Pipelines and Protest

Last weekend, in Vancouver approximately 5,000 people marched in protest to Kinder-Morgan pipeline expansion.  As was noted in numerous releases including the CBC, the people gathered in support of First Nation peoples who are opposed to any additional capacity for the pipeline  and the resultant dangers to both the interior and to the coast line of British Columbia.  There was a much smaller gathering of people who are in favour of the expansion. This debate will go on for some time. No matter what the final outcome is -there will be some who will never agree.

It seems to me that that part of the problem is the fundamental dishonesty (or at least the leaving out of pertinent facts)  by both sides. We would be all better served if people admitted that there are legitimate concerns on both sides. The possibility that a decision could be reached that most people could live with increases if we understand all of the facts.

Of course if there is three times as much oil to be shipped through pipelines, across extraordinarily beautiful mountains and valleys - there is an equally increased risk that something will go wrong. There are just too many stories of pipelines developing cracks or breaks. There will be leaks not because the managers of the project are bad people or that the welders are incompetent but because with that much pipe - there will be failures. We know that such projects disrupt the natural movement of animals and no matter what attempts are made to create corridors, the animals will be affected. We know that if there are three times as many freighters in the straits around Vancouver that something bad will eventually happen and when it does it could be catastrophic for generations. Again it is not a matter of incompetence or being evil - technology and humans fail. For the federal government or for the oil industry to even suggest that the risks are not substantial is absurd. They would be better off to admit the risks and then start discussing ways of mitigating them.

On the other hand, the protesters are at the very least being a bit disingenuous when arguing that they are protesting along with and on behalf of First Nations. It needs to recognized that a number of First Nations along the pipeline route as well as number of communities who are active in resource extraction have indicated support for the expanded pipeline; other communities are in negotiations with Kinder-Morgan.

The protesters are also either impossibly naive or wilfully avoiding the realities of their lives. I would find the protest so much more meaningful if they, the protesters, acknowledged that most of them got to the protest via vehicles powered by a petroleum product, that in fact their vehicles are at least in part made with materials derived from petroleum products as are their clothes, their iPhones, tablets and water bottles. In fact a significant percentage of what they touch and use each day is comprised at least in part of a derivative of petroleum. Their food, their furnishings, their very life style is only possible because of petroleum. The argument that there cannot be any increase in the amount of oil that reaches the BC coast - without appreciating that we need to use that oil is a bit childish.

I would agree without hesitation that the pipeline is a bad idea. The risk to the coast or the interior is just far too great. But if we continue to demand petroleum products to maintain our life style, it strikes me that it is probably hard to argue that we should have oil but that no one else should.  It is equally as difficult to argue that oil production should only exist for our direct needs and that oil production companies are not allowed an effective economy of scale.

We need to find solutions - but first we need to be honest with ourselves and those on the other side.

Here We Go Again

I like living in BC. The weather is less extreme than in Ontario, the people are nice and there seems to be enough to keep me as busy as I want to be. But much to the surprise of some of my new friends, I still miss Ontario. There is so much about that province that is interesting and attractive to me. There are occasions when I think about moving back there. But right now, there is a large part of me that is supremely thankful that I am not living in Ontario this year. I do not think that I could face the next few months of angst and political debate over the future of that province with Doug Ford now being the elected leader of the Progressive Conservatives and potentially the next premier of the province.

I suspect that three years ago many of the observers of the political scene in Ontario would have publically opined the absurdity of anyone as poorly informed as to economics as Doug Ford having a chance of either becoming leader of a major party or to become premier. However the recent events in the USA have clearly demonstrated that one does not need to have any understanding of economics or a grasp of the complex issues of the day to become a leader. In fact it almost appears as such gaps in knowledge are an asset. Ford, and those who voted for him, seem to believe that because he has attracted a solid constituent base in a corner of the Toronto suburbs, that he has the potential to being attractive to the voters of Ontario. And they might be right.

In 1995 Mike Harris of the PC was elected Premier on Ontario. He was elected because he pandered to the voters in the 905 area code area who were afraid of rising taxes and other perceived threats against their status quo. He got elected because he argued that their taxes could be reduced if we only stopped wasting money on salaries of a bloated civil service and on unnecessary social programs. Ontario suffered through two terms of Harris. I suspect that Ontario may be ripe for another era of reduced services for the promise of reduced taxes.

Ontarians may be with good cause tired of the present government. They like all other governments before them have not come close to delivering the promised utopia. And there have been more than enough scandals to exhaust the public's tolerance. The NDP appear to be a party with limited direction and even less passion; for so many voters in Ontario, Ford and his highly fractured, disorganized and inexperienced party may be the best choice to run the province.

Within popular culture it is sometimes suggested that Henry II as he was pondering what to do with the Archbishop of Canterbury said "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" I sort of wish that Henry or anyone else would wonder out loud "Will no one rid us of these silly want-to-be politician who will do far more harm than good?"

I do not wish any ill upon Mr. Ford - I just want him and others like him to go away or at the very least stop promising to cut taxes, increase spending and making everyone who deserves it - to become better off.