The Cowboy King and the Northern Gateway Pipeline

Well, surprise, surprise, he couldn't contain himself. At the end of his political career, paranoid and increasingly desperate, his grand pipe dream of going down in history as Alberta's greatest champion proved irresistible.

The nerd from Etobicoke would be the Cowboy King of Albertonia. The one who put the other provinces in their place, and told BC to bend over and take his massive pipeline in the interests of Canada. And China.

And of course, his orders from Big Oil were clear and unmistakable:

Promise those suckers ANYTHING. But Northern Gateway must be built by whatever means necessary. 

The federal government has agreed to let Enbridge build its Northern Gateway pipeline, subject to 209 conditions recommended by the National Energy Board and further talks with aboriginal communities.

Or since it won't be built for years, if ever, used as a wedge issue to try to win the next election. As Michael Den Tandt outlines here. 

Among its other attributes, Northern Gateway can be framed as a classic wedge issue — and one that neatly bifurcates the Canadian political spectrum between Conservatives, in favour, and everyone else — New Democrats, Liberals and Greens — opposed. Tories, the talking points will say, are battling to safeguard Canadian jobs, prosperity and long-term growth, while the feckless hippies across the aisle play political games.

Used to snatch a few votes here and there to make up the ten percent, plus his base, that he needs to win the election. As Paul Wells describes here. 

The arithmetic matters: if four-fifths of the electorate (in regions of the country where these issues are salient) is against Gateway, then there is plenty of anti-Gateway vote to go around, and the Conservatives benefit little. But if the split is closer to 50-50, then the math starts to look like the numbers Brian Mulroney enjoyed in 1988. That election was a referendum on free trade. He didn’t get half the vote. And he got to form the next government anyway.

With the help of Big Oil's massive propaganda machine...



Even if it's all LIES. 

Even if it means portraying the pipeline's opponents as foreign radicals or terrorists. Even if it threatens to cause a potentially tragic confrontation with BC's First Nations.

Even if it could damage the national unity of Canada .

For what are people in BC and the other provinces to think of a government that is only ever interested in making Alberta even richer? After having destroyed good jobs all over the country with the Dutch Disease. And condemned millions to live as low wage slaves in a Canada full of foreign workers.

What are people in BC to think about having their pristine environment threatened by a pipeline they don't want? One that could NEVER be safe enough.



Pipelines regulated by the federal government — which include some of the longest lines in the country — have experienced a swell in the number of safety-related incidents over the past decade, documents obtained by CBC News suggest.

Or for that matter what is Alberta to think if after having its bloated expectations inflated further, its precious pipeline goes nowhere?

Will all of this help bring the country closer together, or help blow it apart?

And if Great Cowboy Leader could say this after winning his blessed majority:

The day after he won the 2011 election, Harper brooded, in front of reporters, on the threat to Alberta’s prosperity the other parties represented, in his mind: “I think Western Canada can breathe a lot easier. There were a lot of policies being floated by the other parties — whether it’s on West Coast transportation or the energy sector — that simply did not reflect the needs and concerns of this part of the country.”

How many people in the rest of Canada could turn that argument on its head today? And ask why the Con regime doesn't reflect THEIR needs and concerns.

Or whether Canada still works for them.

Or whether THIS is a Canadian Prime Minister ????



Or a grubby pimp working for the interests of Big Oil, Alberta and China, even if that means betraying the interests of most Canadians.

And then of course there is the even larger issue, the damage the uncontrolled expansion of the Tar Sands could do to the fight against climate change. For nothing is more important than preserving the planet for future generations. 

And helping to destroy it in the name of short term greed is nothing less than CRIMINAL.

But then I'm sure you know that, and know what we must do:

If we want to save our country, if we want to save the world.

The Big Oil Party of Alberta must be expelled from office.

And the Cowboy King must be stopped...



Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.