That is the face of the environmentalist movement today. It’s un-Canadian.
Not just that their tactics are shocking and violent and undemocratic. But that they are literally directed and funded by non-Canadian bosses. All of the leading anti-oilsands groups in Canada are financed, to varying degrees, by foreign interests.
Two of the most visible organizers, Tzeporah Berman and Ben West, work for a United States-based lobby group called Forest Ethics, financed by the Tides Foundation. Real Canadians believe in the rule of law, and accepting the result of elections. But American campaign managers have other goals.
I caught this the other day. An excellent article by Vivian Krause.
http://www.albertaoilmagazine.com/2014/07/vivian-krause-great-green-trade-barrier/
This comes as no surprise to me whatsoever. One of the first things you will do if you are a competitor is make life difficult for your competition..
Not trying to usurp Ezra, he is one of my favourite Free Speech/Ethical Oil Stand up Canadians…but it would also not surprise me if he used some of the information contained within Vivians article for this.
Rgds,
Stk
They actually do oppose all oil, but they must maintain this facade to keep their foot soldiers convinced tht the anti oil sands movement is about environmental concerns, instead of, say establishing an authoritarian leftist/Communist government. As the left says, they are willing to use seemingly non-radical means – environmentalism – to achieve radical ends: eradicating decent society ” By any means necessary.”
Tzeporah Berman writes anti Canadian energy industry screeds in the Slop and Pail as a guest “expert” columnist.
They focus on Canadian energy as they sense there are people who could end up in 24 Sussex who would hobble the west’s energy industry. Campaigning against the Russian industry or the Saudi industry isn’t going to accomplish much, except perhaps an extended stay in Murmansk.
Just heard the ultimate watermelon argument against the Kinder Morgan pipeline – the protesters aren’t hypocrites. No, it’s OK for them to drive around in old beater pickups spewing fumes all over the place and sucking up tons of gas and eeeek, CO2 emissions.
That’s because they’re consuming oil products locally, but now the pipeline will be used for gasp, EXPORT, just like RAW LOGS. Oh, the inhumanity, is there no end to our rogue species?
That’s right, we sending RAW OIL to China and they’re sending plastic back.
Banning oil exports is their game. So obviously it’s OK to have a east west pipeline to Eastern Canadian oil markets and refineries as long as we don’t have the temerity to export any oil. Right? No?
It’s obviously not OK for Saudi Arabia and Algeria to EXPORT their oil to Canada, right?
Apparently not.
Which is the NDP position, and why the NDP is in a connundrum on Energy East. Refining the oil in St John before export, value add spreading the wealth around….at least to different regional elites.
These groups would like to turn BC, Yukon etc into National Parks that barely tolerate human habitation.
I am all for strict regulation and monitoring of pipelines, I am all for there being tons of insurance that may be expensive to get so that cleanups are paid for if the engineering fails or the maintenance is out of spec. But banning is ridiculous.
Somehow the beauty of Vancouver and the bucolic lifestyle is suspended in mid air disconnected from wealth creation or prosperity in anyway shape or form.
How about the opportunist leftist separatist Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois who helped lead the student strike in Quebec and just donated the $25,000 prize for non-fiction (Governor General’s Award!) he won for his account of the strike (Tenir tête) to a group agitating against Trans Canada Pipeline. He almost turned down the prize because he doesn’t like “the monarchy stamp”. As a result of his challenge to match his contribution a lot of useful idiots have given over $200,000 to the cause. http://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/gabriel-nadeau-dubois-launches-fundraiser-against-transcanada-pipeline
Just listened to the local liberal radio with a ‘greenie’ being interviewed. His take was that he didn’t want the pipeline because of the possibility of an oil spill which would destroy the native fishing industry. His failure to see that the only reason that there is a native fishing “industry” is because of the ability of the “natives” to launch a fleet of gas and diesel fishing boats to harvest the salmon and export it from the coast in another fleet of gas and diesel trucks, trains, and planes. We have only ourselves to blame for this stupidity. If we hadn’t increased our social programs through the generosity of hard working tax paying Canadians then Darwin’s theory would have eliminated the liberal left several generations ago, instead we keep feeding them and they keep breeding.
At what point do the federal politicos, who live off revenue from the oil industry, start to put numbers on the economic benefits provided to the country. Oil revenue and the spinoff fund Equalization!
IMHO the comparison I draw is the recent mayoralty race in my community. I own $1.5 million worth of real estate within the town but get no vote as it is in my holding company. The 19 year old kid who shares an apartment with two other guys, paying his $300/ month rent share, gets a vote on how to spend my $26000 in property tax. Should I feel a little jaded?
