I wasn’t surprised at what Alberta Premier Alison Redford recently said, namely:
The Alberta government is looking to clear a path for the oil sands through British Columbia by upping the economic benefits for its western neighbour – including the option of paying to modernize and expand West Coast ports.
Premier Redford’s government stressed Tuesday there were no formal discussions, much less a formal proposal, but some in the Alberta government acknowledge that British Columbians need to see a tangible benefit if they are to bear the risks of an oil pipeline and associated West Coast tanker traffic headed to Asia.
I was only surprised that it took so long for this vague testing of British Columbia opinion – and we must understand that this is all part of proposing bribes to BC to overcome its fast-growing aversion to the Enbridge pipeline.
An old golfing pal of mine and I were in the same meeting which was trying to get pros to come to a golf tournament our club was putting on. One of the group suggested some incentives, whereupon John Kelly said, “I stand foursquare against bribery – unless, of course, it gets the job done.”
We have just seen the beginning of a bribery process.
Premier Redford made her remarks in a speech – premiers are very careful what they say in speeches so one thing is clear: these remarks were not made just for the hell of it or off the cuff. This statement outlined vaguely what is to come.
The Harper government is in a pickle. When the PM told the Chinese that their investment in the Tar Sands (NOT the Oil Sands as the flacks want it) was safe, it didn’t seem possible that the people of BC would make a fuss about The Northern Gateway, a two way pipeline from the Tar Sands to Kitimat.
In making his commitment, Harper has painted himself into a corner, big time. How do you tell the Chinese that environmentalists, for God’s sake, have scuppered their huge commitment?
I’ll tell you what I think has happened:
- Harper reminded Premier Photo-Op that she’s in a serious financial bind which Ottawa could be of assistance over, say, the HST money Victoria owes. It would help, Harper probably told his new pal Christy, if you would butt out of this and don’t, in the name of all that’s sacred, talk about tanker traffic in the Inner Passage and good things will happen for you.
- Harper then told Premier Redford that Ottawa and Edmonton must prepare an incentive package for BC in order to stop those radical neo-communists from making massive protests and civil disobedience.
- Harper urged Redford to put up a trial balloon such as offering money to help building quays to handle the 300 or so tankers out of Kitimat every year.
- When the Prime Minister returns from China there will be meetings in Ottawa and Edmonton where we’ll put some meat on the bones of our bribe, er, incentive package for BC.
In the next year or so, we’re going to see just what British Columbians are made of as we get money thrown at us – serious money – in exchange for the right to ruin our great and very rare wilderness.
That this or something like it will happen is sure. We just don’t know when and how much.
For me and The Common Sense Canadian, there isn’t enough money in the world, much less in the country, that would compel us to sacrifice a square millimetre of our natural heritage and environment to a pipeline.
I close with this: Prime Minister Harper, if he doesn’t back off, is asking for, to use his words, “consequences” – serious consequences.
In the words of First Nations leader Gerald Amos, this so-called Northern Gateway project is “not going to happen.”
Rafe Mair’s latest book, The Home Stretch is now available online at www.kobo.com and www.amazon.com at the appallingly low $9.99
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Proponents call it ‘Oil Sands” – Opponents: ‘Tar Sands’
Neo-Con Charles Adler spews powerful right-wing mind-mush on “Fox News Canada” in 14 radio “markets” and on Sun TV across this country 5 days a week. He’s just taken to calling it “The Sands”, as if he wouldn’t mind sticking his feet in there and wiggling his toes.
Redford is still better than having the Wild Rose up our ass with Harper making all the decisions. Hang in their Allison. She is still the best thing that ever happened to women and to Alberta. Amen and God praise Allison!!
It is one of the elephants in the room Surrey girl; although I am not positive this is correct, I suspect that even if the oil was refined here the Canadian consumption levels do not come even close to the amounts the tar sands oil companies want to sell.
The real appetite for energy requirements are in Asia and specifically China.
I would agree with you though; build a refinery on the land already destroyed by mining out the tar sands. Then sell the refined oil to ourselves creating self sufficiency.
But this is what the NAFTA agreements have done countries around the world. We now sell our raw resources so that other countries can make products to sell to us and then they come here and buy up all the houses and land driving up prices to unaffordable levels.
Why doesn’t Redford pay to modernize and expand Alberta’s refining capacity and ship the resulting oil East to satisfy Canada’s petroleum needs? That would be in Canada’s interests.
I suspect to push this thing through Harper will claim that this project is “in the national interest” even though this is a provincial issue of Alberta’s resources.
While Harper addresses this provincial issue continuously as a project of “national interest “he refuses to address another provincial issue of “national interest” which is the funding of provincial health budgets.
Harper can’t make any money from dealing with public health care so it is of no importance to him. Harper is only interested in personal gain and nothing further than that.
