UPDATE: Harper Government Drops Environmental Ball Again! <>JOE OLIVER CREATES 200,000 More RADICALS<>

NOW ON ALL CHANNELS!

JOE OLIVER 
INSTANTLY CREATES
200,000 RADICALS!

CBC.ca

Environmental and other "Radical Groups" are trying to block trade and undermine Canada's economy, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Monday.

Oliver's comments come one day before federal regulatory hearings begin on whether to approve Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline, to deliver crude from Alberta's oil sands to Kitimat, B.C., for shipment to Asia. ~ More than 4,300 people have signed up to address the proposed pipeline over the next 18 months.

"Unfortunately, there are environmental and other radical groups that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify our trade," Oliver said in an open letter. "Their goal is to stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams."


Oliver says the groups "threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda," stack the hearings with people to delay or kill "good projects," attract "jet-setting" celebrities and use funding from "foreign special interest groups."

Join this conversation in progress on Facebook!

Windsor Live  @Twain ~ Here's something for ya to ponder as you work the blog.

"Why does the Harper Government feel it is OK to intervene in the affairs of other nations such as dictating economic policy and austerity measures that would affect millions of Europeans and bombing Libya to assassinate the head of state resulting in major civilian casualties in the thousands? Not to mention the additional economic sanctions against Syria and the economic sanctions against Iran to impose regime change.

PLUS his recent threat directed towards the US Administration that said the Harper Regime would gladly "sell" their tar sand oil to China if the US didn't want it..."

Twain @Windsor Live: ~ Well, Windsor Live, as a reasonable man who loves Canada, I'd have to say that he has a double standard, among other issues. He does dabble in everything and then cry like a whiny school-yard bully when someone not in Canada tries to influence our environmental outcomes.

As a Radical, I would add that: He Is Clearly Insane!

Here is the kind of 

'Radical Thinking' 

being Foisted upon Us by
Radical Environmentalists!

 

 UK

Oil Sands Pipeline Battle Turns Ugly

In an open letter defending a controversial project, Canada's natural resources minister accuses a pipeline's opponents of colluding with 'radicals' and 'jet-setting celebrities'

"Canada (*meaning the Harper Government) let loose an extraordinary rant against opponents of a controversial project to pump tar sands crude to Pacific Coast ports on Monday, accusing campaigners of colluding with foreign "radicals" and "jet-setting celebrities" to hijack the government.

The diatribe, which came as an open letter from the natural resources minister Joe Oliver, caused a furore in Canada.

It was seen as a sign of the conservative government's frustration at growing opposition to its efforts to find global markets for its vast reserves of tar sands crude, a type of petroleum deposit found in large quantities in Canada.

Opponents of the project object to over-turning a decades-old moratorium on oil tanker traffic on the British Columbia coastline, running a pipeline through British Columbia's northern wilderness, and sending jobs out of the country".

And, Yes Joe!
There are Some Well Known Voices!

Opposed to the Mega Project

And according to Joe Oliver, that is just not fair, even though we all know that they would be doing the same thing if they could get anyone as well respected as Robert Redford to take their side in the issue. And Again, I remind you that they as the government are supposed to be on our side, and they have obligations to us and not these huge corporations. And even then I will settle for their neutrality, which is my own pipe dream and is not on their agenda.

More From Those Pesky Radicals

David Suzuki ~ In response to Joe Oliver:

The Sierra Club vs. Ethical Oil

 

Alice Klein On the Real Foreign Money 
Behind the Gateway Pipeline
"Has he gone too far this time? Prime Minister Stephen Harper has shown many times over that he has little regard for democracy. I mean, how did we learn to spell the word “prorogue”?
The long record is too wearisome to recount, but the ominous new attack on opponents of the Northern Gateway pipeline has opened a front in his battle against civil society that makes you wonder. Now that we’re watching the 1 per cent more closely, will the times still be on Harper’s side?
Thousands of citizens are in the queue to give deputations at the ........ " Read More:

Bob Rae Slams PM for Discrediting Critics

Intimidating opponents by calling them radicals, anti-Canadian, interferes with environmental process, he says:

"I think it is inappropriate for a minister or a prime minister to interfere and intervene and frankly to intimidate an environmental process as it would be to interfere or intervene in a court case," Rae told reporters at a news conference to announce that rookie Quebec MP Lise St-Denis has jumped from the New Democratic Party to the Liberals.

The Harper government, according to Rae, doesn't understand the limits of its authority and "does not understand the rule of law. It does not respect due process."

Rae also said environmental groups are effectively being threatened with loss of their organization's charitable status. The government has long maintained that it respects the NEB process and that the recent comments aren't directed at the NEB hearings. ~ Read More:

  Kennedy Stewart, MP Burnaby-Douglas

“New Democrats believe there is a very different way forward for Canada. We believe all major energy projects should be subject to proper benefit/cost analysis. For example, the oil sands are one of our most precious resources. We should not rush to development just to ship unrefined crude oil to China when Canadians import over 200,000 barrels per day of oil from Europe and the Middle-East. Instead we should focus on our own energy security, making sure we maximize national revenues by refining the oil we need within our own borders.
Perhaps more importantly, we believe government should use deeply participatory processes to build national plans for housing, transportation, employment, energy and other essential policy areas. These processes should be the antithesis of the top-down, back-room deals made by the Conservatives. They would also ensure we move forward together as a country and policy benefits the many rather than the few.” 

