If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley had any credibility left after they sold out their principles in favour of big oil interests, it has been destroyed by their reaction to the Federal Court of Appeals decision regarding the Trans Mountain pipeline.
In that decision, the justices stated clearly that the “unjustified exclusion of marine shipping from the scope of the project led to successive, unacceptable deficiencies in the board’s report and recommendations.” They also stated that Canada’s “duty to consult was not adequately discharged.”
The implications are clear: The government needs to consult with Indigenous people in a meaningful way, and must consider the threat to the marine environment presented by the pipeline.
In reaction to this decision, however, Trudeau and Notley have not said one word about conducting truly meaningful consultations, nor about reconsidering the threats to B.C.’s environment. They have talked only about new timelines, threats to future investment, reneging on climate-control agreements, and how quickly they can develop a new process.
In other words, they are not interested in re-thinking the possibility that this whole boondoggle might be a bad idea. They are only interested in how they might rig the decision-making process to get the result they have already decided on.
If they proceed in this way, we can only hope that the courts will once again save us from what they have already said is a bad-faith process doomed to failure.
John Marshall Mangan
Gabriola Island
