The Canadian Press -- Harper warns of 'hijacked' hearings on Northern Gateway pipeline
,January 7th, 2012
Excerpted from The Canadian Press/Yahoo News Canada:
EDMONTON - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he's listening to concerns that hearings for the Northern Gateway pipeline will be "hijacked" by foreign interests.
"We have to have processes in Canada that come to a decision in a reasonable amount of time and processes that cannot be hijacked," Harper said Friday...
"In particular, growing concern has been expressed to me about the use of foreign money to really overload the public consultation phase of regulatory hearings just for the purpose of slowing down the process."This is something that is not good for the Canadian economy, and the government of Canada will be taking a close look at how we can ensure that our regulatory processes are effective and deliver decisions in a reasonable amount of time."
Harper's comments echoed those of oilsands advocacy groups, which have attacked several Canadian environmental organizations for accepting money from U.S. sources.
Todd Paglia is with Forest Ethics, an environmental group with offices on both sides of the border that has encouraged people to speak out against the pipeline. He rejected the suggestion the hearings were being deliberately tied up.
"We're just encouraging people to be part of a conversation that's really important to them," he said.
"Democracies are not like dictatorships. They are sometimes messy because conversations and dialogue is important to arrive at the right policy."
Paglia said his group has spent less than $10,000 on its campaign to get people involved in the hearings. The money, he said, has come from both Canadian and U.S. sources.
"It's not like we have $100 million from China, the way Enbridge does," he said.
A Chinese company is one of the backers of the Calgary-based company's project.
"Mr. Harper seems to only have a problem with foreign money that opposes his agenda."
