Fracking And Free Trade Scramble The Political Order of Things

BY RICHARD HUGHES, ON NOVEMBER 23RD, 2012

Richard ‘Hub’ Hughes-Political Blogger

It is getting harder by the day to differentiate one Canadian political party from another. Between Free trade Deals and fracking opportunities the left and right political philosophies have melded into a centre right soup of convenience and misguided opportunism.

China's best friend

NDP leader Mulcair should be facing a mutiny in his caucus as he flip flops around over Free Trade and gropes about for the handle on FIPPA, the Canada-China Trade and Investment Deal.

It seems as if  he is now seeking validation from his counterparts PM Harper and Liberal Leader Bob Rae instead of standing his ground with a contrary postition to that of the old Liberal-Conservative gang.

Thomas Mulcair-NDP Leader showing weakness on so called free trade deals.

You will recall the longstanding NDP focused criticism against free trade expansion, not so much anymore. Now Thomas Mulcair embraces it with unbridled enthusiasm and has confused voters as to just where the hell he stands.

His MP’s may still be numb and disorientated at this point, but that will not last long. Will he be able to maintain his grip over his large caucus? Time will tell, but the NDP will not be the NDP that we have known if  maintains his rightward drift.

Speaking of Free Trade isn’t the legal and political fuss over Quebec’s moratorium revealing the benefits of NAFTA a timely wake up call.

Lone Pine Resources have filed a 250 million dollar challenge against Quebec for interfering in their profit making in the ‘fracking’ game.

The Globe and Mail’s Legal Reporter Jeff Gray filled this

The Quebec government’s move to cancel a natural-gas exploration permit for deposits beneath the St. Lawrence River last year was “arbitrary, capricious and illegal,” according to the U.S. energy company challenging the move under the North American free-trade agreement.

The rest of story demonstrates the very ‘Free Trade Benefits’ that Mulcair has grown so fond of these last couple of weeks.

Turns out suing under NAFTA may be a clever way to make money with the glut of Natural Gas only growing.

Our Prime Minister Stephen (Steve) Harper is up against it because his friends in the ‘Tar Sands’ game are sucking eggs over the markets downward spiral and although he was ready to sell us out to the thugs running the Chinese Communist Party it appears that forces may well be at work to save his sorry ass from, um, consummating that sellout of our resources and our sovereignty. One hopes!

I hope that is the case anyway but for whatever reasons, legal, political and ethical. OK scratch ethical, the deal has yet to be inked and Steve is out of town arranging God knows what to try and bail out his mishandling of our economy as the energy bonanza is turning into a nightmare.

Harper is isolating himself politically and the grumbling amongst those of a conservative bent is increasing as they are now realizing that his mishandling of our countries affairs is not good for business.

Ten Premiers are meeting in Halifax concerned over the state of our economy and of course ‘Steve’ is not amongst them. Clearly PM Harper lacks the chutzpah to face the Premiers but you can bet the farm that they are not singing his praises.

Alberta Premier Alison Redford & Quebec Premier Pauline Marois-Let’s Make A Deal!

It seems the once warm and cozy relationship between Alberta Premier Alison Redford and our Chisty is now beyond reconciliation but hey look at Ms Redford’s new BFF Quebec Premier Pauline Marois. The two politically polar opposites have discovered common ground regarding shipping Tar Sands product east to Ontario-Quebec, the Maritimes and eastern US markets. Let us hope that they have the whit to refine it before shipping. The odds of shipping through BC and from our coast to China are looking iffier each day passes.

Could it be that the best men for the job are two women premiers? Let’s hope so the men sure as hell have made a botch up of it.

Justin Trudeau MP-Making his mark!

Back home in BC Premier Christy and her Energy Minister are already very aware of  the sinking value of the natural gas contributions to the treasury coffers.

They have yet to pay much attention to the downsides of fracking but the NAFTA action in Quebec surely is of interest to NDP Leader Adrian Dix and his Energy Critic John Horgan.

Besides legal heartburn the BC NDP duo are well aware of the ever increasing concern and opposition to fracking. They will be under a great deal of pressure to square the circle that they will most likely inherit from the BC Liberal’s when the ballots are tabulated in May 2013. They will be watching the NAFTA challenge in Quebec with keen interest.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May

Let us not loose track of the politicians actually gaining traction recently. Justin Trudeau’s grip on the Liberal leadership is increasing and perhaps the most effective politician in Canada today, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, has been recognized as Canada’s top parliamentarian. Nice to see.