National Resources Minister Joe Oliver may be a little surprised to see himself in a wedding dress (yes I said
wedding dress) outside of a building where he is attending a business luncheon today in Toronto.
Concerned communities and individuals, Greenpeace, and the Council of Canadians came together to create quite the ‘scene,’ objecting to the marrying of Oliver to Oil corporate clad participants.
Mark Calzavara and Maryam Adrangi of the Council of Canadians Toronto regional office were part of the action and conducted several interviews.
With his open letter to Canadians denouncing ‘radicals’ opposing the Enbridge Gateway project, plans to further gut reviews of oil and gas projects and insistence that the Enbridge pipeline is in the national interest (no matter that this is what the National Energy Board review is meant to determine), individuals, First Nations and organizations across the country are responding.
According to today’s news, it isn’t just Harper and Oliver that are taking such a ridiculous line.
As revealed in documents the Climate Action Network received using access to information legislation (which is receiving significant mainstream media attention), Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has labelled aboriginal groups and environmentalists as “adversaries” over opposition to the tar sands. Meanwhile, the National Energy Board, a so-called independent federal regulator of industry (something we’ve questioned consistently), is described as an “ally” in the public relations strategy to polish the image of Alberta’s tar sands.
Other allies include energy companies, industry associations, and Canadian government departments, such as Natural Resources Canada, the Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Department, Environment Canada and the Privy Council Office. Adversaries include media, competing industry groups,’aboriginals’ and environmentalists.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Toronto says “I object” to Joe Oliver wedding Enbridge
Street theatre protests tar sands pipeline in British Columbia
26 January 2012 (Toronto) — Tomorrow, concerned communities and individuals, Greenpeace, and the Council of Canadians will confront National Resources Minister Joe Oliver at a business luncheon at the Sutton Place Hotel to stop him from wedding the Enbridge Inc. tar sands pipeline. The wedding-themed protest will take place outside.
Protesters will arrive at 11:00 a.m. to deliver a message to the Natural Resources Minister now infamous for casting Canadians concerned about the Enbridge pipeline as bogeymen in an open letter published in the Globe and Mail on January 9.
Protesters will greet the Natural Resources Minister with banners that read:
• Gateway to tar sands destruction: stop the Enbridge pipeline!
• Listen to the people, not polluters!
• No pipeline, no tankers, no problem
• The best government money can buy [Conservative party logo]
The demonstration will highlight pipeline threats to the environment, Indigenous rights and Canadian livelihoods.
What: Anti-Enbridge pipeline demonstration and wedding-themed street theatre outside Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver luncheon
Who: Concerned people of Canada, Greenpeace and the Council of Canadians
When: Friday, January 27, 2012 at 11:00 a.m.
Where: Sutton Place Grande Hotel
955 Bay Street, Toronto
Greenpeace Canada Climate and Energy Coordinator Keith Stewart will be available for interview.
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For more information, please contact:
Peter McHugh, Media and Public Relations Officer, (416) 524-8496
Keith Stewart, Climate and Energy Coordinator, (416) 659-0294
