Conservatives stir up rhetoric and ignore issue

Facts about pipeline protests being lost in a ‘swamp of lies’

The demonstrations and blockades in support of the Wet’suwet’en people in British Columbia have caused stress and frustration across the nation. The reaction has brought out the worst in people and reveals the underlying racism in Canada.

We are witnessing this backlash at two levels. First, we have the individual racists and rednecks who speak out, shouting their disgust.

On the other side of the organizational spectrum, we have the politicians who are using the public sentiment to capitalize on it and advance their cause.

This is a dangerous game because they are polarizing the dialogue and the middle ground is beginning to erode badly. At a time when we need statesmanship and understanding, we are facing a cacophony of hate and short-sighted politics.

The Conservatives under Andrew Scheer are employing old tactics used by politicians from the Deep South during the civil rights era. They have demonized the protesters and the issue of law and order is code to leave things as they are and repress the minority.

They have called the protesters terrorists, thugs and radical activists and demanded that the prime minister step in and order the RCMP to take down the blockades. Scheer knows full well, or he should, that in Canada the politicians don’t direct the police. To start down that road would be a slippery slope to a police state.

In any event, these attacks linked to the Conservative rhetoric to enforcing the rule of law are tactics to reach out to their base. ‘The rule of law’ is a very selective term that refers to law and order only. They intentionally ignore two Supreme Court decisions that recognize the fact that the First Nations in British Columbia maintain title to the land and the province has been built on unceded territory.

In Alberta, where there has been one small blockade that was dismantled by vigilantes, the government has introduced Bill 1 to the legislature. This draconian legislation is called the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act and carries fines of up to $25,000 and a maximum of six months jail time for blocking public infrastructure.

Public infrastructure is not defined, but it could be anything as simple as roads, highways or a sidewalk. Defence lawyers are drooling at the prospect of defending a case in court because it flies in the face of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as federal jurisdiction. If passed, it will be an easy target because it contains so many flaws.

Obviously, this legislation was cobbled together in a hurry to feed some red meat to the United Conservative Party’s base and give the impression that the government was doing something.

The decision to drop the application for the Teck oilsands mine was based on economics, pure and simple. The price of crude oil is dropping, and the synthetic crude produced from the oilsands is of poor quality and costs more to refine. It therefore commands a reduced price. While West Texas intermediate is running at about $50 a barrel, synthetic crude is usually 20 per cent lower, which places it in uneconomical territory. Teck would have to make payroll, supply large capital infrastructure and service the debt on a product that has a very thin margin or a negative value. Instead, a month earlier Teck purchased a solar farm in B.C.

Speaking of sowing fear, in Quebec, Premier Francois Legault made the comment this week that the Mohawks of Kahnawake had AK-47S. The use of the term AK-47 conjures up the image of armed rebels who are dangerous and linked to international terrorist organizations. No weapons of any kind have been seen at the blockades, but Legault’s comment is enough to fuel fear and doubt.

In any event, during a time of crisis, the dialogue becomes polarized and fear and hatred are brought to the fore. The real set of facts behind the confrontation are purposely submerged in a swamp of lies, inflammatory rhetoric and the omission of the facts.

The real issues of land ownership, access to resources and resource revenue sharing constitute the rule of law based on Aboriginal and treaty rights and that is the issue that must be addressed sooner rather than later.