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One
of the first solid impressions I had of Canada soon after I first arrived here
in 1954, was that the people, on the whole, seemed to be totally unworried that
their country was under the economic control and ownership of the big neighbour
to the south.
A decade later, the somewhat
incoherent Diefenbaker government attempted to keep Canada free of nuclear
weapons by rejecting the Bomarc missile offered from the United States.
Diefenbaker’s gesture of defiance was undermined by the Liberal party with the
support of the nation’s movers and
shakers, who were the business class and the owners of wealth.
In 1965, a book appeared that is
still regarded as one of the most important ever written by a Canadian. It was
called Lament for a Nation, the Defeat of
Canadian Nationalism, and was written by a conservative philosopher George
Grant, whose central theme --- at least, this is the main message that I took from
the book --- was that every action taken to wrest economic control back from
the United States had always been met with resistance from the Canadian
establishment.
The
book led to an upsurge of nationalist feeling in Canada, and to the eventual
establishment of a more cautious approach to Americans buying up our
enterprises, as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau initiated a Foreign Investment Review Agency that assessed takeovers based on their contribution
to job creation, Canadian participation in management, and compatibility with
federal and provincial economic policies. This was showing excellent
results in restoring, for example, national ownership of major industries,
until the election of Brian Mulroney’s Progressive-Conservative government in
1985 revamped the legislation and severely reduced its mandate.
I am reminded of all this by the
remarkable spectacle offered by the quarrel over the Kinder Morgan pipeline
designed to carry bitumenized oil from the severely polluting Tar Sands of
Alberta to the West Coast for trans-shipment to China. For here we have the
modern version of the 1960s nationalist dilemma. We have the Liberal Prime
Minister, in fact, the son of the leader who stood for the nationalist control
of our resources, unashamedly putting all his marbles behind an effort by a
Houston-based company to blackmail our political establishment to ensure we do
as bidden by this Texas company, which is self-confessedly motivated only by a
concern for its shareholders.
Yes, sir, says young Mr. Trudeau,
springing to attention with a salute; and yes, sir, says the NDP leader of
Alberta, alongside him: we will do what you say, even if we have to pay
billions of dollars to give you what you want! After all it’s not our money: it
comes from the taxpaxyers!
So far have they taken this surrender
that they have even stopped mentioning that this pipeline proposal will
inevitably lead to an expansion of the production of this heavily-polluting Tar
Sands oil, which, according to the best estimates, would blow out of the water
any hope that Canada could meet the targets in carbon emissions to which we
have pledged ourselves in the Paris accords for dealing with climate change.
Trudeau and his minister for the environment Catherine McKenna frame the
dilemma as one of only “getting our resources to market.” When Trudeau says Canada is back on the world
stage, he must mean we are back as the bad example that could lead the world to
inaction on its major challenge.
Someone should tell them that of all
the sources of buried energy that exist in the world, this is probably the
leader on the list of “should be left in the ground.”
On the other hand, one might think
that they should already know that: which, if true, exposes them to the
accusation that they are supporting, not the preservation of the beautiful West
Coast of Canada, not the preservation of the Canadian landscape from the
indefinite expanding excrescence that is the Tar Sands site, and not the future
of humanity and of the Earth and its life support systems, but merely the
profits promised to the shareholders of a Texas oil company, above every other
consideration, and be damned to the consequences!
British Columbians have shown themselves
in the past to be ready to fling themselves in the path of the bulldozers, as it
were: in defence of the Clayquot Sound forests in 1993 more than 800 people
were arrested, and some of them were given harsh sentences. But a scientific
panel established consequent to their protests made 127 recommendations for
changed logging practices that were accepted by the government, and put into
action.
Unless I am mistaken, once again the
protesters, environmental and First Nations alike, are not likely to fold up
their tents and steal away, leaving the field to the oligarchs and their representatives
in government. Mr Trudeau and his acolytes Ms. McKenna and Ms. Notley can
chunter on all they like about whose jurisdiction is being violated: they have
already received their answer, it is the defence of the Earth and its
inhabitants that is paramount.
Well said! Our provincial NDP government will likely need an injection of backbone to stand up to Trudeau's browbeating and bullying. With a razor-thin majority that can only survive with support from the BC Green Party, which is stronly opposed to the TransMountain twinning, and an aroused BC citizanry, we may prevail. It will be an epic battle!
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