In an analysis for The Energy Mix, award-winning investigative journalist Paul McKay traces the parallels between the SNC-Lavalin scandal that has transfixed Canada’s capital and the Trudeau government’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline in spite of its avowed commitment to climate action. “As nature abhors a vacuum,” he writes, “democracy abhors a stacked legal deck.”
Province and First Nations seeking ‘alternatives to litigation’ in confidential discussions
West Moberly First Nations are not backing down from their long battle to stop the Site C dam following Tuesday’s announcement that they will engage in confidential discussions with BC Hydro and the provincial government, says Chief Roland Willson.
Morneau may not have been fleeced, but certainly paid at the high end of the valuation scale, apparently assuming that everything would proceed smoothly
January 31, 2019
The sticker price Kinder Morgan put on the Trans Mountain pipeline when it entered negotiations with the federal government last year was $6.5 billion. Hence, finance minister Bill Morneau and his team thought they’d scored a bargain when they sealed the deal at $4.4 billion.
But it looks increasingly like he may bought a cat in a sack.
With Sheila Malcolmson’s big win in Nanaimo’s by-election yesterday, the BC NDP are no doubt walking a little taller today. After all, the governing party rarely wins by-elections. The BC Liberals poured significant resources into the riding. Malcolmson was behind in the polls. The Greens ran a strong candidate. For a safe NDP riding, many in the party weren’t really sure if they could pull it off this time.
Mid-mandate, this victory extends the tenure of the NDP minority government. Some in the party are probably feeling pretty confident.
A subsidiary of Calgary-based energy company TransCanada bulldozed through traplines and personal property from two different clans of the Wet'suwet'en Nation last week, while the RCMP enforced an interim injunction requested by the company so that it could proceed with construction. Some Wet'suwet'en members said the RCMP illegally prevented them from entering their own territories, violating the nation's rights.
