Dear Editor,
As we approach the end of the first year of government under Trudeau the Second, popular opinion suggests the “honeymoon is over.”
To that may be added the thought that, indeed, some may be feeling they’ve been unceremoniously kicked out of the marriage bed.
For example, the federal approval of the Malaysian-led Pacific Northwest LNG project not only alienated First Nations and environmentalists, but it was a humiliating slap in the face to four hereditary chiefs opposing the project who had travelled to Ottawa for a scheduled meeting with fisheries minister Dominic LeBlanc only to be told on arrival by a ministerial aide that he was in Vancouver helping announce the project go-ahead.
Add to that the earlier green light given to B.C. Hydro’s Site C project and the growing body of evidence that suggests Trudeau will say yes to the Kinder Morgan pipeline, both First Nations and the environment movement are undoubtedly feeling rather used if not out and out betrayed.
It certainly doesn’t bode well for a lasting relationship.
Indeed, misleading pre-nuptial promises aside (e.g. permit vs. permission) a relationship that is not mutually beneficial is doomed to end up on the rocks.
It might be described by some as irreconcilable differences, but in reality it simply means one of the partners got the short end of the stick.
Bill Brassington Sr., Burnaby
