It’s been a bruising week of boxing combinations from the Carney government. Just scan the headlines coming from Ottawa: In a matter of days, the feds have released a “plan to weaken clean electricity regulations,” moved to “fast-track federal approval for major projects — from pipelines to powerlines,” and then capitulated to Alberta’s demands to “weaken industrial carbon pricing” and paved the way for a new oilsands pipeline to the Pacific.

The details are complicated. Sometimes it takes a satirist to capture the broad strokes. Here’s The Beaverton’s take: 

The first jab was a pledge to introduce more legislation to make big projects move faster. On its face, an odd move since the feds have already passed a bill (Bill C-5) to fast-track “national interest” projects. 

The new promise took the form of a “discussion paper,” now open for a 30-day consultation window. The proposal is to approve projects in designated “federal economic zones,” short-circuiting endangered species protections and the usual environmental assessments while handing decision-making power over energy projects to the Canada Energy Regulator.

“It’s worse than what Harper did,” said Steven Guilbeault, echoing a chorus of condemnation from environmental lawyers and advocates. 

Tim Gray, a veteran of the Harper government’s assaults, and now executive director of Environmental Defence, says the proposed process would “sacrifice the rule of law and our most sensitive species and ecosystems in order to build pipelines and other projects. If approved, this proposal will take Canada back to a more dangerous, toxic and destructive time and leave Canadians facing impacts that could last for generations.”

Several government sources told Althia Raj that the proposal is specifically designed to facilitate projects (like a West Coast pipeline or ports) that would impact the critically endangered southern resident orcas. There are only 74 whales left (perhaps as few as 10 or 12 reproductive females) and they’re the ones that make tragic news every few years when mothers carry their dead babies for days and even weeks in painful displays of mammalian grief.

The second........

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