It must be that on the eighth day that God created tar sands. They seem to be an afterthought. Tar sands are also causing a great deal of hypocrisy in this federal election. Just the other day one of our favourite authors and a New Democratic Party candidate stuck her foot in it by suggesting that some tar sands may have to be left in the ground. And that would be as mild a comment as any concerned environmentalist could make.
But Prime Minister Harper jumped on it. “You see,” he said. “The NDP is consistently against the development of our resources and our economy.”
The Prime Minister also alluded to the NDP’s “not so hidden agenda.” There is no question though that NDP candidate Linda McQuaig had been suckered by the news media to contradict the published policy of the NDP.
The NDP stand on tar sands exploitation is built on B.S. and designed to confuse. It actually tries to reassure environmentalists while seeking the votes of people who want jobs in tar sands extraction. It even plays one pipeline against another. The other day, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said that TransCanada Energy East pipeline is a win-win-win proposition. He says it will create jobs, pay royalties to provinces and just needs to go through a rigorous, transparent environmental review.
But the only purpose of the Energy East pipeline is to get tar sands bitumen to ocean ports. That is the only reason for the Keystone XL pipeline through the United States or the additional pipelines to the west coast. This is to export pollution to parts of the world that do not care about the environment. It is making a buck off others’ misery. It is selling our children’s world.
Mind you, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s position is so middle-of-the-road that he should be required to paint a white line while there. He seems quite happy to let Harper and Mulcair slug it out. With Mr. Harper reading into any comment from the NDP and Mr. Mulcair’s tendency to get huffy, they are the more natural protagonists.
In the meantime, many Canadians are still trying to figure out Mr. Trudeau’s suggestion earlier this year that the environment should be run like Medicare. He suggested that the provinces could run things in regard to the environment and the federal government should pay for it. At least that is the way that Medicare seems to work.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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