Hundreds of thousands of dollars

That's what a BC interior chief says his band spent on lawyers (Canadian taxpayers paid for it) fighting with Kinder Morgan over the proposed pipeline, now approved by Trudeau.  "In 2007 we hired lawyers and started fighting with Kinder Morgan lawyers, just trying to establish who had jurisdiction over the land," said this chief (can't remember his name or band, but never mind).  "We finally discovered five years later in 2012 that we didn't own the land, it was Crown land."

OMG!  Did that guy get ripped off!  Either the chief can't read, misplaced his copy of the Indian Act, or doesn't have google.  A two-second search tells you right up front who owns the land:  The Crown, i.e., Canada.  It is then allocated to native bands for use, but they don't own it and they can't legally stop pipelines. 

"It's a big misconception natives have about reserve land," he went on to point out.  "Many think they own the land, but they don't."  And a big shout-out to the thieving lawyers who robbed them blind for five years.  Eventually, the native leaders themselves sat down directly with Kinder Morgan and negotiated a joint agreement by which they worked in partnership with the oil company to sort out the environmental and economic issues facing them to the peaceful satisfaction of all. 

"After that, when we presented it to our members, it passed unanimously and we're all very happy with it."  Bravo to this guy, but it won't change or stop one Standing Rock-style protest in the least.  Remember Oka?  Remember Ipperwash?  Get ready for chaos and bloodshed -- aided and abetted you can be sure by phalanxes of pricy lawyers and hysterical enviros.  In fact, turn on your TV, it's already started.

Yesterday, during a speech to oil executives, the environment minister said he would call out the army if necessary to move pipeline protesters.  For that remark he was almost lynched and had to climb down from the tree they had him hitched up to.  That's unfortunate because he will need the army to get a pipeline through tree-hugging BC.

I agree with Rona Ambrose.  Trudeau cynically approved a pipeline he knows will never be built.  And we'll all be the worse for it.