Dear Editor:
The Enbridge plan to pipeline toxic bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to the B.C. coast is facing strong opposition and the horrible example of the recent major oil spill into Alberta's Red Deer River, says political columnist Keith Baldrey (Pipeline politics are heating up in B.C. - The Record, June 13).
No doubt he's right about Enbridge's worries, but Mr. Baldrey fails to discuss the problems that face Enbridge's chief partner in the multibillion-dollar scheme: Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
He has insulted and vilified all Canadians who have dared to oppose the pipeline-tanker project, launched a witchhunt against any charitable organizations warning of the project's dangers and rammed through legislation clearly aimed at clearing the way for Enbridge by crippling any protections for fish, wildlife or ecosystems. Like a Dark Ages king he has ruled that Enbridge can do no wrong and that what-ever the outcome of current assessments of the plan, Harper and Enbridge will triumph.
Whatever the motives behind his dictatorial obsession with peddling tar sands crude to China, he is showing total contempt for the democratic process he has sworn to uphold.
Harper, with the voter support of only about a quarter of Canadians, is using every power and advantage his high office may provide to make his friend, the Enbridge corporation, successful and prosperous. Is that really how democracy is supposed to work?
Tony Eberts, New Westminster
