On March 3, small-c conservatives Jim Prentice and Brad Wall told a conference of conservative thinkers that if the Harper government didn’t shore up its “green” credentials, Canada risked falling out of step with the rest of the world.
The former Harper government minister of Environment and Indian Affairs and the current Saskatchewan premier were, of course, merely trying to ensure that opportunities for Canada to sell its natural resources to the outside world weren’t lost because of a growing perception that we’re environmental laggards. Still, just a couple of days later, the Feds announced the denial of environmental certification on the huge Taseko New Prosperity Mine near Williams Lake. Could it be that Stephen Harper and his “it’s about the economy, stupid” government was turning over a new leaf?
Perish the thought. This week’s move to downgrade the protection status of the North Pacific humpback whale, from “threatened,” to “species of special concern,” shows the Taseko decision was a one-off. With projects the Harperites consider key, this move leaves no doubt that they’ll stop at nothing to get what their friends in the oil and gas industry want — even if it means ignoring the best scientific advice and public opinion and clearing away environmental hurdles with the stroke of a pen.
Weak though it may be, Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) was one of the few environmental hurdles standing in the way of the Northern Gateway pipeline. Or it was until now. In downgrading the whale’s protection status, Harperites are saying they don’t give a whit about whether humpbacks’ population is reduced or wiped out by collisions with or potential spills or noise from increased tanker traffic along the B.C. coast.
But what did we expect? This government has done its level best to muzzle scientists and gut environmental protections almost from the day it first took office in 2006. To Harper, the only priority is dollars. Increasingly, though, the voices of those calling for attention to be paid to other factors are coming not from so-called “foreign radicals,” but from within his own party. Harper continues down this road at his peril — not just from the threat of being turfed in the 2015 election but from potential trading partners pulling the plug on “dirty” oil and gas from Canada.
— David Burke
