OPINION: A Maritime yarn

Stephen Harper made his pals at Enbridge Inc. very happy last week when he approved the Northern Gateway pipeline.

This is the first step in his plan to make Canada an oil superpower, regardless of any negative consequences and with no concern for the future.

Predictably, the events of the past two weeks have caused a passionate and emotional reaction from Canadians across the country.
In anticipation of this groundswell of controversy, Mr. Harper and his colleagues from British Columbia went into hiding and were taking no questions.

That’s nothing new but amid all the outrage and protest, one symbolic gesture by the Hartley Bay First Nation caught my attention both for its simplicity and its implication.

This small community is located on B.C.’s Douglas Channel which gives them an excellent view of the 220 oil tankers that will pass by their front doors every year.

But these are some of the most dangerous waters in the world to navigate so Hartley Bay will also be ground zero when one of these ships founders, crashes or breaks up.

The resulting oil spill will put an end to their livelihood, their community and their culture, perhaps even their lives, and their pristine environment will be destroyed forever.

Some Canadians, the PM included, seem to be OK with that as they dream of foreign markets and windfall profits for shareholders.

But faced with such grim prospects, the band members are desperate to save their traditional way of life – desperate enough to crochet 4.6 kilometres of rope and string it across the channel.

It is unlikely that a thin, knitted string can stop a super tanker but to this community it is merely symbolic of how strong they feel and how hard they will resist.

To many other Canadians it demonstrates a lack of vision, courage and responsibility by government and big business when it comes to managing natural resources.

Canadians tend to view their resources like they were lottery winnings – every now and then we strike it rich so we just go for the gusto and spend the money while it lasts.

We are behaving like those poor souls we hear about – when you check back a few years later all the money is spent and they are worse off than ever.

There is another way – we should consider the example set by Norway, the poster child for oil resources management worldwide.
In 1971 Norwegians discovered the Ekofisk offshore oil field, one of the largest in the world, and quickly made extensive plans for dealing with the enormous wealth.

Strict controls were implemented and for the first two decades all profits were reinvested in the necessary research and infrastructure to sustain the development.

By 1990 there were enough profits to set up a national oil fund and six years later every cent of oil revenue went into this fund, for the benefit of all Norwegians.

An annual limit of four per cent is allowed to be spent on improvements like upgraded infrastructure, better educational opportunities and increased research.

Overall, the money is intended to improve the productivity of the entire country and to guarantee healthy pensions for ordinary citizens at retirement.

Currently the fund contains close to $1 trillion – oil production has reached its peak but the future growth of the fund is assured through re-investing.

Clear sailing for all Norwegians is guaranteed for generations thanks to careful and thoughtful government management of oil revenues.

In Canada however, the four kilometres of yarn strung across the Douglas Channel clearly indicates that our government has decided to plot a different course altogether.