(Scroll to bottom for UPDATE)
Wow! This media AlerteInfoAlert from the Prime Minister’s Office is a sight to behold, dear Reader. Do take a moment to thank Kady O’Malley for postponing her book-reading and sleep in order to share it with us. the regina mom is also foregoing some book-reading and sleep to write this. As with her poetry, she’s going to take it line-by-line or at least stanza-by-stanza so it may take awhile to find appropriate links and all. She hopes you’ll follow along, that you’re a brave enough soul to make it to the computer-eye-glazed end.
From: Alerte-Info-Alert
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 08:45 PM
At 8:45 PM on a Friday night, this goes out to the media. That, in and of itself, is hilarious, is it not? Can you spell, “desperate”?
To: Alerte-Info-Alert
Subject: Foreign radicals threaten further delays / Des groupes radicaux étrangers brandissent la menace de retards additionnelsForeign radicals threaten further delays
“Foreign radicals”? Hmm, those foreigners, maybe they have. trm has threatened to delay the northern pipeline project. She has publicly stated that the Northern Gateway Pipeline project will go ahead over her dead body. And if the HarperCons want her dead body that badly, so be it. But trm is filled with gratitude for these “foreign radicals” who are threatening to delay her death. Not yet 50, trm is far too young to die.
So, what else does the PMO have to say about these foreign radicals?
Today, Ecojustice attacked the independence of the Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel. ForestEthics, Living Oceans Society and Raincoast Conservation Foundation joined them in their attack on the Joint Review Panel.
*GASP* — a foreign attack on a Canadian Panel! By four tree-hugging groups! Call in the military! Those plant-loving, ocean living, ethical conservationists, how dare they challenge our panel, eh? Let’s have a look-see who they are, those radicals!
Ecojustice is a registered charitable organization in Canada. And all such organizations are subject to laws which regulate all charities. trm is certain we can trust that with the HarperCon law and order government, any organization undertaking illegal activity would meet the swift hand of justice. One would expect Ecojustice to know that. After all, they’ are “lawyers and scientists.” Just because they “believe in leading the way to a sustainable future” by taking the “lead in four key areas: clean water, natural spaces, healthy communities and climate protection” shouldn’t mean they don’t know how to follow the laws of the land.
OMG! An American serves on the Board of Directors: Judge William Alfred Newsom is a retired state appeals court judge, living in San Francisco, a city also on the western coast of the continent. And, oh my, he administrates the Gordon P. Getty Family Trust. But oh-oh! His son, Gavin, is the former Mayor of San Francisco who granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples! And now he’s the Lieutenant Governor of California, on record for his support of universal healthcare. A radical almost as bad as Tommy Douglas! No wonder the HarperCons a red alert about the organization his father is involved in!
Well, there. One radical down. Now to ForestEthics who just fired a whistleblower. trm discussed that here, but oh dear, lookie here! They have offices in San Francisco, CA, Vancouver, BC and Bellingham, WA, another Pacific Coast town. These “foreign radicals” include Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner, Stuart Sender, as well as Kevin Johnson, the author of the successful book, The Power of Legacy and Planned Gifts: How Nonprofits and Donors Work Together to Change the World which sounds like it could be radical. And there are a couple of entrepreneurs (one with an MBA from the Harvard School of Business), a nurse-entrepreneur and a Spiritual Director for a Buddhist meditation centre. Aha! trm has attended Buddhist meditations. It is pretty radical to sit still for 45 minutes, that’s for sure! Two down.
Onward, then, to the Living Oceans Society, which claims it is “a leader in the effort to protect Canada’s Pacific coast” and focuses “exclusively on marine conservation.” Sure enough, there are a couple of Americans on the Board and they employ a bunch of educated people. A sure sign of trouble, isn’t it? And OMFG, they have proposed an oil tanker prohibition area that extends from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert because “[h]istory has shown that oil spills come with oil tankers. It’s not a question of if a spill will happen, but when.” [emphasis mine] They also provide a detailed oil spill model (map) of what’s at stake in the area. What a radical concept! Radical, I tell you! Three radical groups down.
All right then, on to the last one, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, “a team of conservationists and scientists” who use “rigorous, peer-reviewed science and grassroots activism to further [their] conservation objectives.” Oh, well, then we can be assured these folks are radicals! Peer-reviewed science? Real science? And it’s mixed with activism? Oy! How radical can you get?!? Four radical groups. Wow! It’s almost like they’re colluding or something. All that science and smarts and creativity. And a bunch of foreigners, to boot! Oh, the PMO had to take action!
Let’s see what else is in this red alert.
Here are the facts:
The Northern Gateway is currently going through a careful and comprehensive review process to ensure the proposal is safe and environmentally sound.
A lot of people hope so, anyway.
Radical groups are trying to clog and hijack the process, rather than letting the panel do its job independently, expeditiously, and efficiently.
Hijacking? Yup, that word again. And, apparently, this hijacking is a fact. A fact, unsubstantiated at present, but that doesn’t matter in the HarperCon world, so let’s just carry on. The PMO has more to say, after all. And I know you want to know, dear Reader.
Our government has asked that the review process be conducted efficiently and without excessive delays. We believe reviews for major projects can be accomplished in a quicker and more streamlined fashion.
Yes, the HarperCon government has asked for efficiency and speed in the environmental review process, that’s a fact. And it’s quite likely that they do believe the process could be streamlined, so that is also quite possibly a fact. Again, unsubstantiated, but let’s give the poor PMO peeps a break and go forward.
We do not want projects that are safe, generate thousands of new jobs and open up new export markets to die in the approval phase due to unnecessary delays.
Our Government’s top priority remains the economy and creating jobs.
Canada is on the edge of a historic choice – to diversify our energy markets away from our traditional trading partner in the United States or to continue with the status quo.
It may well again be a fact that the PMO wants that. And who really cares about human rights in China when there’s money to be had a new market waiting. We need dirty jobs just as much as the next guy. Our oil’s ethical and clean, right? And it’s safe, too. That Obama down south there in the USA is just another eco-radical, anyway. Didn’t you hear him bragging about his billions of dollars for green initiatives during his State of the Union address the other night? So we’d best cut and run from that sure market, eh? And get back to red alertville.
We know that increasing trade will help ensure the financial security of Canadians and their families.
We want to take advantage of the booming Asia-Pacific economies that have shown great interest in our oil, gas, metals and minerals.
Well, sure they are. We’re resource-rich. For now. And the folks in the PMO probably think that their buddies we had better get as much profit as possible out of Canada’s resources before we have to change things. But never fear, our HarperCon government is already looking at ways to do stop the changes they don’t want. Some are even talking out loud about it.
All this talk about a little pipeline project has really tuckered out trm. It’s possible that some dear Readers have also tuckered out and drifted off trying to plough through all this boring material. That’s sure to make the PMO people happy.
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UPDATE: Those four foreign radical organizations have issued a legal notice of motion calling on the Joint Review Panel to “affirm its impartiality in the face of government interference.” Go read. Now! With gratitude to Kady @ Inside Politics for keeping us informed.
UPDATE2: Should have also included a link to the cover letter and and supporting documents these foreign radical groups based in Canada included with their Notice of Motion.
the regina mom 