Northern Gateway pipeline decision could come in many shades of … – Financial Post
Decision day is approaching for one of the most important moves of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s political career — whether to approve the Northern Gateway pipeline — and there is no easy way forward.
After a decade of debate, project improvements, regulatory hearings that led to a go-ahead recommendation, collaboration between Alberta and British Columbia that has narrowed differences, and lately a flurry of federal announcements to address safety concerns and improve aboriginal benefits, the project remains a lightning rod in British Columbia.
A seemingly unmovable front of environmentalists and First Nations is threatening endless litigation and civil disobedience, wants to put the project before voters in a provincial referendum and promises to target Conservative ridings leading up to the 2015 federal election, when Mr. Harper will need the province’s 21 Conservative seats to maintain his majority.
