We need the hard facts on Gateway, not manipulative ads Enbridge and Coastal First Nations have launched competing TV campaigns, but they are generating a lot of heat and very little light
BY BARBARA YAFFE, VANCOUVER SUNOCTOBER 2, 2013 http://www.vancouversun.com/business/need+hard+facts+Gateway+manipulative/8986138/story.html Enbridge's Janet Holder has been recruited to appear in ads that focus on persuading people of the benefits of the proposed pipeline. Photograph by: Jonathan Hayward, The Canadian Press Files, Vancouver Sun What's a good pipeline fight without competing media buys? British Columbians are witnessing a new donnybrook-of-the-airwaves over Enbridge Northern Gateway's pipeline to carry Alberta bitumen to B.C.'s coast. Pugilists in the campaign are Enbridge Inc. in one corner and in the other, Coastal First Nations, representing aboriginals living on B.C.'s north and central coast who consider themselves stewards of the Great Bear Rainforest. The Enbridge ad buy, launching next Monday at a cost of several million dollars, attempts to humanize the pipeline and Kitimat tanker project by focusing on Enbridge boss Janet Holder, a hometown girl from Prince George. "This is Janet Holder," says the TV ad voice-over. "She wants to build the safest pipeline Canada has ever seen." "This is Koda," retorts a voice-over on a TV spot depicting an aboriginal toddler, part of an ad buy the Coastal First Nations is sponsoring. "Koda would like Janet Holder ... to respect the wishes of her community and 80 per cent of British Columbians who oppose tankers in our coastal waters." Both ads feature a wild orca swimming in pristine waters. This latest bun toss comes as a decision on the future of the Enbridge megaproject approaches. According to new reports, senior officials in Alberta and B.C. are getting close to a deal on Christy Clark's five conditions - provincial prerequisites for the project relating to government revenues and environmental safeguards. One of the conditions, on aboriginal concerns, has been top of mind for the Harper government, which recently dispatched a posse of deputy ministers to Vancouver to consult with native groups. A decision on the project ultimately rests with Harper and his cabinet, and is expected once a joint review panel delivers recommendations in December. It's worth noting that Harper recently pledged not to take No for an answer on the Keystone pipeline to the U.S. Gulf coast. The PM might just as well have been speaking about Enbridge's pipeline, a project he considers a strategic imperative for Canada. One thing standing in the way of the project is opposition from aboriginals, who are promising legal action to defend their right to say No. But just as big a hurdle is social licence from the broader community, which is why both sides are spending money arguing their respective cases in the media. Alas, both the aboriginals and their environmental supporters on the one hand, and Enbridge on the other, are pushing their own doctrinaire interests, shedding heat but no light on the key question, which is this: Do the bountiful benefits of an Enbridge pipeline and tanker port compensate sufficiently for the considerable environmental risk that is associated with inevitable bitumen spills? The project offers: 3,000 jobs during a three-year construction phase; 560 long-term jobs; $1.2 billion in provincial revenues over 30 years; $830 million worth of purchases of goods and services in B.C. during construction. Meanwhile, a major spill could cost $21 billion and 4,379 jobs, say the Coastal First Nations groups. Is it worth it? British Columbians clearly require far more information about the environmental safeguards that will be deployed and comprehensive details on financial protections on offer when bitumen spills do occur, both on land and in coastal waters. This is not about whether we believe Holder is a well-meaning corporate representative or whether little Koda should live free of any and all downsides of economic development. It's about a balance of probabilities and built-in precautions. People cannot make a hard, cold, informed calculation about what's on offer without sufficient and objective data. And manipulative advertising is no substitute for that. bya...@vancouversun.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Native News North List info{all lists}: http://nativenewsonline.org/natnews.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NatNews-north/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: natnews-north-dig...@yahoogroups.com natnews-north-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: natnews-north-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/
