Canadian KXL Minister - Not Very Neighborly

From Rw Story - snips

Canadian official attacks U.S. climatologist James Hansenover Keystone pipeline

By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 20:37 EDT

Canada’s natural resources minister, Joe Oliver, rarely bothers to hide his dislike for critics of the country’s carbon-heavy tar sands or the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

But it still came as a surprise to hear Oliver lash out at one of America’s pre-eminent scientists, climatologist James Hansen, during a visit to Washington DC.

The charm offensive evidently did not apply to Hansen. In remarks made at a Washington thinktank, Oliver said Hansen should be “ashamed” of his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, and for warning that exploitation of the carbon-heavy tar sands would drive climate change past a point of no return.

Hansen is known as the scientist who raised public awareness of climate change 25 years ago with his testimony to Congress.

In Oliver’s view, however, the scientist has had no business to keep speaking out as he has. “He was the one who said four years ago that if we go ahead with development of the oil sands it’s game over for the planet,” Oliver told the audience at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. “Well, this is exaggerated rhetoric. It’s frankly nonsense. I don’t know why he said it but he should be ashamed of having said it.”

But Oliver has made a name for himself in the past by his efforts to take down critics of Alberta’s tar sands. He wrote an open letter last year denouncing such critics as “radicals” in the pay of foreign special interest groups.

Oh, my – that’s not very neighborly of you.

Well I had to go looking for that letter that was mentioned…

Some snips and comments

The Media Room

Natural Resources Canada

2012/1

January 9, 2012

An open letter from

the Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources ,

on Canada’s commitment to diversify our energy markets and the need to further streamline the regulatory process in order to advance Canada’s national economic interest

Canada is on the edge of an historic choice: to diversify our energy markets away from our traditional trading partner in the United States or to continue with the status quo.

Then why in the hell do you want to go THROUGH the US to EXPORT your dirty tar sands oil?

Diversify!

Virtually all our energy exports go to the US.   As a country, we must seek new markets for our products and services and the booming Asia-Pacific economies have shown great interest in our oil, gas, metals and minerals. For our government, the choice is clear:  we need to diversify our markets in order to create jobs and economic growth for Canadians across this country.  We must expand our trade with the fast growing Asian economies. We know that increasing trade will help ensure the financial security of Canadians and their families.

Then ship the oil through pipelines in Canada and refine it IN CANADA.

The United States is not your problem – your problem is CANADA

Unfortunately, there are environmental and other radical groups that would seek to block this opportunity to diversify our trade.  Their goal is to stop any major project no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry.  No mining.  No oil.  No gas. No more hydro-electric dams.

Oh – there it is

Radical groups

Stopping ANY major project

These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda.  They seek to exploit any loophole they can find, stacking public hearings with bodies to ensure that delays kill good projects.  They use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest. They attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources.  Finally, if all other avenues have failed, they will take a quintessential American approach:  sue everyone and anyone to delay the project even further. They do this because they know it can work.  It works because it helps them to achieve their ultimate objective: delay a project to the point it becomes economically unviable.

Oh – there it is

Radical ideology

Killing “good”????? projects – really?

Developing natural resources – or – destroying natural resources?

Oh – there’s the bash on AMERICANS – ya know – Canada’s “traditional trading partner in the United States” 

Anyone looking at the record of approvals for certain major projects across Canada cannot help but come to the conclusion that many of these projects have been delayed too long.  In many cases, these projects would create thousands upon thousands of jobs for Canadians, yet they can take years to get started due to the slow, complex and cumbersome regulatory process.

thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon thousands of jobs

The Hon. Joe Oliver

Minister of Natural Resources

This guy must be a RWNJ - he sure exaggerates like one.