Oliver wrote: “These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda. They seek to exploit any loophole they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that delays kill good projects. They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest.”
Those are tough words: Hijack, radical, kill, undermine.
What do the people who were criticized by Oliver’s letter have to say in return?
Oliver said three main things about them: They’re bankrolled by foreigners; they’re radical; and they’re trying to rig the rules of the review panel.
Did the antis dispute the truth of his three essential claims?
(Antis are a good name for them. They’re anti-industry, anti-oil, anti-pipeline and anti-jobs. But selectively. They’ve never had an anti-tanker campaign opposing OPEC tankers bringing Saudi oil to eastern Canada. They’ve never had a protest against the pipeline that brings OPEC oil from a port in Maine up to Montreal. OPEC tankers even sail right up the St. Lawrence. The antis have never complained about that).
But let’s ask an anti himself. His name is Eric Swanson. He’s with a lobby group called the Dogwood Initiative. That’s a great name. Dogwood is B.C.’s official flower. So it sounds very Canadian.
But in fact, the Dogwood Initiative is an American branch plant. Dogwood has accepted more than $620,000 from well-heeled U.S. foundations and their Canadian affiliates.
U.S. billionaires funnel money through foundations to fund puppet groups in Canada to fight against our national interest.
So what does Swanson have to say about Oliver’s accusation that he’s a foreign hijacker? Does he deny it? Is he ashamed of it? Does he express remorse or regret for taking money to do foreign interests’ bidding?
Last weekend on CTV, Swanson was asked about the propriety of taking foreign money. His answer: “If I got dufflebags of money delivered from Martians from outer space I would still take that money.”
He’d take money from anyone to fight against a Canadian project from any foreigner, even from aliens. He obviously can’t raise enough money from real Canadians. They don’t support him. But he has no pangs of disloyalty about going to foreigners.
Let’s put Oliver’s second challenge to Swanson. Oliver wrote that many of the people who signed up to testify before the government review panel are just jamming the system and abusing the process to delay it. What did Swanson say to this accusation?
Asked about it on CTV, Swanson didn’t deny it, he boasted about it: “We helped sign up 1,600 people to participate at those hearings.”
His website calls the campaign “mob the mic.”
That’s why the hearings have been delayed a year: It’s been mobbed with names of anyone who can slow things down. Including foreigners. Elementary school children. Fake names. Even Captain Jack Sparrow.
Sixteen-hundred names. That’s more than one-third of all witnesses.
What about Oliver’s last criticism, that these antis are extremist radicals? Let’s turn to John Bennett for this one. He’s an anti with the Sierra Club of Canada, which has taken more than $900,000 from U.S. funders to fight against Canadian resource industries.
He told Sun News Network’s Brian Lilley last week that oil was morally comparable to heroin, but actually worse in terms of death toll.
So when you drive the kids to school or hockey practice, you’re worse than a heroin user.
That’s just insane. These aren’t reasonable people. They aren’t quibbling about some detail in the pipeline project. They hate all oil. They hate all industry. They’re antis.
Joe Oliver was right about the antis. They’re foreign-backed, they’re rigging the rules, they’re extremist and they’re proud of it.
Original Article
Source: TO Sun
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