12.04.2014 07:50 AM

Byline: on which I defend Kathleen Wynne’s pipeline position

18 Comments

  1. Al in Cranbroo says:

    IMHO, the current situation in this country with respect to energy development is appalling!

    The original Kinder-Morgan pipeline from Edmonton to Vancouver took roughly three years from literal concept to pumping oil to port. Now such project timescales are measured in decades.

    Can anyone even begin to imagine where the hell this nation would be right now had that been the case with trans-Canada railroad? The Trans-Canada Highway? Where would BC be right now if it took that long just to make a GD decision to build a dam? Or how about the St. Lawrence Seaway?

    The processes are so far out of control and over the top cautious, if not just downright fucking anal, now that it defies every last semblance of common sense!

    And Wall is acutely on the mark regarding being held to a standard for Canadian oil that never, ever enters the discussion for imported oil! Especially among all the usual suspects of environmental activism!!! Their dripping hypocrisy knows absolutely no bounds whatsoever!!!

    It is not incidental, too, that all the same spoiled rotten twits who oppose resource development also are the same bunch of bitching extremists who want everything for free in this country from the day they’re born to the day they die. Watching what’s going on at Burnaby Mtn right now is enough to make you want to puke with disgust!

    • smelter rat says:

      And there you have it folks, Dr. Al’s dissertation du jour.

    • davie says:

      Howz about this from a party and its supporters of principle: Take the principle that is behind the dozens of criteria that have to be met ( as described in the current bill before the House of Commons) regarding In Site locations and set ups…and apply the dozens of criteria implied by that principle to any new projects.

    • doconnor says:

      All this activism about pipelines is a waste of time. They should be focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through carbon pricing. Do that, and the pipelines take care of themselves.

    • Tim from Marysville says:

      Not all of us East Kootenay people are like Al. Lots of us are bitching extremists who want everything for free in this country from the day they’re born to the day they die. @Brine we’re supposed to have a reasoned argument with that sort of crap? C’mon Al you need to raise your game a bit.

  2. Philippe says:

    You guys are being too nice to each other, it’s almost weird.

  3. Mark says:

    Although I am a BC’er who kind of defends our “five conditions” for the Northern Gateway pipeline, it’s not lost on me that the provinces don’t likely have a legal leg to stand on with respect to these fiefdoms setting an array of conditions. Section 91 of the Constitution is pretty clear about federal jurisdiction over interprovincial transport, etc….

  4. Liam Young says:

    I’m going to join in with Al.

    ‘Having oil’ and ‘what we decide to do with it’ are two completely different value propositions. Canada has given away oil and pipelines are a simple way to ensure that this giveaway lasts FOREVER. Handing off oil regulation to the rubber stamp NEB is a fail in any respect. Non-Canadians are starting to suggest that we nationalize and profit from the situation:
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2014/dec/03/want-a-green-energy-future-nationalize-canadas-oil-industry

    One of the key points in this article is that ‘oil’ from Canada isn’t oil. It’s melted tar and bitumen, derived by using outrageous and mind boggling amounts of input resources like natural gas to heat water. And then piling up that waste in the northern half of Alberta where tailings pond breaches will be inevitable.

    Canada also doesn’t profit from melting the Tar Sands. They contribute about 2-5% to GDP and we should force them to contribute substantially more.

    The talk about the source of oil is also a ruse. The argument shouldn’t be about whose oil we should use. The discussion should be about maximizing what we invest in non-carbon resources and energy production so that we can set a future that our grandchildren will be proud of.

    So … my 2 cents? Tax the heck out of the Tar Sands with royalties and use those funds for clean energy.

  5. Bill Templeman says:

    Brad Wall shouldn’t be surprised by the resistance he’s getting to his Energy East advocacy. Whether we live in China, Iraq, Venezuela or Alberta, Ontario or Quebec, we all need to use less oil. We need to leave a lot more of the stuff in the ground or under the sea. The rising sea levels do not respect international boundaries. We’re all in this disaster together. As Canadians, we cannot influence how much oil is used in other countries. In Canada, we can do something about it. Much of the resistance to the pipelines is driven by the radical realization that we need to stop using oil, period.

    • smelter rat says:

      Bingo.

    • tf says:

      I totally agree with Bill but there is so much more to the resistance – it’s the inevitable damage a break or spill or tanker crash will cause. We KNOW it will happen – maybe not in the first five years, but what about when the pipes get old and spring a leak – the environmental damage is astronomical. And more tankers in the waters of the West Coast of Canada are environmental disasters waiting to happen. It’s not IF, it’s WHEN. We need to put all our efforts in replacing dirty fuel with clean, and then follow that with new clean-up technology for when the existing pipelines leak.
      It’s a no-brainer if our brains are in our heads instead of our wallets.

  6. Emily Madsen says:

    Well said, Bill.

  7. Jerry says:

    In the end these days, most liberals are socially progressive, and economically neo-liberal, they are servants of corporations, Wynne is no different, it’s why Toronto liberals voted for John Tory, same agenda. It’s why there will never be a liberal democratic party in this country, there are no liberal democrats anywhere near a lever of power, and it won’t be any different if Trudeau wins, the corporate agenda is the only agenda in this country. And these guys will take us all the way into climate chaos and then show us how fluffy a thing democracy was all along. Liberal democracy had the most fleeting moment of political power in the history of humanity. In the great scheme of things, about 5 minutes on a 24 clock.

  8. Beefsquatch says:

    Wynn and Couillard are just just speaking Liberal mother tongue. Trash Alberta for quick easy votes in Ontario. Justin will follow suit once the election starts and his handlers realize all of his meaningless platitudes towards Alberta still won’t get him any seats there.

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