Pipeline plan makes Harperites excoriate deal they applauded five years ago.
by Sandra Garossino
…In an open letter to Canadians in January, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver came out swinging against "environmental and other radical groups", singling out "jet-setting celebrities" that seek to influence Canadian policy and public opinion on resource extraction and development projects such as the proposed Enbridge pipeline. Not to be outdone, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews proposed putting environmentalists on Canada's terrorist watch, while Environment Minister Peter Kent publicly accused American charitable foundations of laundering fortunes through Canadian environmental NGOs.
In our own Senate, Conservative Senator Donald Plett rose to liken US charitable foundations to terrorist groups such as "Al Qaeda, Hamas and the Taliban." To the braying of Senator Mike Duffy, who called them "anti-Canadian," Senator Percy Mockler announced to his fellow Senators: "…I want to bring to your attention some of the qualified bad, not to mention ugly, foundations, namely…" then read their names to be recorded in Hansard for posterity.
When scientists become the enemy of government, the language shifts, and suddenly they are "environmentalists" and "radicals" "bad" and "anti-Canadian."
This is a very bizarre twist, and here's why:
Five years ago, the Harper government was thrilled to do business on exactly the model that it now vilifies as anti-Canadian money laundering. It entered into a conservation agreement to protect the Great Bear Rainforest in partnership with several American foundations in an agreement negotiated by Tides Canada…
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