Harper Government Using Intimidation Against Opponnts of Gateway Pipeline Boondoggle

Yesterday two important pieces of the Harper regime's plan to build the Gateway Pipeline, regardless of public opposition, became public. That Harper and his cronies are owned and operated by the multi-national oil oligarchy is hardly news, but these two issues outlined below clearly show that this is about more than jobs or the environment, it’s about our rights and the future of democracy in Canada.

First came the Tyee's article 'Economist Calls Gateway Pipeline an Inflationary Threat' by Andrew Nikiforuk which talks about a detailed analysis submitted to the National Energy Board by Robyn Allan, the former president and CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, which concludes that "Northern Gateway is neither needed nor is in the public interest." This article is a must read for proponents, opponents and the undecieded alike. Basically it shows why the Harper government has refused to conduct the rigorous and independent cost-benefit analysis on the impact of increasing bitumen exports to Asia or the United States that the Parliament recommended in a study back in 2007.

Then i received an email from an old friend about how a whistleblower just revealed that the Prime Minister’s Office threatened to revoke the charitable status of Tides Canada if they continue their support for ForestEthics, an environmental group that has engaged thousands of Canadians in the public hearings about the Enbridge project. Following his links to the article 'Are you an enemy of the Government of Canada?' and the letter writing campaign at Leadnow.ca further informed me, as i'm sure it will you, of the chilling tactics Haper and his henchmen are using behind the scenes to bully any opposition to his oily friends boondoggle.

What is the role of government in a democracy? Is it to honestly adjudicate when conflicts arise between the rights of citizens and corporations? Or is it to bully any opponents of those corporate interests into silence? Is government's role to redistribute wealth from those who have an excess to those who live in poverty? {What used to be called social justice.] Or is it to redistribute wealth and power in the opposite direction-from the 99% to the 1%? The answers to these basic moral questions about the role of governments in general are still clear to the vast majority of Canadians.

DO a little, or DO a lot, but DO. The time for polite discussion is over, the time for decisive action to stop Harper and his cronies is now.