5) A BATTLE WON IN THE CLIMATE WARS
People's Voice
Editorial
There’s no guarantee that Kinder
Morgan’s suspension of “non-essential activities” towards twinning its
Trans-Mountain pipeline is more than a temporary halt. But make no mistake, this is a major victory for Indigenous peoples,
environmental groups, and the people of the Metro Vancouver area and others
along the route. KM put the “blame” on B.C.’s NDP government, which opposes the
plan to dramatically boost the pipeline’s capacity to carry undiluted bitumen
from the Alberta tar sands. This was an important factor, but it’s also true
that the Horgan government and its Green allies were
elected by voters who want to block this potentially disastrous project. And
before anyone extends kudos to Mr. Horgan, remember
his government has approved the Site C dam and promised to slash taxes for any
new LNG export plant.
The downside is that the Trudeau
Liberal government and the Alberta NDP both continue to support the pipeline
expansion, in a transparent bid to please the big energy monopolies. Their
arguments border on ludicrous (Canada needs much higher exports of unprocessed
bitumen to fight climate change? Seriously, Justin?).
But that never stopped pro-corporate governments from strong-arming opposition,
which could still happen.
But today, the lesson is that people
power can challenge the profit-driven fossil fuel industry’s efforts to crush
resistance to carbon emissions and climate change. Starting with the courageous
stand against KM by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation,
opposition has grown steadily. Most recently, this included the March 10
demonstration by up to 10,000 people at the KM site on Burnaby Mountain, and
then the arrests of 200 protesters. The first sign of this strategy’s success
came on April 7, when the RCMP declined to arrest Indigenous leaders. The path
to an economy based on public ownership, renewable energy, and green jobs will
be long and difficult. But the journey has begun.
(The above article is
from the April 16-30, 2018, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist
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