The Alberta Oilsands are a source of intense debate and discord both domestically and internationally. However, the future prosperity of the nation is inherently linked to Canada’s ability to take advantage of the resource and harness its potential. The challenge for proponents therefore becomes to cultivate broad based support, particularly
Continue readingTag: Northern Gateway Pipeline
Straight Outta Edmonton: Harper’s Attack, Redford’s Consensus: Building National Support for the Oilsands
With Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Alberta Premier Alison Redford, we see two starkly different strategies employed to build support for the oilsands nationally.
In recent weeks, Prime Minister Harper, as well as Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, have adopted the meme first introduced by Ethical Oil and its acolytes, painting all opponents to the Northern Gateway Pipeline — which seeks to ship oilsands bitumen from Alberta to Asia via Kitimat, B.C — as foreign proxies sabotaging Canada’s economic interests. Unabashedly disingenuous as it attempts to other First Nations and non-First Nations communities along the proposed route that oppose the pipeline, as well as the numerous Canadian ENGOs whose history of advancing environmental causes in this country dates back well before the oilsands became an economic imperative.
The goal here is to impose the oilsands on the country by masking it in the language of “Canadian” versus “Foreign” interests, McCarthyizing acceptance. Far from winning over critics, the approach is likely to further polarize Canadians on the issue.
In contrast to bullying opponents, Premier Redford has quietly been working to build consensus on the oilsands, winning over provinces that her predecessors may at one time have labeled as detractors through her push for a national energy strategy. First championed at the Intergovernmental Energy and Mines Ministers Conference in Kananaskis last July, Redford has won support from western allies such Saskatchewan and British Columbia, as well as traditional critics such as Quebec, where support for the oilsands are at the lowest levels in the country.
Redford’s message to her counterparts is for them to collectively harness their province’s unique energy strengths, transforming Canada into both an energy and environmental super power. This level of collaboration will invariably require trade offs, which although currently undefined, may require Alberta to address the oilsand’s poor environmental performance sooner than anticipated.
Yet to Redford, this is likely a welcomed risk. Committing the provinces to a national energy strategy where the oilsands play a pivotal role, strengthens the resource’s economic viability at home and abroad.
Canadian history is rife with examples of the federal government unilaterally proceeding on divisive matters of national concern in a belligerent manner with little regard to opponents. Trust erodes, federalism is undermined, and matters that require consensus to proceed and sustain in the long term become polarized to the extreme.
National projects in the national interest — as the oilsands should be viewed — require consensus building, bringing critics on board through compromise, whether they are provincial counterparts, First Nations, or ENGOs. In this case, its requires the oilsands to transform from being the Alberta Oilsands to the Canadian Oilsands, with opponents buying in at various stages of development. The subsequent policy erosion will be offset with a strong, broad base of support, which will reap far greater rewards for the resource than proceeding along its current trajectory.
Continue readingHyperbole, Haste and the Nail in the Coffin: The Death of Oil Pipedreams
It’s been more than a week now since Minister Joe (McCarthy) Oilver’s divisive screed appeared in the Globe and Mail. His attempt to create an us’n’them scenario has been thoroughly denounced and discredited in the blogosphere, as the links provided in my previous posts indicate. Commentators, even some in the
Continue readingOne pipeline down, one to go
So Obama has sunk the Keystone XL pipeline—at least temporarily. He has said Trans Canada can apply again, so perhaps he’s just being an election-year tease. Nonetheless, it’s a victory against the tar sands monolith. And that’s what it’s all about, not just shutting down a pipeline, but shutting down
Continue readingNorthern Gateway Pipeline: The Video Version
I’m not much of a video lover, myself, but I know most of our culture is and so I’ve been amassing a few links that may be of interest to those who’d rather learn about the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline via video rather than text. Here are just a few.
Continue reading350 or bust: Canada: Under Attack By Foreign Interests Groups & Radicals
Bless you, Rick Mercer, when the goings-on in Ottawa get completely intolerable, you give Canadians something to laugh at. Here’s Rick’s response to the Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver’s letter attacking environmentalists (read: anyone opposed to the Northern Gateway Pipeline and/or unrestricted development of the Alberta tar sands) as
Continue readingA long story and an action item
First Nations leaders are justifiably angered by the HarperCon government’s blatant support for the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline. “The First Nations Leadership Council is greatly troubled by recent comments by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver advocating for the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline to proceed
Continue reading350 or bust: The Myth of Keystone Jobs Must Give Way To Real Job Opportunities For Canadians & Americans
Press Release from Citizens Climate Lobby Canada in response to President Obama’s decision yesterday on the Keystone XL Pipeline: President Obama made the right decision in rejecting approval for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The constraints imposed by Congress gave insufficient time for a thorough, unbiased review of the pipeline’s
Continue reading350 or bust: Conservative Party Of Canada’s Unethical Ties To Pro-Tar Sands Lobby
A picture is worth a thousand words: Graphic via Matt Price: Six Degrees Of Separation Between Ethical Oil and Conservatives
Continue readingJimBobby Sez: Enbridge lobbied 23 MPs, 3 deputy ministers, 1 chief of staff & other public office holders
(Reprinted from Lobby Monitor Newsletter)Enbridge did fall lobbying blitzJanuary 12, 2012 – 9:22am | Lobby Monitor Staff In-house lobbyists with Enbridge, the Calgary-based energy company behind the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, lobbied 23 MPs, three deputy ministers, one chief of staff and other designated public office holders this fall, communication
Continue readingJimBobby Sez: Enbridge lobbied 23 MPs, 3 deputy ministers, 1 chief of staff & other public office holders
(Reprinted from Lobby Monitor Newsletter)Enbridge did fall lobbying blitzJanuary 12, 2012 – 9:22am | Lobby Monitor Staff In-house lobbyists with Enbridge, the Calgary-based energy company behind the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, lobbied 23 MPs, three deputy ministers, one chief of staff and other designated public office holders this fall, communication
Continue readingJimBobby Sez: Enbridge lobbied 23 MPs, 3 deputy ministers, 1 chief of staff & other public office holders
(Reprinted from Lobby Monitor Newsletter)
Enbridge did fall lobbying blitz
January 12, 2012 – 9:22am | Lobby Monitor Staff
In-house lobbyists with Enbridge, the Calgary-based energy company behind the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, lobbied 23 MPs, three deputy ministers, one chief of staff and other designated public office holders this fall, communication reports filed with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying show.
