There has been recent political debate regarding the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. This pipeline would carry oil from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat, BC. This oil could then be very easily traded with countries in Asia Pacific. Canada could stand to gain strong economic growth and trade diversification from the project, which could lead to improved social services such as education and healthcare. However, the risks include hazards to the environmental health of the BC coast, as well as changes to the way-of-life of the Aboriginal people who live there. Additionally, by extracting fossil fuels, Canada is contributing to climate change which has a large portfolio of economic and environmental risks such as increasing global surface temperatures, increased severity of storms, melting of alpine and polar ice, and decreased biodiversity.
In the video below, CBC's Evan Solomon interviews Joe Oliver, the Canadian Minister of Natural Resources. Solomon asks Oliver some very tough but fair questions regarding the public relations tactics used by the government who strongly support the pipeline project. Take a look at the video here.
Although I have formed an opinion regarding this debate, I am not going to state it on here. The point of this article is not to persuade you to agree with my political views. I just liked the types of questions that Evan Solomon asked of Joe Oliver in this interview. They were tough, but they were also clear, fair, and extremely relevant. It is essential to ask these types of questions of those on both sides of this debate in order to hold them accountable to their statements. This helps to preserve the integrity of the information that we, the public, receive from the media.
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