I did a column about the Standing Rock Sioux’s stand against the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) in October. On Sunday (Dec. 4) news broke that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not allow the pipeline to be built on its current route near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

It’s a huge victory for the water protectors — the term Standing Rock activists used and what I will call them in this column. But it took months of action and sacrifice to get to this point.

Back in October, not much media coverage was given to this environmental and Indigenous rights issue.   

Rally targeted banks protesters say will benefit from the pipeline

Protesters once again marched through downtown Vancouver on Thursday night, carrying signs and chanting anti-pipeline sentiments.

While it's a scene familiar to the west coast, the rally didn't have a local target — instead, it was meant as a symbol of solidarity for the Standing Rock demonstrators in North Dakota.

[Editor:  pipeline politics!]

A betting person might reasonably wager that Justin Trudeau will not want to open another front in the pipeline wars between now and the 2019 election. And that probably makes Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, who could be facing an uphill re-election battle in less than two years, a collateral winner of this week's developments.

I simply couldn’t believe Gary Mason in Friday’s Globe and Mail In his article entitled “Sorry Vancouver: The rest of Canada needs pipelines”. I urge you to read the article so that if I misrepresent Mr. Mason you will see it for yourself.

[Editor: We know how this turned out!]

In 2015 Terry Beech won a surprising victory in Burnaby North–Seymour against strong NDP, Conservative, and Green candidates, in part because Justin Trudeau's national campaign energized his team of supporters. 

Another factor was Trudeau's emphasis on his deep North Vancouver roots—his grandfather, James Sinclair, was the MP for nearly two decades. That's why Trudeau made a big deal in TV ads by declaring that he had B.C. in his blood.

OTTAWA - Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr's assertion the police and military will deal with civil disobedience over pipeline projects was "stupid and clumsy," a British Columbia grand chief says.

Stewart Phillip, grand chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, says Carr's remarks Wednesday to an audience in Calgary were "stupid, stupid, stupid."

[Webpage editors note: Two articles below, one about powering the tar sands with BC hydro (Site C!) and the other about 'benefits' for BC from the Kinder Morgan pipeline]

Vaughn Palmer: Clark pushes hydro intertie now that Alberta's pipeline is approved

Listen to the full conversation. 

Sightline report documents Kinder Morgan’s extensive track record of wrongdoing