Read More

 This from:

Tar Sands Pipeline Critics 

Hit Back at 'Radical' Claims Read More: 

This from:

By Jorge Barrera ~ APTN National News

"The Harper government is “sidestepping” the country’s most potent opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline by instead targeting a “boogeyman” in hopes of scaring up public support, says a First Nation chief who is part of a coalition that has pledged to stop the project at all cost.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver have both publicly claimed that American interests opposing the $5.5 billion pipeline project are trying to “hijack” the project in Canada by funding environmental groups in the country."  ~  Read More:
The Hearings ~ DAY ONE

This Unbelievably is also from Day One:

60 Environment Canada Scientists and other Researchers
 Given their Notice

OTTAWA citizen — Environment Canada is sending notices to 60 scientists and other researchers 

that their jobs are being declared surplus.

"Gary Corbett, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, confirmed his union was notified by the department that surplus notices would be going out this week. They are fallout from the department's announcement last August that it would be cutting or reassigning 776 people — which is about 10 per cent of the workforce.

But Corbett said the department is under "strict orders" not to reveal precisely what work these surplus scientists are doing. They broadly include engineers, scientists, biologists, climatologists, chemical analysts from across the country. They work in areas such as pollution, monitoring water quality, climate research.

 "This exercise is all about money and a government obsessed with the bottom line," said Corbett: "While the government pays lip service to protecting the interests of all Canadians, it continues to target science-based departments, the front line, when it comes to protecting our environment and health of our citizens," he said. " Read more: 


Elizabeth May To Joe Oliver

By ~ Elizabeth May on 9 January 2012 - 3:10pm

Dear Joe,

Your letter caught my attention.  I respect you and like you a lot as a colleague in the House.  Unfortunately, I think your role as Minister of Natural Resources has been hijacked by the PMO spin machine.  The PMO is, in turn, hijacked by the foreign oil lobby. You are, as Minister of Natural Resources, in a decision-making, judge-like role.  You should not have signed such a hyperbolic rant.

I have reproduced a short section of your letter. The idea that First Nations, conservation groups, and individuals opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline are opposed to all forestry, mining, hydro-electric and gas is not supported by the facts.  I am one of those opposed to the Northern Gateway pipeline.  I do not oppose all development; neither does the Green Party; neither do environmental NGOS; neither do First Nations.

I oppose the Northern Gateway pipeline for a number of reasons, .... Read More

from the

 And Now it is My Turn to Weigh in:

The Government clearly needs to realise that it is their duty as the Government of this country to stay neutral during any environmental assessments. They seem to be on the verge of taking, by what seems a lot of force, in my opinion, control of the entire process and  openly lobby for the Oil industry at the same time. It seem that if left up to them, Canada’s Natural resources are to be doled out to their friends as Soon as Possible. It is enough to make me question the motive behind this zealous pursuit of Petro Dollars. It is almost as if they realise that they need to sell the damned stuff before it is obsolete. That is after all, their plan for Asbestos.

Good Government takes it’s time and gets it right! Good government would not have all of its ministers lobbying so openly and arrogantly for this project. It is Not supposed to be a Government project. It is supposedly a private sector affair. The Government’s only interest here has to be our interest. It has to be getting this Right!

And it is no secret that I want No one to pipe oil across the Rockies, not now, not ever.

I have less hope that the Athabasca Tar Sands itself will stop being exploited. Although I do believe that it too can be stopped, but certainly not right away. I like the Liberals approach, in that conserving it by not simply extracting it all in a greedy frenzy is the pragmatic alternative. They want to spread its lifeline out and slow it down to a controllable level of development. They actually had a Department called the Ministry of the Environment that was concerned about such things. The NDP wants it (generally) shut down entirely. Although they have weighed in (farther down the page) and in this instance they are also on the progressive track.

 I like the slow approach. With that in place, we will necessarily have no choice but to get out of the habit of using the stuff. As we develop new technologies and get them in place, we should soon need less of it, we could more easily see a time when we could stop it. We need to learn to profit along the way from the new developments instead of constantly fighting 
with our own citizens just to make a few men rich.

They insist that time is short, but anyone on the street can tell you that Slowing it down and prudent conservation requires NOT cutting another destructive path through the Rockies in order to fire up a lot of Chinese cars. 

The Rockies are one of the youngest Mountain Ranges on the planet. They have a long way to fall. They never stop moving. Do these guys not watch The Nature of Things?

The Conservative plan is Clearly insane. There is never anything pragmatic about a rising fascist star like Stephen Harper. Why burn all the oil? Because he is a nutter.

JOIN CRUSH TODAY

This is a Radically Cool Shirt! 

Buy it Here!

There is Never a Dull Moment in Harper Land!