Government attacks "radicals" who oppose Northern Gateway pipeline

The Harper government has attacked opponents of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway oil pipeline that would carry Alberta oil sands crude to British Columbia for export to Asian markets. Natural resources minister Joe Oliver, left, accuses opponents of the plan of having a “radical ideological agenda” that is funded by “foreign special interest groups” and “jet-setting celebrities.”

Environmentalists like Tzeporah Berman of Greenpeace and Suasan Casey-Lefkowitz of the National Resources Defense Council in the US have condemned the minister’s remarks, calling them “unbelievable” and “a declaration of war on civil society to protect oil profits.”  

With the future of the Keystone XL pipeline in doubt, the Harper government is rallying behind Northern Gateway pipeline as a way to expand markets in Asia and decrease dependency on the now-doubtful US market.

Canadian oil output is expected to grow 50 per cent over the next decade, to 4.2 million barrels a day. A University of Calgary study late last year estimated Northern Gateway and Keystone XL together would add C$131 billion to Canada's economy over 15 years. An Ipsos Reid poll, commissioned by Enbridge and published Thursday, found public support in British Columbia for the project outweighed opposition 48 per cent to 32 per cent, while another poll by the independent polling firm Forum Research last month found opposition outweighing support by 46 per cent to 41 per cent.

Canada's oil industry maintain oil-sands extraction is an environmentally responsible way of meeting the world's growing energy needs, and Enbridge has said its pipeline would be built to the highest safety specifications.