Loud mouths or squeaky wheels or simple opportunists seem to rule the day. Methinks I pull my ‘Atlas Shrugged’ off the shelf to review how all this ends up.
CT, the federal politicos currently the government, the CPC, understands all this very well. It’s the opposition parties playing footsie angling for their respective shares of the green vote that are diddling with this issue.
What is utterly irritating is the refusal of the MSM to acknowledge that the Mayor of Vancouver and the domestic green groups are bought and paid for lobbies for foreign interests.
If other provinces continue to delay, discourage or otherwise prevent the flow of Canada’s valuable resources to world markets, equalization transfer payments should be reduced to reflect the loss of income.
How can a province continue to make payments to other provinces, willing to take these payments, while they prevent the generation of the income required to make the payments.
Provinces that choose not to develop their now viable oil and gas resources should not be allowed to benefit from those provinces that take the risks and develop theirs.
Keystone is gonna pass. Even if Obama vetoes the bill, the next president is going to be pinned down on it and isn’t going to ignore two thirds of the electorate on this issue.
Oh well, Alberta and Ottawa could out the worms….if they wanted to.
RSPO
@RSPOtweets David Suzuki passionately delivers the keynote is to a packed hall @RSPOtweets #rsport12 http://ow.ly/i/7DiHN
A two-thirds vote by the Senate cannot be vetoed by the President.
These protesters are not simply against Oil, they are against civilization. I’m glad they are now visible for everyone to see what we had to put up with during the war in the woods. Forestry wasn’t quite as close to home as energy for the masses and wasn’t as economically critical at the margin as Oil.
All social programs that Canadians are so proud of come from the economic activity derived from resources as wages in the service sector don’t generate enough tax revenue to pay for health care, OAS, education, etc. Every Indian living off the spoils of their race and liberal guilt survive only through the labour and capital invested from others living off the land they “claim” as theirs.
Peaceful protest ends when they cross the line of the court injunction and that’s where the rule of law should be enforced without prejudice.
RSPO
@RSPOtweets David Suzuki passionately delivers the keynote is to a packed hall @RSPOtweets #rsport12 http://ow.ly/i/7DiHN
https://twitter.com/RSPOtweets/status/534890411488460802
I think that many of you are missing the elephant in the room on this one…
The real villains here are the US oil interests along with Mexican & others that are spending millions on something called the: Tar Sands Campaign..it is more than just pipelines. It is also trying to stop any super tanker traffic along the whole of the BC North Coast, it’s about Gateway, Keystone, Kinder, Line 9, East-West line…Damn near everything to do with our whole industry.!!
And it is those interests through a number of foundations that are funneling money to pay professional activist to stir up shit where and when they can..once done our darling MSM Fly in and dump all over the industry.
To me this is blatant interference in our country’s internal affairs. And to be honest, a true National Security issue for all the reasons a number of you have already mentioned: equalization being a biggie along with the rest of our whole social service safety net.
Bottom line is, the Oil Sands is our # 1 industry…it goes down, the whole country goes with it…this is a war people, with huge implications if we lose it.
Since this BS campaign started production in the oil sands has probably tripled. Rolling pipelines aka trains are passing through the down town core of major cities in the US and Canada moving bitumen to market. Protesting hasn’t resulted in the slowdown of one project. It has just put half the continent at risk for a derailment. Investment in the oilsands is proceeding nicely and involves many major nations.
You are right steakman this is our #1 industry. It will not be allowed to fail no matter what the Hollywood poseurs or paid shills say. The KXL pipeline will pass very near where I live. Bring it!
These “protesters” have also put a restaurant and its employees out of business.
Surely the Tides Foundation will compensate them.
I own $1.5 million worth of real estate… …$26000 in property tax. Should I feel a little jaded?You should feel a bit old.
If you were young you’ld have $26k in equity, and a $1.475M mortgage…=)
Seriously…how can our kiddies have kiddies with those kind of figures ?
The insanity of this self-destructive passion to kill petro energy development will only abate when these zombies freeze in the dark – it has to happen – there are people with no reaon or empathy because they are htpocritically insulated from the fate they plan for the rest of us.
Were I sitting on the bench when these anti-oil vandals were tries, I’d sentence them to 2 yrs incarceration without oil – no petro based products/energy for you alley oop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alley_Oop
“To me this is blatant interference in our country’s internal affairs.”
Exactly. So why aren’t our governments calling it what it is and outing the business interests behind it?
Occam,,,, they would die in less than 30 days if they were not permitted to use anything that fossil fuels move, heat, cool, grow. they would have to be naked because fossil fuels are used to make and transport all clothing worn in Canada. they would starve because all food grown uses fossil fuel in every stage from planting, harvesting and shipping to market. they have no freaking idea what the heck they are talking about.