That inconsistency of governance reveals this as the truth.
The conservative government are no more open and honest than the current BC Liberal government. This makes whatever they say and/or promise, very suspect. The BC Liberals have lied over and over to the point that no one ever takes their comments seriously.
It is starting to look like the federal Canadian government is becoming what the BC Liberal government has become since gaining office.
There will be no sharing of profits from the tar sands oil, to anyone outside of Enbridge, Sinopec et al – yet British Columbia has all the environmental risks. The FN people are getting spoken to as if they are nothing more than a nuisance and should shut up and behave.
I fear for what Canada is doing over, and because of, corporate greed !!! For allowing China to buy such a huge amount of the country’s energy sector and thus input Canadian government decision making.
The future is bleak – not friendly. Many people will have their lives totally destroyed by the ensuing trouble that this Canadian government is determined to cause.
Thank you
Separation?
Judging by the picture Damien posted with Redford and Clark, separation dont look like its in the cards!
lol
🙂
Let’s look at the bright side: the tar pipeline controversy is a good opportunity to educate about First Nations land claims. Ignorance is the handmaiden of racial prejudice. Just look at any comment board responding to FN issues, especially with regard to this tar pipeline proposal, and what you usually see is ignorant, racist polemic. Granted, some of this is probably the propaganda tacticians’ attempt to not just dismiss FNs’ legitimate complaint, but also bury what the lack of treaties really means: the tar pipeline ain’t going anywhere any time soon.
FN entitlement to land treaties, which effectively block the tar pipeline, is a fact, beyond debate legally or politically, a fact the proponents of the tar pipeline should know. So why are they not addressing it head on instead of all this rhetoric, cajoling, bribing, warning and threatening?
I’m beginning to think Harper has arrogantly made some commitments and given reassurances to the tar pipeline proponents that he can’t deliver given the complexity of land claim treaties which are unlikely to be resolved within the critical windows of opportunity remaining for the current BC and Canadian governments. Bullying remains.
Redford in Alberta is one of those people who have made money their god. People who do this can’t understand why the rest of us don’t all love money too.
So this is what they offer: it is the only thing that is important to them. The problem? She is offering other peoples’ money…..
Nothing is important for them; not life, not liberty, not clean water, good food, proper shelter from the elements, or protecting the weaker in our society; the animals and environment that cannot speak for themselves.
So we will become the “idiots” that don’t want the pipeline; just as we were the “idiots” that didn’t want the HST…just you watch…
same people, same game, same responses…
Maybe it is time to begin a debate over separation. It seems the provinces that involve themselves in this type of discussion get catered to endlessly…
MAYBE IT IS TIME FOR BC TO SEPERATE!!!!!
Hope she’s prepared to try and ‘clear a path’ to her brain, no sense in faking anything like scruples or a desire to be ecologically sustainable, that has no definition where she comes from..she’s downright demented if she thinks that we in BC will just roll over for some of that dirty oil lucre. Of course, in her version ofAlberta, money is the only consideration..I do believe Ms. Redford is in for a painful surprise.
The coyness of the preemie’s stance on Northern Gateway is wearing very thin, or, as the Scots may say, sleazy.
First Harpo comes a’calling.
Then she flutters off to Alberta, thence to Ottawa.
Then the three western perps meet in Victoria.
Then the preemy flits to China.
Then Harpo comes a’calling, again.
Then Harpo flutters off to China with Enbridge and Encana CEO’s in tow, and I thought I saw G.Morgan in the background in one of the accidental photos.
So now Redfern offers help with infrastructure $$.
Is this $$ offering really coming from China????
Why are the people of BC being left out of the loop?
Are we insignificant, unsavvy hillbillies, too stupid or too doped up to understand or comprehend world events?
Or are we the ones with clarity and the cajones and the monkey wrenches to put a stop to this environmental madness?
Good points Rafe.
In todays Sun there is a piece talking about how Patrick Daniels, Enbridge CEO, declares that he will not “sweeten the pie” and offer more money to FN in BC.
Yesterday Radford forwarded potential incentives for BC to grease the skids yet drew the line in offering Revenue sharing from Albertan royalties.
So what we are seeing is bribery with Canadian Taxpayers money, as Enbridge will not pony up and we have not heard a peep from the major oil companies who want to run oil through the pipe and fetch bigger international dollars.
It is clear that bribery is part of the game. In every jurisdiction in the world the majors pay off politicians and key players in order to drive their agenda. No doubt that is going on here, yet no public offerings from the largest companies on earth who stand to profit the most, instead we are only being bribed with taxpaying dollars, mostly in the from of building infrastructure in order for the oil to be exported.
What an utter joke. Any other oil producing jurisdiction in the world would laugh at Canadians for getting taken for such a ride by the oil majors and bribed with their own money.
Energy Superpower? Laughable