Same old same old

With apologies to my status friends, I have to comment on a column by Joe Dion, CEO of the Western Indigenous Pipeline Group, in which he claims natives are all for pipelines.  They just was the money that comes out of them.

Mr. Dion claims that the federal government has blocked his group from purchasing any shares in the new pipeline being proposed for the Trans Mountain corridor, while allowing Pembina a defined stake in the line.  

Frankly, I think I know why.  The feds know, from experience, that any partnership with the Indigenous communities along the line will be fraught.  Pembina, anxious to make money, will not pose such a threat, meaning they will cooperate to ensure the line is expedited every inch along the way.

"Reconciliation is not measured in news releases and memoranda," Dion writes.  "It is measured in ownership, in shared governance and in shared wealth reaching our communities."

And therein lies the rub.  Unlike Pembina, whose revenues and profits depend entirely on the pipeline's completion, Indigenous funding is completely separate.  They get their money regardless.

Pipelines support the entire country.  Those opposed need to wake up to that fact.

"Consultation" does not mean approval or veto.  It means "consultation".  But the Indigenous have never seen it that way.  I penned the following letter to 'The Globe and Mail' the other day, knowing it would not be published.  So far, it hasn't been:

"Dear Editor,

"Mr. Dion says that the "Indigenous groups have been ready to invest in pipeline assets for years."  As an observer, it seems to me that the starting position of most Indigenous consultations is usually vocal and flamboyant public opposition. 

"To fully realize Canada's potential, we need to get our vast resources out of the ground and into the markets that want to buy them.  Yes, there have been few companies waiting to start building, but I believe this is because experience tells them negotiations will be protracted, difficult and may, or may not, result in success. 

"Added to this is the prime minister's toothless MOU, which belies his true position as basically anti-pipeline.  That's why nothing has been accomplished on this file since he took office.  It would wonderful if we could finally get a pipeline built, but I'm not holding my breath.

"Nancy Marley-Clarke"

__________________

Cindy Woodhouse-Nepinak, AFN chief, has never met a sacred headdress she doesn't love to don at a podium, while trashing every agreement anyone anywhere is trying to hammer out.  Do you think this would be any different?  

Dion concludes by saying, "Before a single metre of new pipe is laid in our corridor (just for the record, it's not your corridor.  It is all Crown Land, given for Indigenous use, but not ownership), close the deal on the pipeline already there.  We are a prepared, willing and capable Indigenous partner, waiting to negotiate a meaningful interest in Trans Mountain with real governance rights for both sides.

"The federal government has invited investors from around the world to consider buying into Canadian resource and infrastructure assets, but they are not even engaging with Indigenous groups that have been ready to invest for years."

To me it's clear why.  It'd never end.