Friends of the Lubicon
PO Box 444 Stn D,
Etobicoke ON M9A 4X4
Tel: (416) 763-7500
Email: fol (at) tao (dot) ca
www.lubicon.ca
February 5, 2008
Two more gas and oil related companies have now filed Statements of Intent to Participate in the hearing on the TransCanada application to build a major new pipeline across unceded Lubicon Territory over the objections of the Lubicon people. It is almost certainly the intent of these two companies to support the Application. Also clear is the extent of oil and gas industry support -- and Alberta government support -- for construction of the TransCanada pipeline.
The two involved companies are a British Columbia gas company called Terasen Gas and an Alberta-based conglomerate of companies called ATCO.
Terasen's Statement of Intent to Participate in the Application says "Terasen Gas is a local distribution utility in the province of British Columbia and an (sic) FT-D (Firm Transmission and Delivery) shipper on NGTL, and as such has an interest in the proceeding relating to this Application". Terasen is in fact the name of what used to be called BC gas and it supplies 95% of the gas in British Columbia. Terasen undoubtedly intends to supply TransCanada with gas to ship from northwestern BC across unceded Lubicon Territory to the Alberta tar sands in northeastern Alberta.
ATCO is a huge $8 billion dollar operation with interests in power generation, in transmission and distribution of natural gas and electricity, and in so-called "Global Enterprises including companies active in industrial manufacturing, technology, logistics and energy services". It also has close ties to the Alberta government.
Ex-Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed is generally credited with responsibility for bringing the 1988 Winter Olympics to Alberta and he is known to be a close associate of ATCO Board Chairman Ron Southern. After stepping down as Premier Mr. Lougheed joined the ATCO Board of Directors and became Honorary Chairman of the Calgary Olympic Organizing Committee. While Mr. Lougheed was Honorary Chairman of the Calgary Olympic Organizing Committee, and a member of the ATCO Board of Directors, the Olympic Organizing Committee gave ATCO a $800 million no bid contract to provide accommodation for Olympic athletes and the international media. The Calgary Herald Newspaper editorialized that it was sure Mr. Lougheed wouldn't do anything improper but admitted that the $800 million dollar no bid contract didn't look very good.
ATCO's "Statement of Intent to Participate" says "ATCO Midstream owns and operates plants connected to the NGTL system and therefore will have an interest in the proceeding and outcome of this Application". That's pretty standard fare. However the ATCO Statement then goes on to say "ATCO reserves the right to actively participate in this hearing at such time it feels necessary" -- suggesting that ATCO will somehow jump in and save the day if the Application runs into trouble. None of the other statements say that. Moreover the ATCO statement sends a noted copy of its statement to the Calgary law firm of Bennett Jones. None of the other companies send a noted copy of their statement to their law firm.
Ex-Alberta Premier and ATCO Board member Peter Lougheed is also a partner in Bennett Jones. Moreover Bennett Jones has a history of involvement with the Lubicon struggle having represented two out of ten oil companies -- Norcen Energy and federal Crown corporation Petro Canada -- when the Lubicons went to court in the early 1980's and tried to enjoin the activities of the oil companies in unceded Lubicon Territory pending settlement of Lubicon land rights. As such the lawyers at Bennett Jones are very familiar with the Lubicon issue.
The provincial judge hearing the case -- Gregory Forsyth -- declined to grant the injunction based on a legal principle called the "balance of convenience". Mr. Forsyth found, despite uncontradicted evidence to the contrary, that the Lubicons had not demonstrated that they had anything to lose while the oil companies had demonstrated that they would lose hundreds of millions of dollars if the injunction were granted. Rights didn't even enter into the picture. Before Mr. Forsyth was a provincial court judge, he was the head lawyer for the Nova Corporation -- the same Nova Corporation of NGTL fame -- the same Nova Corporation that owned controlling shares in Husky Oil -- the same Husky Oil that held major interests in the unceded Lubicon Territory -- the same Husky Oil that is currently supporting construction of the TransCanada pipeline across unceded Lubicon Territory over Lubicon objections.
The Lubicons appealed Mr. Forsyth's decision to the Alberta Court of Appeal where the Chief Justice of the Alberta Court of Appeal, William McGillivray, put himself at the head of a three judge panel to hear the appeal. Before Mr. McGillivray was the Chief Justice of the Alberta Court of Appeal, he was the Lougheed family lawyer. He gave Mr. Lougheed his first job as a lawyer in the Calgary law firm of McGillivray, Fenerty & Robertson. Mr. Robertson was head oil company lawyer on the case.
The Alberta Court of Appeal also declined to grant the Lubicons an injunction to protect their unceded traditional Territory pending settlement of Lubicon land rights finding that the Lubicons would be able "to restore the wilderness with money damages" if the Lubicons could ever prove that they owned the land in court before this bunch. The idea of restoring the wilderness with money damages is obviously absurd on the face of it.
The Lubicons appealed the decision of the Alberta Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada where a judge named Esty declined to hear the appeal. He gave no reason. After declining to hear the Lubicon appeal, Judge Esty retired from the Supreme Court of Canada and was appointed to the Board of the Nova Corporation, the same Nova Corporation for which Judge Forsyth worked, the same Nova of NGTL fame, the same Nova Corporation that owned controlling shares in Husky Oil and so on.
Maybe all of this activity swirling around the TransCanada pipeline Application would be occurring anyway but certainly one way to explain it is that the Lubicons and their supporters have once again caught the attention of the powers that be in Alberta. The simple way for them to deal with it would be to settle Lubicon land rights. That wouldn't solve all of the other problems associated with exploitation of the tar sands but it would solve one pressing problem allowing everybody to move on to the next pressing problem associated with exploitation of the tar sands.
Instead it appears that the oil companies and their government cronies think the way to deal with any opposition that arises to their schemes is to crush it with massive economic and political power. If they are successful in that with the Lubicons, they will almost certainly move on and similarly seek to crush any other opposition to their schemes.
The stakes in all of this are clearly huge.
fol-request at masses.tao.ca