Trudeau, More Dangerous to Environment than Harper?

Trudeau, More Dangerous to Environment than Harper?

Postby Oscar » Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:07 pm

Trudeau, More Dangerous to Environment than Harper?

[ https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/12/02/T ... vironment/ ]

I suggested it three and a half years ago. Still waiting to be proven wrong.

By Damien Gillis , 2 Dec 2016 | TheTyee.ca

Damien Gillis is co-founder of the online publication The Common Sense Canadian, [ http://commonsensecanadian.ca/ ], which publishes reporting and analysis about our economy and environment.

So far, he’s batting almost .1000 when it comes to approving controversial energy projects. Photo by Canada 2020, Creative Commons licensed.

Sometimes it’s no fun being right. Case in point: Three-and-a-half years ago I wrote a piece titled “Why Justin Trudeau may be more dangerous than Harper.”

Flash forward to today, and barely a year into his reign Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is batting almost a thousand when it comes to approving controversial energy projects, from liquefied natural gas plants in Squamish and Prince Rupert to permits for the Site C dam — and now Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline and Enbridge’s Line 3.*

In that 2013 editorial, [ http://commonsensecanadian.ca/why-justi ... an-harper/ ], my main concern about the new Liberal leader was that his energy and trade policies were nearly identical to those of former prime minister Stephen Harper — they just looked and sounded better coming from Canada’s prodigal son.

Moreover, I already had the sense Trudeau wasn’t guided by a clear set of values, making him vulnerable to persuasive political advisors and powerful lobbies. With Harper, I noted three years ago, at least we had “a sense that his zeal for expanding Canada’s fossil fuel industries through foreign ownership is something in which he believes on a deep, ideological level.” With Harper, you knew exactly what you were getting — he loathed environmentalists and didn’t care much for “radical” First Nations either.

MORE:

[ https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/12/02/T ... vironment/ ]
Oscar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9078
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Re: Trudeau, More Dangerous to Environment than Harper?

Postby Oscar » Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:12 pm

Wade Davis Endorsed Trudeau, Now ‘Profoundly Disappointed’

[ https://thetyee.ca/News/2016/12/07/Wade ... d-Trudeau/ ]

Despite industrial project approvals, PM may yet guide Canada through needed transition, says renowned anthropologist.

By Andrew MacLeod , 7 Dec 2016 | TheTyee.ca

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria and the author of A Better Place on Earth: The Search for Fairness in Super Unequal British Columbia (Harbour Publishing, 2015). Find him on Twitter or reach him here.

Wade Davis says that while he doesn’t regret endorsing Justin Trudeau’s bid to lead Canada last year, he is “profoundly disappointed” with the prime minister’s approach so far to industrial development projects in British Columbia.

Davis is the author of several popular books, an anthropology professor at the University of British Columbia, the B.C. Leadership Chair [ https://support.ubc.ca/projects/bc-lead ... tems-risk/ ] in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at UBC, and was explorer-in-residence for the National Geographic Society.

During the 2015 election, Liberals bragged [ http://jmurray.liberal.ca/news-nouvelle ... vironment/ ] about an endorsement from Davis, who said about Trudeau in a YouTube video [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBvKicH ... e=youtu.be ], “He’s a visionary who can truly be the architect of a new tomorrow.”

Davis, who has called for a “war” on global warming [ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/ ... e27550301/ ], had reportedly [ http://www.bowenislandundercurrent.com/ ... -1.2037074 ] contributed to the Liberal Party’s environment plan and introduced Trudeau when he unveiled that plan in Vancouver. In the endorsement video, he praised Trudeau’s commitment to fighting climate change and making decisions based on science.

MORE:

[ https://thetyee.ca/News/2016/12/07/Wade ... d-Trudeau/ ]
Oscar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9078
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Re: Trudeau, More Dangerous to Environment than Harper?

Postby Oscar » Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:15 pm

Trudeau Leaves His BC MPs Hanging by Approving Wave of Projects

[ https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/01/05/Trud ... ign=050117 ]

Prime minister plays dangerous political game by inflaming coastal opposition, say critics.

By Jeremy J. Nuttall , | TheTyee.ca January 5, 2016

Jeremy J. Nuttall is The Tyee’s reader-funded Parliament Hill reporter in Ottawa. Find his previous stories here.

(PHOTO: Liberal candidate Terry Beech - Terry Beech meeting Young Liberals during the 2016 federal election. He campaigned to victory saying the Kinder Morgan expansion in his Burnaby-North Seymour riding could only happen after a new review by a revised National Energy Board, plus community and First Nations support. None occurred, but Trudeau greenlit the project anyway. )

On Nov. 29 of last year, as Justin Trudeau began to reveal his decision about an oil sands pipeline to Vancouver’s harbour, he announced he was a “grandson of British Columbia” with special ties to “our spectacular West Coast.” He then granted approval of the project while admitting many British Columbians would be “bitterly disappointed.”

Most bitter, probably, were those British Columbians who voted Liberal in the last election thinking they were halting just this sort of project pushed by Harper Conservatives in the face of environmental cautions.

The go-ahead for Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion was one of many Liberal government decisions made in the past year that likely left such voters feeling betrayed. They include approved permits for the Woodfibre LNG plant in Squamish, the Site C dam in northern B.C. and the Pacific Northwest liquefied natural gas plant near Prince Rupert, as well as helping to defeat an NDP bill meant to protect wild salmon.

Analysts have noted [ http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/just ... c-blunder/ ] that Trudeau and his government may pay [ http://ipolitics.ca/2016/11/24/trudeau- ... rgan-poll/ ] a high political price for backing the Trans Mountain project, given the populous ridings it affects and the extra tanker traffic and safety risks it involves.

MORE:

[ https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/01/05/Trud ... ign=050117 ]
Oscar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9078
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm


Return to Canada's Environmental Protection . . . going, going, gone!

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

cron