Despite Heavy Protest, Canada Approves Northern Gateway Pipeline: Sad But Not Unexpected

Rebecca McKenzie, one of our great interns who did a ton of excellent work in the early days of our sister site SustainabilityRoleModels.com, wrote me a sad note just now:

Hi Craig,  Did you see this article on Canada’s approval of Northern Gateway pipeline? I’m afraid it was pretty much inevitable.

Hi, Rebecca.  No, I hadn’t seen it, and yes, I’m afraid big oil and the governments it owns can be counted on to want to build pipelines—that much is inevitable.  Whether protesters can make a difference in the outcome remains to be seen; I’m a big believer in the power of masses of angry people.  It’s sad that they lost here, of course, but I feel they’re often important in the results in cases of decisions like this one.  Here’s a salute to them, and the “singing a song of angry men.”

Wow, Harper is bad news, isn’t he?  I’ve always found it strange that he’s in power; I perceive Canadians to be quite an enlightened bunch of people.