The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Aug. 29, edition that National
Energy Board hearings
into the proposed Trans Mountain
pipeline project
were made worse by
some clueless moves by the federal
government.
The Gary Mason writes that the recent decision to appoint
Steven Kelly to the board was
mind-boggling, even for a
government as imperious as this
one. Mr. Kelly is an oil industry
consultant who previously filed
evidence to the NEB in support of
Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion.
Now here was the government
appointing him to the
same board.
The Tory government's move added much fodder to the army of critics opposed
to the project, who are always
on the lookout for opportunities
to denounce the NEB review as a
sham. Wisely, Mr. Mason says, the NEB
announced it would be striking
Mr. Kelly's submission from
the record. Neither is Mr. Kelly
part of the NEB panel reviewing
the Kinder Morgan application.
Nonetheless, the damage has
been done. Mr. Mason says the Harper government provided critics of
the pipeline and the NEB process
with an opportunity to declare
the entire affair rigged, even if
that is not the case. Mr. Mason calls the Kelly
appointment a boneheaded move.
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