Northern Gateway “interveners” signed up without their knowledge;
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” said the 53-year-old woman on Tuesday from her home.
“I have never heard of this pipeline and I did not apply to speak in Canada,” she said, in broken English.
That’s strange. On the federal government’s National Energy Board website, Gudic is one of a whopping 4,522 registrants who apparently applied online to make an oral application. Her name, mailing address, e-mail and phone number are included on the website.
Gudic’s daughter, Flavia, also has never heard of the pipeline, that, if approved, would ship raw Alberta bitumen to Kitimat, B.C., to be sent to Asia via supertankers.
“Maybe the environmental organizations we donate to signed us up,” offered Flavia, a 19-year-old art student.
MayBE!
Is it possible these reservations, made without the person’s consent, at merely reservations to be used by imposters…to further filibuster.??
Remember the lefties go and vote posing as the dead folk or folks who have moved.
This is proof that these hearings are a farce.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.
Leaving aside for a second the fraudulence and obvious abuse of process, why are “interveners” from countries half a world away allowed to have a say in our economic development plans on our own soil in the first place? Are Canadian citizens invited to “intervene” in, say, China’s, or Italy’s, or Brazil’s industrial development plans?
Looks like Obamba and Acorn paid a visit to Canada recently and we didn’t know about it….. until now.
More collectivist One World stuff. Who is the group doing the review in the first place and ultimately what authority do they have?
Not to worry, the Council of Canadians (Murray Dobbin) will gladly fill all the spots like they did to the exclusion of local community speakers on Vancouver Island on numerous public hearings. What an innocuous name for an organization that is pure watermelon.
hmmm, I’m all for the pipeline, but like the young chap from the Spirit Bear NGO, I too wonder why Kitimat was chosen? Prince Rupert to me would be the most logical place to end up in. Eventually P.R. is going to be the busiest and most modern container port on the West coast, so why not bitumen handling also?
At least the spirit bear chap does not seem to be opposed to the actual pipeline, just its’ final destination.
Slap on a joker mask, say something crazy, and a TV station will give you a fifteen-minute interview.
Every mayor in Alberts should be shouting from the rooftops, “What is wrong with you people?’
The silense is deafening.
If,and I highly doubt it,that this pipeline does not go through,the next pipeline will not be routed through the least difficult physical terrain,but the least difficult political terrain.
It’s a shame,a real shame.
That is why you must stand up for the broken window. If you don’t,your door will be busted down. Bend over and hope for courtesy spit,or stand straight now.
A reasonable fix to the problem: only Canadian citizens and landed immigrants should be permitted to speak to the hearing, and they should be allotted the same time as elected Members of the European Parliament for their presentation. What’s that — two minutes? Then mic off.
Awkeard doesnt even come close.
And on the same day the globe wrote a piece accusing harper of abuse of process……look forward to the correction….any minute now……i sure its coming…..wait for it……hmmmm why isnt it happening?
I didn’t know A.C.O.R.N. had moved to Canada?
Watch out when they sign up Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse for votes.
“A reasonable fix to the problem: only Canadian citizens…”
Stop right there. The hearings need to be shut down as currently mandated and re-initiated. AND, unless the pipeline has a DIRECT impact on your well-being (ie, you live within a mile of it, you have no standing. External national intervenors canbe given a fixed number of presentation times – they can squabble amongst themselves as to who gets to use them, or the inquiry can allot the spots on a first come first served basis, and all groups winning a spot have 14 days to produce a talking point agenda. Groups that do not are struck from the list. Groups that duplicate talking points will be required to merge with the first group that includes their issues.
Instapundit picked up that same report from my blog last night. Expect it to suddenly get even more traction now 🙂
There should be strict time limits. As Richards in Vancouver said an individual should have 2 minutes and his mic should go off and the next person’s immediately turn on.
A group presenting a direct and verifiable membership list could get up to 15 minutes. Any other material should be by written presentation only. Hire some low level civil servants to scan the written material looking for something of interest that isn’t identical to the other 4,500.
Big supporter of westcoast shipping of crude overseas but I do want to see a thourough review. I also don’t care if it cost 25% more to build as long as possible risk is removed in the process. I say that as an Enbridge shareholder as well.
Bottom line is that this is rough country. It produces landslides and hugh snowfall as a matter of course. Take the time to make it right.
The government needs to stop this side show immediately and take steps to make sure that these activists aren’t successful in their attempted disruption of the review process. If they are successful, you can expect them to hijack every public review of every industrial economic decision.
Kate, we need to roll forward that CBC pipeline poll so that more can see it and turn it around.
ct
“Bottom line is that this is rough country.”
Bull. While I have never been all the way to Prince Rupert, most of the route could hardly be described as rough. The Roger’s Pass is rough. There are mountains but the valleys are wide.
I would like to know WHO shows up as Ms. Gudic and Ms Flavia at the hearings. I assume people are impersonating these people if it’s for an oral presentation.
