On a US book tour, Joe Clark had some strong words from one Conservative PM to another by Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press WASHINGTON – Former prime minister Joe Clark says he can’t understand why the Harper government would bar the opposition from a delegation to Ukraine and suggests its combative
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The Common Sense Canadian: NEB audit exposes gaps in TransCanada’s pipeline safety
TransCanada CEO Russ Girling announces Energy East pipeline on Aug. 1 (photo: (Jeff McIntosh / CP) CALGARY – Problems flagged in the National Energy Board’s audit of TransCanada Corp.’s pipeline safety practices should have Canadians worried, a group fighting that company’s proposed Energy East pipeline said Tuesday. The audit report,
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Dan Murphy skewers Janet Holder’s Enbridge Pipeline PR
Former Province cartoonist Dan Murphy’s latest poke at Enbridge’s ongoing efforts to buff up the image of its controversial Northern Gateway pipeline. Here, Murphy takes on the “face” of Enbridge’s PR efforts, Janet Holder, whose mug and voice have filled newspapers, websites and airwaves in recent months with fuzzy reassurances about
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Justin Trudeau backs Kinder Morgan oil pipeline to Vancouver
Justin Trudeau in Kamloops, where the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline would pass (Graham Hughes/CP) Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau sat down recently with Metro Calgary, discussing everything from legalizing marijuana to funding public transit – but it was his response to this question that was of particular interest to The Common
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: TransCanada gas pipeline ruptures in Alberta
TransCanada gas pipelines ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Alta. – The National Energy Board says it is investigating a natural gas pipeline rupture in west-central Alberta. The federal regulator says the TransCanada (TSX:TRP) pipe broke this morning about 10 kilometres north or Rocky Mountain House. It says the pipe has been shut
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: National Energy Board to extend alternate pipeline route applications
Lowering pipes into Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (Photo: Warrior Publications). Read this February 13th article by Jason Howe in News 1130 on the National Energy Board’s upcoming decision to extend pipeline applications due to the enormous amounts of responses: The deadline has come and gone, and thousands of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Last chance to apply for Kinder Morgan oil pipeline hearings
The window for the public to apply to participate in the upcoming National Energy Board hearings into the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion to Vancouver closes Wednesday at 11 AM (PST). The project would see close to a tripling of Alberta bitumen piped to the company’s Burnaby terminal and a
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: RCMP, CSIS spying on Enbridge opponents prompts civil liberties complaints
The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) filed two complaints today with regards to revelations that the RCMP and CSIS have surveilled citizens, First Nations and environmental groups openly challenging the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. The complaint with respect to CSIS was filed with the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) – the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Regulator buried report on TransCanada pipeline explosion
A 2014 gas pipeline explosion near Winnipeg, Maniotoba Read this February 4 story from CBC.ca on a 2011 report of a TransCanada gas pipeline explosion in northern Alberta which the National Energy Board kept quiet for several years. A CBC News investigation has unearthed a critical report that the federal
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: State Dept. report rumoured to bode well for Keystone XL pipeline
by Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press WASHINGTON D.C., United States – Canadian officials say they’re encouraged by what they’re hearing about a long-awaited report on the environmental impact of the Keystone XL pipeline that could be released imminently by the U.S. State Department. Those sources in Washington and Ottawa say they’ve
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Manitoba government floats northern oil, LNG port for Churchill
The port of Churchill (John Woods) Read this Jan. 18 story from The Winnipeg Free Press on a new government report envisioning the transformation of the northern port of Churchill, Manitoba into an export hub for Alberta bitumen and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Shipping oil by rail across northern Manitoba could be
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: NEB shuts down Kinder Morgan pipeline hearing website for “maintenance”
Artist’s rendering of proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker expansion VANCOUVER – An oil pipeline critic and New Democratic MP from British Columbia says plans by the National Energy Board to perform maintenance on its website this weekend are “ridiculous.” Burnaby-Douglas MP Kennedy Stewart recently said his community office would
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Gitga’at First Nation challenges Enbridge panel ruling in court
Members of the Gitga’at First Nation lead a rally in Prince Rupert in 2012 (Damien Gillis) by Dene Moore, The Canadian Press VANCOUVER – The Gitga’at First Nation in British Columbia has filed a court challenge to the federal review panel recommendation in favour of the Northern Gateway pipeline, bringing to
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Langley council mulls joining Kinder Morgan pipeline hearing
Oil pipeline construction in rural Alberta LANGLEY, B.C. – Langley council is mulling over whether to directly take part in regulatory hearings into the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion that has drawn considerable opposition. Council will debate a motion on Monday to seek intervenor status into the upcoming hearings by
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Legal errors could send Enbridge review back to drawing board
The 3-member Joint Review Panel for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline Not even a month has pass since the federally-appointed Joint Review Panel (JRP) released its official report recommending approval of the Northern Gateway Pipeline, pending the fulfillment of 209 conditions. Yet already two separate suits have been filed against
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Fisheries Critic questions habitat protection handover for pipelines
An oil pipeline crossing the Tanana River in Alaska The federal NDP’s BC-based deputy fisheries critic is questioning a quiet deal signed just before Christmas that saw the Department of Fisheries and Oceans hand over the protection of fish habitat and species at risk along energy pipelines to the National
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: New federal study: Oilsands bitumen sinks in water
2011 Rainbow Pipeline diluted bitumen leak in Alberta (Rogu Collecti/Greenpeace) VANCOUVER – A new federal government study has concluded that diluted bitumen — the product that would be transported by the Northern Gateway pipeline — sinks in seawater when battered by waves and mixed with sediments. However, when free of
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Regulator ‘pulling a fast one’ with short Kinder Morgan public comment period
Read this Jan. 9 Vancouver Sun story on the unusually short public comment period set by the National Energy Board for the proposed Kinder Morgan oil pipeline expansion to Vancouver – a decision their spokesperson says is due to political pressure from the Harper Government. OTTAWA — A federal regulator is “pulling a fast
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Multiple spy agency watchdogs have ties to oil industry
Security Intelligence Review Committee head and ex-Conservative MP Chuck Strahl (Adrian Wyld/CP) Read this Jan. 10 story from CBC.ca on further revelations of Canadian spy agency watchdogs with lobbying ties to the oil and gas industry. While the head of the watchdog committee overseeing Canada’s intelligence agency is under attack
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Harper guts more fish protections: NEB takes over habitat along pipelines
It’s the latest in a long line of efforts by the Harper Government to dismantle Canada’s environmental laws in order to facilitate energy development. In a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the National Energy Board – quietly released just before Christmas – DFO relinquished much of its
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