I am watching the way the Government of Canada is handling its public relations push to have Enbridge Energy build its Northern Gateway Pipeline. This government is working very hard to equate opposition to the building of this pipeline with disloyalty to Canada. And while the Harper Government has not actually come out and said Aboriginal Groups and Environmental charities and NGOs are “disloyal” it has referred to them as “adversaries of the Government of Canada.”
What I find equally striking is that the government is citing ties between Canadian environmental organizations and foreign organizations and donors as evidence of foreign interests trying to impose their agenda upon Canada. While Enbridge may be a Canadian company, forgive me for asking when any of the foreign owned energy interests at work developing the Alberta oil sands became any less “foreign” than Canadian environmental activists and Canadian charities working to raise awareness of the risks of this pipeline to the coastal ecosystem and communities of British Columbia. And pardon me for wondering when the multinational oil industry became more “Canada-minded” than citizens groups calling attention to the risks involved in building this pipeline.
For years now multinational corporations have been developing the Alberta oil sands. The multinationals have always been at the forefront of energy development in the west. Apparently this government believes that because its own economic and energy development interests dovetail (for now) with the bottomline of companies like Enbridge that Enbridge is somehow more concerned about this country than Canada’s own citizens who oppose the project. I think that it is a tremendous mistake for the Government of Canada to turn against its own citizens simply because they disagree with its policies. And I am deeply offended that it refers to those who disagree with (and oppose) the Enbridge pipeline as its adversaries. I didn’t know until now that dissent automatically made a person an adversary of the Harper Government. An adversary is, after all, an enemy.
Here is a list of recent articles reporting on this:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/01/11/pol-gateway-pipeline-strategy.html
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/01/25/scary-time-canada
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/affidavit-accuses-prime-ministers-office-of-threatening-environmental-charity-137994418.html
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120800–pmo-branded-environmental-group-an-enemy-of-canada-affidavit-says
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Feds+list+First+Nations+green+groups+oilsands+adversaries/6054920/story.html
http://www.globaltvbc.com/canada/affidavit+accuses+prime+ministers+office+of+threatening+environmental+charity/6442566233/story.html
Jeremy Nathan Marks
