The people of Kitimat vs Northern Gateway

Goodness...that sounds all very dramatic, doesn't it? Unless you have been living in a total vacuum these past months, you know that the topic of oil and it's various sub-topics is right up there along with the cost of Obama Care, the Ukraine crisis and travels of the Royals from England.

Locally..Kitimat..has been sacrificed by the BC provincial government and also the Canadian federal government of Stephen Harper. They needed a place to allow LNG and big oil to direct their pipelines to and then to build plants for the LNG and the fill ships with their products and in the case of oil, to build tanks farms and wharves and again, fill ships. All at the head end of the Douglas Channel.

I won't go into the whole mess for a number of reasons..one of which is that you won't read it. Another is that I don't have all of the information to be able to make an impassioned plea to you, that would change anything.

A couple three years back, in an effort to delay and maybe hope it would all just go away, Kitimat Council opted to not take a public position on the subject of the proposed Enbridge oil pipeline, now known as Northern Gateway, and attendant tank farms and wharves and ruination of so much of our province and waters, instead choosing to maintain a neutral stand. 
(pardon me while I retch over the table edge). The way out, for the Council, was that they would have a Plebiscite after the Federal Review Panel had rubber stamped the project. Note..AFTER they had rubber stamped. Council would not participate in the actual review, fearing that they wouldn't get their prizes. Now that the deal is all but done and the pipeline all but given the go-ahead from Mr Harper and his merry band of fucking thieves, we had that Plebiscite. A NON-binding vote. A moment in time when the citizens of Kitimat could actually let whomever know how the community felt. Leading up to the Vote...oh my God..the money that was spent by big oil was obscene. The TV ads, newspaper ads, open -houses and door-to door campaigns. Bearing in mind...that the actual Vote meant nothing. And this was trumpeted over and over by Council and big-oil..Enbridge. The Vote meant NOTHING.The  steps that they took to ensure that the Vote went to the Yes people. They disallowed the Haisla Nation to vote. They did allow temporary residents to vote...hahahah...fuck me...we have a town filled with temporary workers for the LONG and ALCAN modernization work. People have been receiving tickets to Disneyland and iPads.

Last Saturday was the Vote...and big oil, Enbridge and Council...they all lost. The residents of Kitimat voted NO.


And to answer the question...I did not vote. I don't vote at all. I don't believe that it makes any difference at all. I have no trust, no faith in governments at any and every level. 

I have said, and I mean it...that if by me, throwing myself under a bulldozer would stop this travesty..I would do it today. But all that would happen is..nothing. 



There is an up-date.....

 Last week, BC's Premier Christy Clark took an aerial tour of the proposed Enbridge pipeline route through Northern B.C. She picked up a few mementos.