Registrations filed with the commissioner’s office have Patrick Daniel, Enbridge’s president and CEO, listed as the responsible officer for the firm’s in-house lobbying. D’Arcy Levesque, the vice president of public and government affairs, and Sonya Savage, the senior manager of government relations, are identified as the two company officials whose lobbying activities represent 20 per cent or more of their duties.
A communication report does not specify which officials did the lobbying, or if the communication was face-to-face or by telephone.
The registration says Enbridge officials were to lobby on “bills (such as C-606 “An Act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 (Prohibition against the transportation of oil by tankers on Canada’s Pacific North Coast) – measure or area of interest is the proposed ban on oil tanker traffic.”
It also noted there could be “discussions regarding the development of a national energy strategy and the approach to opening new markets for natural resources” and that the company would be “seeking improved efficiencies in the environmental assessment processes.”
One communication shows Enbridge lobbied 22 MPs, all of them Conservative, at once. Another communication shows Enbridge’s in-house lobbyists lobbied Louis Levesque, deputy minister of international trade at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. Michael Wernick, deputy minister at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and Michael Horgan, a deputy minister at the finance ministry, were also lobbied, according to two separate communications.
Enbridge is also working with outside consultants, the registry showed. Ensight Canada’s Jacquie LaRoque, Gregory Kolz and Robin Sears are registered to lobby the House of Commons and the Senate on behalf of the company.
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Never Mind Northern Gateway, Keystone XL remains the main objective of Canada’s pipeline propagandists
A Canadian lobbyist ratchets up the pressure on the Obama Administration to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. Meanwhile, foreign celebrities boost the morale of radical Hollywood environmentalists as they prepare to interfere in Canadian affairs. Government and corporate officials and environmental radicals may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Joe
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Never Mind Northern Gateway, Keystone XL remains the main objective of Canada’s pipeline propagandists
A Canadian lobbyist ratchets up the pressure on the Obama Administration to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline. Meanwhile, foreign celebrities boost the morale of radical Hollywood environmentalists as they prepare to interfere in Canadian affairs. Government and corporate officials and environmental radicals may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Joe
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Cozy Ties: Astroturf ‘Ethical Oil’ and Conservative Alliance to Promote Tar Sands Expansion
hamish marshall and stephen harper.jpg As the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project Joint Review Panel begins hearing over 4,000 comments submitted by community members, First Nations, governments, and environmental groups, the tar sands front group EthicalOil.org has launched its latest PR offensive in support of the pipeline. OurDecision.ca, the new astroturf ad
Continue reading350 or bust: Alberta Oil Sands Crude: Not As Conflict-Free As “Ethical Oil” Proponents Wish
* Yesterday I posted a clip from Power & Politics where EthicalOil.org’s spokesperson Kathryn Marshall happily sprayed paranoid, inflammatory rhetoric around the room about how “environmentalists” who are speaking out against the Northern Gateway Pipeline are funded by “foreign” interests while clamming up about whether or not her group gets
Continue readingfirst word, tree.: Pink Herrings: Ethical (Sp)Oil and Pride (in Pipelines)
“Make a hard Right-turn at the Town of Wedgepolitics and keep going Straight until you’ve reached the City of Bigotry and Political Strategy.” Directions for Harper’s recent wedge-issue of choice, driven to distract, that questions the validity of marriage licences granted to non-resident couples in Canada. This issue is too risky
Continue readingEthical Oil? Puhleeze!
I just finished watching Inside Politics with Evan Solomon. In this episode, he’s speaking with John Bennett of the Sierra Club and Kathryn Marshall of Ethical (sic) Oil. I turned off the player about 8 minutes in. Ms. Marshall was too much for me. And I mean it. Too. Much.
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Oil Is Their Lifeblood
If there was any doubt that the Harper government is owned by the oil companies, Joe Oliver’s rant last week against foreign “billionaire socialists” should put an end to any misconceptions. As Jeffrey Simpson points out, Oliver’s oxymoron was yet another example of Harperian hypocrisy. Canadian money flooded Washington a
Continue readingAbout that northern pipeline…
Poetic Justice! Enbridge reports leak from U.S. pipeline as Northern Gateway hearings begin. This is nothing new for Enbridge, the leak, that is. They happen all the time. From 1999 to 2010 Enbridge had 804 leaks, spilling more than 16,000 barrels of hydrocarbons into the environment per year. New
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