-U-I-T
How Brian Jean may have started to see himself after whiling away too many hours on Parliament Hill over the decade. Amateur psychologizing by blog authors is unlikely to resemble the actual mental state of real Parliamentarians. Below: The real Mr. Jean, who announced yesterday he is quitting his job
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Caught in an apparent conflict like Chuck Strahl? No problem! Just double down!
Manning Centre-Security Intelligence Review Committee Chair and Enbridge lobbyist Chuck Strahl. Below: Former would-be Reform Party prime minister Preston Manning; Reform Party prime minister in waiting Jason Kenney. All these slightly out-of-focus profile shots were taken by your blogger during his infiltration of the 2013 Manning Centre conference in Ottawa. When
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Driftpile First Nation To Enbridge: Who? Us?
Phony signatures on Enbridge’s list of First Nations who’ve expressed support for the Northern Gateway pipeline? The Driftpile First Nation is on the list, though they’ve gone to extensive lengths to express their opposition to the project. Naturally, they are curious as to how this might have occurred. And here,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta’s 13 most under-reported political news stories of 2013
Another aircraft takes off from Fort McMurray International Aerodrome loaded with CO2 captured from Alberta’s Athabasca bitumen sands. The gas will be stored in the basements of Russian buildings as part of a deal worked out through the province’s $2-billion “carbon capture” program. Actual Alberta carbon capture boondoggles may not
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: A Brief Post On The State Of Northern Gateway
Roger Kingkdade is host of Kingkade & Kelly on News Talk 770 in Calgary: Come get some, tar cowboy. PS. NEP = National Energy Program.
Continue readingWhere will all the scientists go?
In a new book about the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, The Oil Man and the Sea, author Arno Kopecky relates his attempt to interview Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) scientist Kenneth Lee. Dr. Lee was the executive director of the DFO-sponsored Centre for Offshore Oil, Gas and Energy Research,
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Canadians Are "Concerned" About A Lotta Stuff
If “a majority of Canadians say they are “concerned” about potential negative financial impacts on their families if proposed pipeline projects fail to get the go-ahead” is the best they can suck out of the results of the latest Ipsos-Reid poll, then I imagine the details are even worse news for
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Come Get Some, Bituman Cowboy
If Harper says that he will not take no for an answer from the U.S. on Keystone — a project over its future he ultimately has no real control — should one not conclude that he will also not accept that provinces such as British Columbia, Quebec or Ontario throw
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Desperation Is The Harvest Of Failure.
Stephen Harper is desperately trying to get Canada’s First Peoples to buy into the Northern Gateway Pipeline. But, Michael Harris writes, they will not be snookered by Mr. Harper. They know the man too well: Stephen Harper’s trust account is badly overdrawn. Native leaders will not soon forget how the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: You Can’t Take Him At His Word
Stephen Harper was in British Columbia over the weekend, “negotiating” with British Columbia’s native peoples on the Northern Gateway file. Michael Harris writes that Mr. Harper has a constitutional duty to consult with first nations. But Harper doesn’t negotiate: That approach would violate the Harper government’s preferred tactic when dealing
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Elizabeth May Questions Harper on Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline [VIDEO]
During Question Period on Thursday, Green Party leader Elizabeth May asked Stephen Harper whether the feds would still approve Enbridge‘s Northern Gateway Pipeline, now officially rejected by British Columbians. WATCH: Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, in 2001, the Prime Minister wrote a famous letter to the former premier of Alberta, which he urged him
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Oil Spilling, Redux
From Jansen, Sask.: The oil industry suggests they will move their product by train if their pipelines don’t get approved. They should really be made to use safe rail cars.
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