The Harper Government, the Tar Sands and Canadian Oil Reserves
(summarized from The Harper Record, CCPA, 2008)
- No matter the cost, the Harper government has been relentless in its push for rapid, unchecked development of Alberta’s tar sands.
- The tar sands are the largest contributor and fastest growing source of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.
- The devastating environmental, social, and economic effects of tar sands development for the climate, water, boreal forest, and First Nations communities have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the Conservative government.
- Because the oil is extracted from the sand using vast amounts of water, as well as natural gas, it is a highly costly industry as far as the environment is concerned.
- The Harper government is so determined to drive tar sands projects ahead that it made a cabinet decision to override a ruling by the Federal Court of Canada that the Kearl tar sands project environmental assessment (sponsored by Imperial Oil and ExxonMobil) had erred in law by failing to provide a rationale for its conclusions that the project would have “no significant environmental effects” even though the project will denude 200 square km of boreal forest and is projected to generate 3.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year for the 50-year life of the project. The projected greenhouse gas emissions from the Kearl project alone are the equivalent of emissions from 800,000 cars. The Harper Conservatives reconvened the federal/provincial environmental assessment panel to rapidly submit a new report to the federal government that reiterated its earlier conclusion that new greenhouse gas emissions of 3.7 million tonnes per year for 50 years were not a significant environmental problem. The federal cabinet formally accepted this rationale on and the Kearl project is back on track.
- The Harper government has refused to respond to the health crisis facing the Cree people of the Fort Chipewyan, Fort MacKay and Fort Fitzgerald areas north of Fort McMurray. Fort Chipewyan is located beside Lake Athabasca, downstream from the many tar sands facilities located close to the Athabasca River. Since tar sands production started to ramp up in the 1970s, the people of Fort Chipewyan and nearby communities have been faced with a plague of unusual cancers (such as liver, blood and bile duct cancer), as well as other diseases, an ever-increasing death rate, and a steadily worsening health crisis.
- The federal government has firmly resisted instituting the baseline epidemiological health study long demanded by the people of Fort Chipewyan. Indeed, doctors from the Harper government’s Health Canada went so far as to file complaints with the College of Physicians and Surgeons against a local doctor when he spoke out publicly about the serious cancer and health emergency facing the Fort Chipewyan community. Fortunately, the College cleared the doctor.