The tip of an iceberg
Trudeau thinks he’s unsinkable. So did the captain of the Titanic.
Justin Trudeau needs to lose just 14 votes in the House of Commons to seriously complicate his dreams of Liberian-flagged oil tankers carrying cheap, toxic bitumen across the Salish sea and off to foreign refineries.
On Monday, angry voters stormed more than 100 MP offices across the country, protesting the Liberal government’s $4.5 billion giveaway to a group of former Enron executives. If 14 of those Liberal MPs resign, retire, cross the floor or fall in next year’s election, Trudeau will lose his majority.
Photos by Leadnow.ca – À l’Action
When it comes to the pipeline bailout, it doesn’t matter if they lose to New Democrats, Greens or Conservatives. All three opposition parties loudly oppose this waste of tax dollars – for different reasons.
This is where another of the PM’s broken promises could really screw him. Trudeau kept Canada’s warped First Past the Post voting system on the belief that he could woo both left and right-wing voters to the Liberal party, ensuring perpetual majorities. But by alienating progressives and conservatives with the same decision, he risks eroding the middle.
Monday’s day of action saw former Liberal voters in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and all over B.C. declare their disgust with a man they once trusted to make Canada a climate leader, safeguard their tax dollars and reset our relationship with Indigenous peoples.
Polls show Canadians across the country – and the political spectrum – shaking their heads at Trudeau’s risky corporate welfare scheme. If Texas oil investors are running for the exits, why would the government gamble our money on a sunset industry?
If the folks in the Liberal war room are tempted to laugh off this public backlash, it’s because they’re looking at the tip of the iceberg. The part that rips your hull open lies beneath the surface.
Monday’s day of action was loud and visible. But that doesn’t mean organizers weren’t hard at work on Saturday, Sunday and every day this week. Calling volunteers, printing brochures and canvassing voters rarely makes the news. But it’s what makes the difference when it comes time to hold politicians accountable.
Three years ago, the same grassroots citizen machine helped take down the last Prime Minister who put oil company profits ahead of Canadian democracy – or a safe future for our kids. MPs better be working overtime in Ottawa to derail this ill-conceived pipeline bailout. That, or working on their concession speeches.
Send them a warning. Tell MPs to stop the bailout today.
Cover photo by @JoshandhisNikon
No KM Bailout!!😡
Yep! The tyranny of it all. Obhorrent.. Ludicrous behavior. Politics in Canada has become profane and insane in epic proportions. Senseless.. Upsurd stupitity to invest in a destructive archaic pipeline. How dare you risk our Coastal waters and our land of B.C.
Are the 14 votes the ones that Dogwood helped elect in the last election? Your strategic voting elected this federal government.
hmmm, Dogwood’s fault eh? You don’t think much of individual voters, or their ability to make up their own minds. Trudeau has been an almost complete dud, but is it Dogwood’s fault that he’s broken absolutely every campaign promise and been bought out by Big Oil? I think not. Dogwood has been a beacon of sanity in a crazy world and perhaps helped guide us to believe we could oust a prime minister and a party that did NOT have the future of the country and its people in mind. We did it three years ago and we’ll do it again. We’ll keep doing it until we get a fair minded, courageous leader who helps the country transition to cleaner forms of energy and fairer ways of dividing up the pot
I don’t support the Gov. buying the pipeline but do you really think if Scheers Conservatives came to power they would do any different? Trudeau knows this.
Then vote NDP
While we have not reached the level of stupid that exists in the US,
THIS decision certainly indicates that we are trying.
It is the wrong decision for Canada, it is the wrong decision for the Planet, it is the WRONG decision for Trudeau.
Are ya listening Justin –
The Community does Not give its Consent.
The Community does Not give its Consent to buy an old leaky pipeline
The Community does Not give its Consent for a pipeline through major cities
The Community does Not give its Consent to more bitumen being shipped to China or elsewhere
The Community does Not give its Consent to an increase in Tanker traffic passed major cities
The Community does Not give its Consent to more Tankers in English Bay or BC’s Coast
The Community does Not give its Consent for this purchase
The Community does Not give its consent to be RULED
The Community does Not give its consent to give our money to Kinder Morgan
Next The Community does Not give its Consent for the Libs to Govern in Ottawa
Too Bad, up till this you had ‘everyone’ 100 % behind you – You Blew it, for Bitumen
These Liberals cant even see us let alone hear us and don’t care as is evident in the House of Commons and the way this present Govt. performs. Time for them to be removed.
Too bad that its so hard to identify any of the PM’s progressive ideals being applied when it actually matters. So much for tackling climate change or for the possibility of meaningful reconciliation with the indigenous people of coastal British Columbia.
Instead, the Federal Government and their Industry bedfellows are preparing to force the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, without adequate consultation and without consent from the very people whose territory and way of life is placed most at risk by the project.
Here’s a handy rule of thumb for self professed feminists; no laying of pipe without first receiving consent.
No Means No!
Justin Trudeau doesn’t care about keeping his job. Let’s face it, he comes from money and probably would do just fine without working at all. So we don’t vote for him… big deal, the damage is already done. This is the same sort of thing his father did in the ’70s when he started the federal government borrowing from private banks instead of the bank of Canada. Decades later we don’t even talk about it and the billions wasted on just paying the interest absolutely dwarfs the money wasted on Kinder Morgan and we are still borrowing from private banks even though the bank of Canada sits there mandated to provide interest free or low interest federal loans.
There needs to be action, judgement and punishment as voting for the other guy does not undo the damage nor does it send a strong message to the next assclown who might be threatened, bribed or manipulated into signing away our money, rights, privacy…. you get the idea.
I am with you, Erwin Jay, except for your last comment implying that everyone was behind Justin until he took the environmentally insupportable position of promoting increased oil sands production and all the associated risks through a tripling of Trans Mountain pipeline capacity.
Actually I gave up on him earlier, when he reneged on his promise that the 2015 election would be the last one to use first-past-the-post.
YES!