Stephen Harper wages war on environmental activists opposing Northern Gateway Pipeline Project

Why won’t the prime minister shut up and allow the regulator to do its job?

by Matthew Kalkman on February 15th, 2012 at 2:52 PM

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Sometimes I feel like I am in a terrible nightmare and I can’t wake up. I had that feeling again when I read the story about fellow citizens being labelled by a Prime Minister’s Office official as “enemies of the government of Canada” solely for the issues they had with our government’s environmental policy. This nightmare only continued with the release of secret memos branding aboriginal communities as “adversaries” in the Enbridge pipeline debate, and took on global proportions when the attacks persisted during Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s trip to China. I gave myself a pinch, and yet still found I was in a country that was more and more difficult to recognize as the progressive Canada we all felt we inhabited. We now see Harper’s attack machine—which mastered its tactics against former Liberal leaders like Michael Ignatieff and Stéphane Dion—being pointed at Canadian citizens who care about having an honest discussion on our environment. This has become all too Orwellian.

The federal government empowered a Joint Review Panel under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the National Energy Board Act to rule on the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline Project. Enbridge hopes to build two 1,177-kilometre pipelines between Alberta and Kitimat to facilitate the export of oil to Asia.

The PMO’s criticism of environmental groups that are intervenors in the regulatory process of the pipeline hinders the integrity of the process itself. It also calls into question the ability of charitable foundations, which fund intervenors, to have views that differ from the Harper government. This is failed leadership.

The government should not be meddling in the jurisdiction of the regulator, which was created to ensure arm’s-length decision-making on the environmental-review process. Moreover, the very fact that Harper has not taken seriously the responsibility to consult with aboriginal communities will certainly cause legal tension in the future, with the Save the Fraser Declaration having already built a wall of opposition to the pipeline.

The purpose of setting up the Joint Review Panel process was to make sure that the decision would focus on what is best for the country, and not on what is best for the special-interest groups supporting Harper’s reelection. For the regulatory process to work effectively, it must be able to make conclusions that are free from government interference. Within the realm of judicial independence—and the Joint Review Panel is a quasijudicial tribunal—former Supreme Court of Canada chief justice Brian Dickson stated the law very clearly in the case of R. v. Beauregard:

“Historically, the generally accepted core of the principle of judicial independence has been the complete liberty of individual judges to hear and decide the cases that come before them: no outsider—be it government, pressure group, individual or even another judge—should interfere in fact, or attempt to interfere, with the way in which a judge conducts his or her case and makes his or her decision.”

This interference by the PMO has led three nonprofit environmental organizations to file a motion with the panel asking to “determine if recent statements by the Prime Minister or by the Minister of Natural Resources who is responsible for the National Energy Board constitute an attempt by those Ministers to undermine or have had the effect of undermining the Panel hearing process”. One can only hope that this regulatory body—which is headquartered in the same city Stephen Harper represents in Parliament—can make a decision without fear of having it overturned at the cabinet table.

This attack is only the beginning of the assault on the environmental-assessment process, and a continuance of Canada’s withdrawal of leadership on the environment. What is our country’s plan on climate change, now that Harper has pulled us out of Kyoto? The answer is that we have no plan. My time as a delegate at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen led me to the realization that our government has completely ignored the long-term threats to our country.

This inspired me to write the book New Liberalism, which calls for the adoption of what I call “timeless freedom”. This is the notion that we must preserve the freedom we enjoy today for future generations. Through no effort of our own, we were born into the most fortunate of circumstances, and we have a moral obligation to ensure that same level of freedom for our children and grandchildren.

Our next progressive government must make it a priority to bring forward a new politics of sustainability and intergenerational equity. This means we have to tackle climate change, the growing debt and deficits, and the growing inequalities in our society to enable a better future for all Canadians. The first step is to ensure the independence of our regulatory decision makers.

Matthew Kalkman is a recent graduate of the London School of Economics and is working as an intern at a nonprofit environmental legal organization.

Comments

24 Comments

JC

Feb 16, 2012 at 6:27am

Well people it will be interesting to see what Canada will look like by the next election date in 2015.......to those who gave Harper a majarity & are now regretting it ( I myself did not vote Conservative/Reform).....All I can say is the warning signs were there.

Goldorak

Feb 16, 2012 at 8:44am

Long on rant and short on facts, including the name of the "nonprofit environmental legal organization... LOL
With that much credibility, let's bet that those who are funding the greens also fund mister Kalkman "nonprofit" workplace?

