DESJARDINS, FACING RADICAL ACTIVISTS, SEEMS TO BE THROWING IN THE TOWEL.

Desjardins seems to be throwing in the towel.

Executives at Desjardins and more than a dozen other financial institutions behind Trans Mountain were targeted with an open letter that included, in addition to Canadian campaigners, the signatures of 11 American activist groups, plus three from Europe. The letter urged the banks to pull funding from Trans Mountain and “exit completely from the tar sands sector,” based on a number of key points that were dead wrong: That Alberta’s oil industry is “massively destructive” (it isn’t); that Trans Mountain “abuses” Indigenous people (it doesn’t); that it will make our iconic orcas go extinct (it won’t); that pipelines their families and communities by working in the oil and gas sector. The industry is the single largest private sector investor in Canada, forecast to invest $44 billion in 2017. That’s equivalent to the entire provincial budget of British Columbia.

The energy sector also pays an estimated $15 billion annually to government, ensuring all Canadians share in the benefits.

To be sure, there are important issues that need to be independently assessed when considering any large project, but this has to be done within a reasonable timeframe. But once the review is done, the conditions attached, and governments have provided their stamp of approval, projects need to move forward. Anything else would send a dangerous