Bob Plecas has an op-ed piece in the Vancouver Sun – they whose recent papers are celebrating their 100th birthday have carried the art of media masturbation to new heights once thought unreachable.
 
I assume that the editor in charge of its op-ed page, being a Fellow of the far right Fraser Institute, chooses his op-ed writers with care and, if part of that mandate is to push the government’s agenda, Fazil Milhar has done well indeed with Mr. Plecas.
 
Mr. Plecas was a deputy minister when I was in government and has written a biography of former premier, Bill Bennett.
 
I always thought he was a bright lad but clearly he is captive of the right as his article clearly demonstrates.
 
In this screed, Plecas is telling Premier Christy how to win the next election. Here is one of his suggestions, indeed his first choice:
 
The Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. Demand Alberta share in the revenue from the pipeline between the oil (sic) sands and Kitimat as a condition for BC’s support. As proposed Alberta would gain all the benefits while BC takes all the “risks’’ (emphasis mine). Royalty splitting would have BC dedicate its share towards safety, first nations and communities in the North…
 
You will note that Mr. Plecas, as a faithful follower of the right, says the “oil” sands which is Liberal Party’s mantra. Oil sounds so much better than “tar” sands which has the nasty problem of the accurate description.
 
Now, Bob, repeat after me: there is no “risk” to BC from these two pipelines – THEY ARE MATHEMATICAL CERTAINTIES WHICH WILL RE-OCCUR FOR THE LIFETIME OF THE PIPELINES.
 
Bob, your article is simply untrue. Not only will these pipelines burst, you can’t clean up this stuff, called bitumen. Please look at the Enbridge disaster in the Kalamazoo River which happened 18 months ago and has not been cleaned up and never will. And now we learn the company is back at it with a new spill in Michigan this week! The Kalamazoo River is in populated Michigan not the wilds of British Columbia.
 
You casually toss aside First Nations, as if Victoria had some vague responsibility to look after the helpless Indians thus ought to give them a share of the revenue.
 
Bob, you know better than this having been involved in aboriginal affairs as a Deputy Minister.
 
The truth of the matter – better brace yourself (I would take a shot or two of single malt whisky) – is that First Nations make no case for sharing royalties because they oppose the pipelines. They’re no longer clients of the government but have a special place under our constitution as declared by the Supreme Court of Canada. This pipeline is mostly on unceded land the status of which has not yet been determined. Didn’t you know that, Bob?
 
How dare you patronize them!
 
I suppose you’ve done them a favour since your remark clearly shows that you and the government haven’t kept up to date and are wrapped in a time warp of 35 years ago.
 
Bob, I notice you haven’t dealt with the tankers issue. The First Nations on our coast are dead set against tanker traffic and saw what happened after the Exxon Valdez spill.
 
Yes, the tankers may be double hulled. Do you not know that in the past two years there have been four double hulled major spills and these vessels weren’t in dangerous waters as we have on our coast?
 
Bob, how could you be so wrong? Don’t you care for our Great Bear Rainforest? Does it not bother you that these two* pipelines traverse 1,100 km through the Rockies and Coast range only accessible by helicopter. Do you simply not give a damn that 1,000 rivers and streams will be crossed including three essential to wild salmon?
 
I can’t believe that you would dissemble – nor can I believe you’re stupid.
 
Unfortunately, Bob, it’s one or the other.
 
*the second pipeline which runs parallel to the one carrying the bitumen, takes the condensate which is mixed with the bitumen so it will flow, back to the Tar Sands

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
 

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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

This from the CBC:

Canadian oil and business executives are well-represented in the delegation travelling to China with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, with oil exports expected to be high on the government’s agenda.

A delegation assigned to Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver includes eight mining or oil and gas companies.

That list of companies includes none other than Enbridge, Inc.

The prime minister and his government are asking for a show down and my experience this past weekend in Prince Rupert indicates that the Enbridge deal, about which more in a moment, is going to spawn a First Nations and supporters v. industry and government fight compared to which all other showdowns will seem like minor incidents.

First, let’s look at the Enbridge deal from the point of view of First Nations both in their territory over which the pipeline travels and those on the coast where the consequent tanker traffic will go.

Enbridge, one of the largest pipeline companies in the world, has an utterly appalling safety record. In fact since 1998 they have had 811 “accidents”. They now tell us that with that record, mostly in easy geographical situations, they can take on the hugely difficult route to Kitimat “accident free” (or that they have a “plan” to deal adequately with spills if they occur).

The pipeline they propose, and Harper and Co. support, is about 1100km from the Alberta Tar Sands to Kitimat over and through both The Rockies, The Coast Range and over 1000 rivers and streams, including critical sources of three major salmon runs. To put this in perspective, in July of 2010 Enbridge had an “accident” which spilled over a million gallons of crude oil near the Kalamazoo River which is near Marshall in Michigan, a populated area.

Two notes from that: the cleanup continues and most observers say it will never be completed and this spill is, unlike the Rockies/Coast Range, easy to access with machinery. And another note: the spill was crude oil, which is bad enough, while the Enbridge pipeline would carry bitumen going west and condensate (the stuff they mix with bitumen) east – bitumen is far more viscous than crude oil.

The last points are very important for that there will be a spill from the Enbridge Northern Gateway line is not a risk but a mathematical certainty, and will happen in places only accessible by helicopter and the damage will be permanent no matter what the company does.

We have then 1100 km of venomous gunk of which there will be spills in wild areas inaccessible except by helicopter, which spills threaten precious wildlife and fish, which spills will be there forever. And let’s be clear on this – these spills will happen again and again.

Mr. Harper and his government, dirty hand in dirty hand with Enbridge and the Chinese giant Sinopec, are bound and determined to impose this on the people of British Columbia.

What of our fellow citizens, First Nations? They come into this awful business in two ways – those whose lands have not been ceded and those who live, as they have for centuries on the coast. At this point there are 131 nations absolutely opposed to Enbridge stepping one millimeter into BC.

Enbridge and the two governments are convinced that these First Nations can and will be bought off. And this point must be considered.

Damien Gillis and I were at the huge First Nations rally in Prince Rupert this past weekend and we can both say with confidence that this will not happen – certainly not amongst those represented there. We were both at the historic “Save the Fraser Declaration” press conference last December and saw the resolve in the faces of these leaders.

I saw the resolve when I spoke to 500 on Saturday night as I received a hearty standing ovation. I spoke with them afterwards and I can tell Mr. Harper and his resident toady, Resources Minister Joe Oliver, that they have badly and dangerously misread the situation.

The coastal nations know that they must help their eastern brethren in order to help themselves. In the words of spokesman and much admired Gerald Amos of the Haisla Nation,“It isn’t going to happen.”

What’s the matter with our governments? Don’t they understand that there is no way you can settle or compromise this issue? You can’t have half a pipeline or smaller boats!

Premier Christy Clark is a big player in this game because she can put a ban on tankers. The fact is that Gordon Campbell sent a note to Ottawa some years ago saying that his government had no issue with tanker traffic and Premier Photo-Op no doubt thinks that takes her government off the hook. Think again, lady.

Prophets of doom are often, like all messengers, blamed when their prophecies come to pass. I’ll run that risk and tell you fairly that I don’t believe that First Nations can be bribed and that the governments and Enbridge are provoking them and thousands of supporters, growing every day, to resort to violence.

People all around this province, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, are sending the governments, China and Enbridge a very solemn message: Don’t do it.

For in your words, Mr Harper, “there will be consequences.”