Fairness

Feb 16, 2012 at 9:50am

It seems to me this "my way or the highway" because I am the "decider' and I will make the "decision" attitude scares me. As some countries move closer to democracy, we seem to be widdling away at ours, under the guise of "our own good" or "our own safety", scare politics. Sounds a little like that guy from WWII that everyone fought hard to eradicate. There is no "vote" its just take it or shut up... and if you say anything against it, your an "enemy" HUH ? HUH? what? What happened to fundamental transparency when there is all this secret meeting and decision making thrust upon everyone.

Goldorak

Feb 16, 2012 at 9:54am

http://wcel.org/sites/default/files/file-downloads/WCEL%202010-2011%20An...

Bullitt, Oak, Tar Sands Campaign Funds, Willburforce...
And you have to dig to find them because they are listed only in the annual report not openly on the web page...

Let's compare this to:
http://fairquestions.typepad.com/rethink_campaigns/2012/02/95-million-fo...

So this is an article written by a young federal Liberal party member who is an intern at the UBC West Coast Environmental Law funded in part by the same who give to Tides, Endswell etc...

EXPOSED!

Xtina

Feb 16, 2012 at 10:02am

Hmmm....wonder if that Internet Surveillance legislation the Harper government just introduced is just for identifying child pornographers, or is it helpful in surveillance of ones political opponents too...

Pat

Feb 16, 2012 at 11:47am

Stephen Harper has to go ... but, because of vote splitting between the other two main parties, he's probably going to continue winning at least minority governments for years to come.

e.a.f.

Feb 16, 2012 at 12:38pm

Harper rules by division. We need to remember, we all hang together or we all hang. Harper has been enbolded by his attacks on Dion & Iggy. I didn't care for them but they had the right to be heard and not attacked on personal grounds, just their politics.

Now of course the shoe is on the other food and Toews gets a taste of it. I would suggest we do the same to the rest of the Conservatives. They want to know about us, well we want to "know" about them, all about them, not just the face they show the public. They thought it was o.k. to access the medical records of Veterans and gossip about them, well now its time to give them a taste of it. The Veterans were people who fought for their country. Then they had to fight to access the medical treatment and monies owned to them by this country. If that is how the Conservatives treat war veterans than just think what they will do with the rest of our records once the can access them without a search warrant.

Harper, Cook, Toews have labelled a lot of people with slanderous comments. I do not support the new bill. I don't "stand with predators". I do not support Harper's attempts to force through the pipeline and tankers. I am not an extremist or terrorist.

I have thought the legislation is there to be able to listen in on opposition, community groups, individuals, etc. who disagree with the P.M. & his agenda. We could find ourselves in jail before we even get to our first demo. I wonder if he will have us arrested for terrorism if we go to protest against the tar sands, pipeline, & tankers.

This bill has nothing to do with protecting children. If Harper wanted to protect children he would have sent the predators to jail for a longer term with his new "crime bill". If Harper was concerned about child predators he would allocate more resources to tracking, arresting, & convicting child predators. If Harper was concerned about children he would ensure the living conditions of First Nations children was improved. Their living conditions can cause as many problems as child predators.

Harper isn't interested in anyone, just getting his view of Canada as the "law of the land". Well Harper is acting like a fascist and we already went through WWII to deal with that.

I think I'll go out an get a t-shirt which says, harper says I'm a terrorist and wear it proudly. The name calling he is using is meant to condition the public to thinking of us as terrorists so when we are arrested the deck will be stacked against us. However, this time he may find it won't work. Too many main stream citizens oppose him.

violet9-ish

Feb 16, 2012 at 3:27pm

Harper is an enemy of Canada, and that number is statistically proven by his low votership, less than 40% voted for him. He's selling off our country for short term gains, long term disaster.

Link between massive warship contract and the perimeter agreement with the US, anyone? He's planning a US style military for us as well.

I can't WAIT for the next election, when we see the Cons turfed once and for all. If you can't stand Harper, I recommend giving Nathan Cullen's proposal for a one-time party organized cooperation a listen.

Conservatives are dinosaurs, their time is done.

Harper, Cook and Toews

Feb 16, 2012 at 6:52pm

Are talking about themselves. Why would anyone want to put tarsands pipelands in a rainforest unless you didn't give a dam about the land?
You just wouldn't because of the serious harm that will be done to the just about everything that exists.
There is money in child ponorgraphy, take a picture of that. No you don't because it is wrong. It is no different putting tar sands pipelines along the coast, you don't do it because it is wrong.