I say reassuring because it wasn’t the first time environmentalists have caught cabinet’s eye lately. We’ve been called “radicals” and “adversaries” of the country. The environment minister accuses us of “money laundering.” These are not things you hear governments say about charities in democracies. They are also so bizarre that the government perhaps felt it was time to tone it down, thus the multi-minister road show.
The timing, too, was reassuring, because the ministers didn’t pick just any day. They chose Monday, when more than 500 organizations and thousands of individuals darkened their websites and spoke out.
It was Black Out Speak Out (BlackOutSpeakOut.ca). Environmentalists invited Canadians to participate and show their support for nature and democracy. They did, and a third of cabinet cancelled plans so they could respond.
Across Canada, diverse organizations joined in to lend support. From First Nations to unions; Amnesty International to faith groups; Oxfam to nurses, an unprecedented array of voices formed one choir with one message: Enough.
The reason is simple. The proposed federal budget bill, with its unprecedented scope of changes, takes direct aim at any voice that may disagree with powerful oil interests.
It would weaken environmental assessment rules. It would gut protection for fish habitat, making it harder to keep water clean. It would take oversight for approving risky new projects away from independent bodies and put it in cabinet’s hands. And, oddly for an austerity budget, government plans to spend $8 million on new audit powers for the taxman to crack down on charitable advocacy.
We’re told this is needed for economic growth, as if we have to choose between good jobs and clean air. Voices that disagree are accused of pitting West against East, yet the majority of British Columbians oppose new pipelines.
But when you strip away the misinformation, there’s a more sinister explanation for the dangerous measures the budget contains. This, I believe, is why Black Out Speak Out resonated.
Canada’s economic and environmental levers are in real danger of being handed over to please one very powerful, polluting industry: oil. In the space of a year, we have become the first country to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. With the legal requirement to cut emissions gone, the oil industry and its friends have turned to silencing people, who are now nature’s last line of defence.
In B.C. recently, public hearings into the Northern Gateway pipeline were postponed because panellists felt threatened. Too many people wanted their say. We saw it again in London, Ont., last month, as hearings into another oil pipeline plan heard more dissent. The hearing was shut to the public as a result.
The oil industry receives $1.3 billion in federal subsidies, paid by taxpayers, a year. The tarsands are developed by corporate giants from America, Britain, China and Holland. Yet, Canadians are told — by their government — that the powerful interests to fear are not companies whose practises pollute the land and air, and whose products make global warming worse. No, the people to fear are charities like mine, ostensibly because a fraction of our budget comes from abroad.
Fortunately, Canadians don’t buy the demonization. They know the budget of a charity pales in comparison to the budget of a multinational oil company. And they want public debate enhanced by many views, which charities are uniquely qualified to provide.
We can, as Canadians, enjoy respectful, lively debate about issues that affect us. It’s good to discuss whether oil’s growing share of the economy creates a petro-currency, with economic downsides. It’s healthy to debate if environmental laws exist to protect people from the oil industry, or the oil industry from people.
It’s for these reasons that Monday was so reassuring. Ten ministers spread out, because they felt a need to respond. Not, for a change, to the latest demand from Big Oil. But, instead, to diverse voices who spoke out for nature and democracy, which are Canadian values that take more than a clever PR campaign from Big Oil to silence.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Rick Smith
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