Young deserves to be heard

Let’s be clear on one thing. Neil Young doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to oilsands development in Canada.

The source? None other than the man himself. “As far as me not knowing what I am talking about, everyone knows that that’s obvious,” he told a news conference in Winnipeg.

For example, Young recently compared the oilsands development around Fort McMurray to Hiroshima after the atom bomb levelled the city in 1945. Young also said oilsands development will turn Alberta into a “moonscape,” that bitumen produced in northern Alberta is going to China via the Keystone XL pipeline (actually, it’s going to U.S. refineries), that oilsands emit the same amount of carbon as all the cars and trucks in Canada (it’s actually half that).

Predictably, Young’s comments have unleashed a firestorm of reaction, from the PMO, Premier Brad Wall, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and CEOs of some of the biggest oil companies in the country, who called his remarks “insulting,” “arrogant” and “ignorant.’’

Young has been blasted for being a hypocrite (for consuming more than his fair share of fossil fuels, while condemning the oil industry in the same breath) and an “ignoramus’’ by politicians, business leaders and commentators alike.

So why should Canadians listen to the 68-year-old rock star, who was in Regina Friday on his Honour the Treaties tour to help raise money for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), about 225 km north of Fort McMurray?

“My job is to bring light to the situation through my celebrity. Aside from that, I am not nearly as qualified to speak as these other folks are,” said Young, referring to members of the ACFN, who are launching a lawsuit to overturn federal cabinet approval of Shell Canada’s Jackpine mine.

In other words, Young is not pretending to be an expert on oilsands development, or even an environmentalist. By his own admission, he’s using his status as one of Canada’s biggest rock ’n roll legends to draw attention to the plight of First Nations living downstream from Shell’s mammoth Jackpine project.

So what’s Young’s campaign really all about? It’s about stopping the 100,000-barrel-a-day expansion of Shell’s 255,000-barrela-day Athabasca Oil Sands project, about 70 km north of Fort McMurray, which was approved by the federal cabinet in December.

That despite a report by a federal-provincial review panel that warned of “significant adverse environmental effects’’ on wetlands downstream from the project and “lack of proposed mitigation measures.’’

Specifically, the panel warned of “irreversible environmental damage,’’ including the loss of thousands of hectares of wetlands, harm to migratory birds, caribou and other plant and animal species, some of which are “at risk.”

Even Environment Minister Leona Aglukkak conceded the project would cause “significant adverse environmental effects,” but that cabinet decided the project was “justified in the circumstances.’’

The ACFN lawsuit claims the Harper government broke three federal statutes in approving the project — the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Species At Risk Act and the Migratory Birds Convention Act — as well as several international agreements. The band also contends the government violated its own constitutional duty to consult First Nations, ignored most of the band’s recommendations and approved the project before the 35-day extension to the consultation period had expired.

Regardless of the outcome of the ACFN lawsuit, the issue boils to one of trust. Can the Harper government, which has been a vociferous booster of Canada’s energy industry, especially oilsands development and pipeline projects, be trusted to live up to its own environmental rules and regulations?

Based on the government’s track record, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation have justifiable cause for concern.

And there’s the bigger issue of oilsands development. Oilsands are our fast-growing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and are the main reason Canada’s GHG emissions are expected to rise significantly by 2020.

A federal report released last year showed the government is way off track on its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020, with increasing GHG emissions from the oilsands largely to blame.

Anyone who thinks that’s not a problem is just hiding his or her head in the oilsands. Even a rock star knows that.