BC First Nations Oppose New Pipeline — Is Canada Held Hostage by Consultation Politics？
Episode Stats
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Summary
First Nations in British Columbia have sent a strongly worded open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to reject a new pipeline proposal from Premier Christy Clark s government. What does this mean for the future of the project? And what role does the federal government have to play in the process?
Transcript
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First Nations, unsurprisingly, in B.C. are opposed to a pipeline coming through.
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Well, yeah, more land ceded to them for their exclusive administration.
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But the story we're talking about here, Erica, is one that came out yesterday where the coastal First Nations in British Columbia
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sent a strongly worded open letter to Mark Carney, Prime Minister, asking him to reject the new pipeline proposal
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And it's the one that David Eby said, well, she doesn't have a sponsor and she doesn't have a bid.
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So, well, the Indians think that there's a project and they've asked Mr. Carney to deep sex it.
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Now, I would personally, because I'm old and cynical, interpret that as just a sort of first move in the negotiations
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to see where this thing is going to land and who gets paid what for doing it.
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Well, I know how much the federal government and the Indigenous groups can get in the way of one.
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I think that, you know, there was a lot of people that have looked to Carney and his Building Canada Act as a symbol of unity
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and looking at actually making Canada an economic and energy superpower.
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The key, and I think you've talked about this on the show, I know I've talked about with you folks before,
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the biggest thing is the stakeholder of the Indigenous pathways.
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Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but there is already corridors set up for a pipeline like this,
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and it wouldn't actually be completely unfeasible to run another pipeline along the transportation corridor
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and other pipelines that exist for an LNG pipeline.
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So, to me, it's kind of a weak argument by this Indigenous group on the why,
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But this is going to be a big symbol of Carney's leadership, and if he's serious about this,
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because it's always been identified that the hardest stakeholder and hardest hurdle on this Building Canada Act
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is the Indigenous groups and those types of consultations.
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So, I don't know if they're asking for a full stop, if they're asking for more funds, guaranteed income, or employment.
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Like, these are the types of negotiations I think would come from Indigenous partners
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that actually want to inject revenue and sustainability into their communities, especially in this case.
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So, again, we'll see how Carney navigates this,
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but this is going to be a hurdle that we see on every one of those pipeline projects that are coming down the road.
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Well, until a federal leader has the courage to define the difference between consent and consulting,
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Somebody's got to put a foot down eventually, because they're, you know, implying that we need consent,
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The Supreme Court's ruled on that many times, actually.
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So, I was going to say, like, I don't know, you know, the appetite in BC.
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I suspect there's a more appetite in Alberta to push back on this consent versus consultation.
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Do you think that this is, like, the DOA of these projects, Corey or Nigel?
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If somebody doesn't make a stand on that portion, and they've got the Supreme Court behind them.
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I wrote a recent column on that, breaking it down.
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There's been multiple rulings, but no politician dares to say it.
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To Erica's point, I think you put it very well this morning,
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and you say what 3% of the population get to determine what the other 97% get to do.
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And I wouldn't want to be the politician to have to step into that mire,