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Want to know why nothing of significance ever gets built in this country? Consider the allegations levelled by NDP leadership contender Avi Lewis against pipelines, mines and other “nation-building projects” proposed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and others such as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

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At his party’s French-language leadership debate last week, Lewis insisted the effect of megaprojects on women and girls, especially Indigenous women and girls, “are intense, are horrifying.”

“Big, manly things with huge work camps entailed in remote areas,” Lewis charged, lead to widespread murder and sexual assault.

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This echoes the controversial Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) inquiry whose 2019 final report stated, without much evidence, that Canada’s resource industry brings “extractive violence” and drug trafficking to Indigenous communities.

The MMIWG report also blamed “man camps” for increased “sexual harassment and stalking,” “increased domestic violence” and increased risk of Indigenous women “going missing or being killed.”

Environmental groups have also used alleged violence in surrounding communities from “man camps” in seeking court injunctions against megaprojects.

With segments of elite opinion so tainted against pipelines, hydro dams and mines — and for imaginary reasons — it’s no wonder investors stay away from Canada.

Then there is the fact that Carney has given both the B.C. government and coastal First Nations de facto vetoes over an oil........

© Edmonton Journal