Today, readers are discussing rising tensions over a natural gas pipeline running through Northern British Columbia. Opposition to the project triggered dozens of protests across Canada on Tuesday, a day after RCMP arrested 14 people on a logging road where members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation erected a checkpoint to block construction crews. You can follow this evolving story with this regularly updated guide.
Protesters voice their opposition against pipelines as they block traffic in front of the Prime Ministers Offices in downtown Ottawa on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickSean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Protests erupt across the country in showdown over B.C. natural gas pipeline
This country is in a lot of trouble if we can’t get anything done. Even when parties consult, collaborate, and compromise with one another, when the laws of the land are followed, special interest groups - at the last minute - are allowed to effectively veto major projects that are desperately needed by Canadians. Who is in control here? Do we have any leadership? - WisenWild
In response to WisenWild:
The people. That’s the issue. No government can solve this unless you make peace with society. - Exedus
We do the same thing and expect different results - it’s insanity and the resource investors aren’t waiting anymore, they’re leaving to jurisdictions that aren’t hostile to investment. Canada’s competitors are popping champagne, investors see a company bending over backwards to consult and are still tied up in court with their employees facing real risks on the ground. Canada is solidifying a reputation for high risk, uncertainty, and suffocating bureaucracy. We pretend we’re special as if other jurisdictions aren’t actively competing and winning. The declining private investment is depressing but it’s hardly surprising. - ChuckT
Should be interesting times when the Federal Government tries to build the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. - Jack Devainy
This is what happens when “social justice” takes precedence over Justice. Justice does not need a pronoun. “Social” is a never-ending movement of goal lines, depending on the moods of various peoples at various times each with varying concerns. No wonder investors are dropping out of Canada. - RicinYOW
Let’s be clear what’s at stake here, as General Motors shutters the plant in Oshawa and who knows what will happen to Bombardier in Quebec in the future. The anti-pipeline folks appear to believe that they and their families have a divine right as Canadians to medicare, pensions for their parents, education for their kids, snow removal, paved roads and garbage pick up every week. When resource development stops in Canada, so will these perks, folks. - J.T.1
The Wet’suwet’en and B.C.’s gas-pipeline battle: A guide to the story so far
How about building the pipeline around the Wet’suwet’en area of dispute to avoid anymore acrimony legally and otherwise? We need to get on with this project and it may be cheaper and faster to circumvent this situation rather than spending years at court on the taxpayer’s dollar. - Anne2301
Canada is the laughing stock of the entire world. We can’t get anything built in this country without an activist, the Indigenous or a special interest group putting up roadblocks. Of course it seems the federal government cowtows to these people. Meanwhile 20 thousand miles of pipeline has been built in the U.S. over the last 10 years without any issues. This is getting laughable. This country is broken. - Mike5
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The importance of this pipeline is without question. I know It may seem expensive but it may be possible to reroute the pipeline to avoid this territory and allow the indigenous people to have their land undisturbed. Maybe these people just want some kind of reasonable compensation which would improve their life in what appears to be difficult terrain. - Doug325
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