What's with the name-calling?

For those of us who have been targets for awhile, it’s getting kind of old hat. Nevertheless it’s good to see mainstream media columnists and editorialists jumping on the Harper government for demonizing and name-calling its opponents –  in this case those who want a voice on the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline.

I’ve been thinking about this particular Conservative government tactic. What’s behind it is really quite simple:  Like any school-yard bully, the root of these attacks about “foreign money”, “radical groups”, and “extremists”, is fear.

The Harperites know how easily corporate billions and high-paid lobbyists can control the regulatory process.  Canada’s National Energy Board has been a lame duck for years.  And its cozy relationship with the federal government, has resulted in approval of every request for pipeline construction ever put before it.

But with the Obama administration’s recent verdict on Keystone XL, the Harperites are getting a little nervous.  Could it possibly be that, for once, the many cogent arguments against these pipelines, by environmentalist, First Nations groups and Labour, are not only being heard but are resonating with the electorate?!

For the Tories that means one thing – Do what we do best. Attack. Accuse our opponents of what we’ve been doing for years!

As with Keystone XL and other pipeline projects, CEP is one of the intervenors in Gateway.  Though past experience with the NEB has been a farce, maybe this time, with the government overplaying its hand and turning public opinion against it, there is a chance that the process will be taken seriously.

Or, at the very least, maybe our arguments will be heard this time as Labour, environmentalists, First Nations and other social-democratic groups perform the role that the National Energy Board should be  --protecting the public interest.