The Northern Gateway pipeline is certainly a contentious issue, with many seeing it as a boon for the Canadian economy, allowing more oil extracted in Alberta to reach markets off the west coast, while many others view the environmental and social risks as outweighing the potential economic benefits – and that's not mentioning the vast number of other varied opinions and views of this potentially groundbreaking project.
There is certainly no shortage of voices to be heard on the matter, including the federal government, who has remained a staunch and boisterous proponent of the pipeline project since its inception.
However, with a project of such massive national interest, which has clearly emitted wide-ranging assessments of the proposal from the Canadian public and private sectors, taking such an early and unwavering stance is not the course a federal government should take.
The Government of Canada should not be a cheerleader for private ventures. The company and its proponents are there to be that voice. The government should remain, as it claims to be, the regulator, standing independently from projects, viewing them objectively and allowing the regulatory process to play out, all before providing its ideally unbiased opinion.
The federal government, at least in Canada, has a duty to uphold democracy and is in existence to represent and protect the rights and interests of the people in this country.
It is a wonder how a government with so many resources at its disposal was able to come to the conclusion so early on in the process that this was indeed the right course for Canada – especially a government that touts its regulatory processes and use of science as “world-leading”.
The project, for all the claims, is still up in the air and constructed or not still has the potential to drastically alter the landscape of Canada forever – but who knows at this point? I guess that is the point.
