A response to the open letter by Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources

In his recent open letter, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver disparages and  bullies Canadians participating in the Northern Gateway pipeline planning process. There are many disturbing notions in Mr. Oliver’s letter, the worst being his antiquated predilection for top-down control of policy-making and general disdain for the public. New Democrats believe Mr. Oliver’s letter is unCanadian and this country needs to pursue a different path.

Mr. Oliver claims the major project review process administered by the National Energy Board is “broken” as “radical groups” frequently “hijack our regulatory system”. In addition, Oliver states projects such as the Northern Gateway oil pipeline need to be pushed through “in a quicker and more streamlined fashion” to realize economic benefit. The minister gives away his preferred process by romantically pining for a time when Sir John A. Macdonald could finance and build a railway to the pacific in four years.

Stating the National Energy Board process is “broken” undermines every past, current and future NEB review decision and implies highly qualified, government-appointed panelists are incapable of making informed decisions. Moreover, it also suggests project approval processes with even the smallest amount of public involvement are flawed and counter-productive as they hamper business.

Oliver instead endorses an approval process where Prime Minister Harper would directly dictate which projects succeed or fail. The same type of process, incidentally, that led to the scandal during which one of Canada’s richest men bribed Conservative John A. MacDonald to approve building the Pacific Railway.

If Minister Oliver was truly a man of conviction, he would just ram through the Northern Gateway pipeline. But instead, Oliver hides behind appointed panelists while besmirching process participants and pledging to make it even more difficult for citizens to participate in their own governance. At the same time, he will use the findings of a now discredited process to ensure lands are expropriated, pipelines go through, Chinese and US oil companies are happy, and some other minister deals with cleaning up the leaks and spills as he moves to another file.

New Democrats believe there is a very different way forward for Canada. We believe all major energy projects should be subject to proper benefit/cost analysis. For example, the oil sands are one of our most precious resources. We should not rush to development just to ship unrefined crude oil to China when Canadians import over 200,000 barrels per day of oil from Europe and the Middle-East. Instead we should focus on our own energy security, making sure we maximize national revenues by refining the oil we need within our own borders.

Perhaps more importantly, we believe government should use deeply participatory processes to build national plans for housing, transportation, employment, energy and other essential policy areas. These processes should be the antithesis of the top-down, back-room deals made by the Conservatives. They would also ensure we move forward together as a country and policy benefits the many rather than the few.

Kennedy Stewart, MP Burnaby-Douglas
Associate Opposition Critic for Natural Resources (Western Canada)