An investigator could work it like a drug bust. Find your users, squeeze em for information, work your way up the distribution chain, and find your source.
I noticed while doing some surfing that Krause’s excellent investigation of IRS tax records(a blogger doing what journalists SHOULD be doing) revealed foreign money into the Pembina Institute….but yet apparently the Pembina Institute did not declare any such donations. Perhaps an audit at Pembina is necessary?
We’ve all seen hearings like this in times past, be it federally, provincially, or municipally. Speakers drone on & on & on with those they’re speaking to feigning interest.
Stop for a moment to consider the mindset/ambitions of those on the National Energy Board who will have to sit through 4,500+ speakers. These people clearly aren’t fit to run a lemon-aid stand. They’re clearly government bureaucrats, paper pushers if you will, who don’t mind wasting an entire year of their lives, as long as the cheques keep rollin’ in. How pathetic is that!
The route to Kitimat is relatively easy (with less risk) compared to paralleling the Skeena between the highway, railway and rock bluffs West of Terrace (to Prince Rupert).
Kitimat is a deep sea port with a recently (permanently) shut down pulp mill site with deep sea loading infrastructure which could be used for storage and loading. The Alcan smelter and loading facilities are there as well.
The pipeline itself is really quite innocuous compared to the ungluing of the psycho-eco-fishery-left at the thought of the oil tankers negotiating their way out of the fjords to open water. The Aluminum and pulp shipping has gone on for 50 years with no memorable problems but they don’t evoke the same kind of risk nor hysteria as Oil.
I agree with “skip”. Foreign presenters should be strictly limited,this is NOT their affair.
And repetitious presentations do no one any good unless the object is to delay the process as long as possible.
Canada has to quit being the good little boy scout,and give these activists, who would ruin our economy for their fantasy of Canada, VERY little if any time. It IS none of their damned business.
It’s amusing to see the “Natives” come out and dress up like mystical “people of the earth”, whose only purpose is to protect Mother Earth. Truth is they’ll all be bought off once the pipeline company figures out their price.
As to the statements by Greenpeace and PETA that they would NEVER sanction persons signing up false presenters,no they wouldn’t do that,officially.
But they sure as hell wouldn’t officially tell their people to NOT do it or be kicked out of the organization.
Every year the pipeline is delayed,costs will increase until by the time work finally commences, 20% or more will have been added to the cost. That serves no one.
“External national intervenors canbe given a fixed number of presentation times – they can squabble amongst themselves as to who gets to use them, or the inquiry can allot the spots on a first come first served basis, and all groups winning a spot have 14 days to produce a talking point agenda. Groups that do not are struck from the list. Groups that duplicate talking points will be required to merge with the first group that includes their issues.”
Skip…you where doing great up to this point. NO…I repeat…NO…foreign entity should have ANY say in anything happening in Canada. You would give up our sovereingty so easily??? Oh wait. You probably support the Useless Nations also.
Can’t the left accomplish anything without being lying, cheating douchebags about it?
Thanks John C. for the info as to why Kitimat was chosen. Did not put 2 and 2 together with the smelter and mill – DOH!
This has been going on for decades …. it was US based activists who cowered Gary Doer into nixing the hydro development on the east shore of lake Winnipeg and resulted in the Bipole III fiasco and a billion dollar cost to Manitoba taxpayers.
We have nothing to fear except for spineless and stupid politicians.
Aaaaand we have dmorris selling us out,”Posted by: dmorris at January 12, 2012 1:15 PM ” selling us out. There should be no delay because “foriegn interests” are trying to steal our soveriegnty(sp). And you would let them!
I hope you join skippiypoo in the gulag!
http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/editorial-cartoons/index.html
The railway is already there and needs no approval of any kind to ship crude oil. There is even a railway to Fort McMurray. It’s not as safe as pipeline but the first load could leave tomorrow. Loading facilities, if they don’t exist could be built for next to nothing. If production capacity exceeds pipeline capacity, I’m sure rail is an option. CN Rail is actually promoting the concept.
“Maybe the environmental organizations we donate to signed us up,” offered Flavia, a 19-year-old art student.
Maybe this will open her eyes to the dishonesty of these organizations and she will never donate to them again. One would hope she has learned something from this but judging from the fact that she is an art student, who will probably never ever get a job as an artist, I doubt she has learned anything.
“Skip…you where doing great up to this point. NO…I repeat…NO…foreign entity should have ANY say in anything happening in Canada. You would give up our sovereingty so easily??? Oh wait. You probably support the Useless Nations also.”
Blow it out your butthole, troll. By “external national intervenors” I was referring to Canadian national organizations that might have a viewpoint, like, say, the McKenzie Institute, or others. External was meant to refer to organizations that are not DIRECTLY in the path of the pipeline – you know, like most of the Indian bands that will pony up to the table.
Skip said National interveners not International. I certainly agree that International interveners should just stay home and shut up. They have no business in our affairs.