Pipeline plight: Carr confident feds will convince Kinder Morgan to proceed<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIt has inundated the internet with scary things about the proposed pipeline expansion to create the impression it\u2019s a disaster waiting to happen. It\u2019s instigated protests.<\/p>\n
It has also worked the political angle. Recently, it said it would \u201cdouble down our campaign targeting vulnerable Liberal MPs in B.C., keep the pressure on Prime Minister Trudeau, and plan a major plash (sic) at the Kinder Morgan AGM.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, it\u2019s raising funds through small donations and the usual United States-based suspects: the Tides Foundation, Packard Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, all of which have been greasing the wheels of like minded anti-oilsands groups for years.<\/p>\n
The SumOfUs campaign against Trans Mountain has followed a now familiar pattern \u2013 it recruited British Columbia Indigenous leaders as frontmen to get people\u2019s attention. Other Indigenous leaders that support development are outraged at the practice, which they say creates the false impression there is a united First Nations front against natural resources. Many of Canada\u2019s Indigenous leaders in fact see their development as their ticket to financial independence from government handouts.<\/p>\n
One of them is Chief Nathan Matthew of the Simpcw First Nation in British Columbia, one of 33 bands in B.C. that want the project to go ahead. Another 10 bands in Alberta also support it. One third of the pipeline traverses the Simpcw traditional lands in the B.C. interior. The band has a long history of looking after the pipeline through maintenance work and environmental monitoring. \u201cIf oil is going to be needed from Alberta, and it has to be moved to the coast of B.C. through our territory, I believe \u2026 that pipelines are probably the safest alternatives,\u201d he said in an interview last month.<\/p>\n
But that didn\u2019t stop SumOfUs from distributing news releases to get media exposure for the \u201cemergency trip\u201d to the Texas AGM by Chief Judy Wilson, of the Neskonlith Indian Band, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, and Rueben George, representing the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust Initiative. Press conferences were organized. Photo and video footage were provided. (SumOfUs brags about its earned media on its website).<\/p>\n
Much was made about Chief Wilson getting into the AGM thanks to a proxy provided by the New York State comptroller, who manages the state employees’ pension fund and holds shares. She could have bought company shares herself and dumped them if she didn\u2019t like the company\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, she said: \u201cWe are here to tell you that no matter what the Canadian government does to minimize political or financial risks, we will not stop fighting the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion because it threatens our culture, spirituality and identity. This means further delay, risk and uncertainty for the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shareholders ended up voting in favour of non-binding resolutions asking the energy company to improve its sustainability disclosure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very encouraging,\u201d SumOfUs campaign manager Emma Pullman said to a Vancouver newspaper. \u201cThis is one way to democratize these institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
And yet it\u2019s activists like SumOfUs that make the state of Canadian democracy look scary.<\/p>\n
The group is a foreign operation with two staff in Canada, both in Vancouver, out of 35, according to its website, that is exercising outsized influence by fomenting chaos and spreading misinformation. It appointed itself to destroy the TransMountain expansion despite wide Canadian support. It claims to fight for people over profits. Instead it attacks free enterprise. Amazon, Boots, Loblaws, Wells Fargo, Facebook, PepsiCo., are among its other targets.<\/p>\n
Kinder Morgan has suspended all non-essential spending on the expansion due to ongoing opposition in B.C. and the threat of legal delays. The company has picked May 31 as the deadline for the federal and provincial governments to reach an agreement to reduce risks so construction can proceed.<\/p>\n
If it doesn\u2019t, Canada will be stuck with a political and economic crisis that will further scare away capital, while groups like SumOfUs get to brag: \u201cWe Win Campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Financial Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Claudia Cattaneo: The SumOfUs campaign against Trans Mountain has followed a now familiar pattern<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9169,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9168\/revisions\/9169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}