Earlier this year, an RCMP report leaked to the public warned that anti-energy and anti-resource development activists are increasingly well-funded and well-organized and might be showing more violent tendencies.
Funny how the idea of foreign money coming in to support the activities of Canadian environmentalists is shocking and horrifying, the acts of agent provocateurs violating national sovereignty with their influence peddling, yet federal and provincial governments cutting deals worth billions with massive multinational corporations is fair play. Turn the lens around and now the view is of noble underdog Canadians fighting to protect our pristine wilderness from billionaire developers and the evil politicians they've bought off with blood money.
In between you've got law enforcement and spy agencies justifying their existence to their political masters by pointing to the darkness under the bed and saying there might be a bogeyman there and, even if there isn't, we'd better be watchful in case one materializes.
This is not to say that multinational companies don't manipulate governments around the world to further their corporate interests, nor that environmentalists don't use shady tactics to further their agendas nor that police officers and spies don't poke their noses where they don't belong.
It is to say a cigar is usually a cigar and the likelihood that it's actually a cleverly-disguised pipe bomb from a James Bond movie is rare.
Put another way, when Premier Christy Clark signs a memorandum of understanding with an international LNG consortium led by Petronas of Malaysia, like she did Wednesday, it's more a publicity stunt than a nefarious plot. Clark gets to show that she's serious about the LNG file and that she does have suitors with deep pockets at the table while the suitors, the Pacific NorthWest LNG group, show their global competitors that they've got the inside track in B.C. The real binding documents will be hundreds or even thousands of pages long and analyzed word for word and line by line by high-priced lawyers before signatures are applied.
Clark hasn't sold the farm and Petronas and their partners aren't on the hook to buy it or anything else. The memorandum does include some details on what the two sides are willing to put on the table to manage risk and maximize profit but nothing is locked in.
The scope of these kinds of deals demands the detailed discussion happen behind closed doors so everyone can freely negotiate without being bound to similar offers in the future and to keep the armchair quarterbacks at bay. Unfortunately, that secrecy fuels the belief that something underhanded is going on, with money and power subverting the process for evil purposes.
The irony, of course, is that proponents and opponents see themselves as transparent do-gooders under siege from conspiracies hatched by the other side. Corporations and governments are just trying to make money, create jobs and grow the economy but nutbar anarchists are scheming to stop them. Environmentalists and activists are just trying to protect our air, land and water from shady robber barons and crooked politicos lining their pockets.
Nothing mobilizes action and response like fear, that's why the stories from both sides demonizing each other sound so scary and dramatic. Yet the record clearly shows that neither side is omnipotent, both sides exchange wins and the radicals in either camp are few.
In fact, neither side can accommodate radicals. On the business side, radical hard-nosed stances get in the way of pragmatism and cutting a deal. Spying, intimidation, bribery and other shenanigans are costly risks that backfire more often than not. On the activist side, threats of violence violate deeply-held moral principles. Peaceful protests attract converts and public sympathy, not bombings, shootings and riots.
That's the important point police and spies in Canada and elsewhere miss. Radicals give up on the process and quietly take matters in their own hands, working from the shadows. They operate underground because they despise the moderates on their side for their weakness almost as much as they hate the other side for their strength. Spying on citizen activists or business and government leaders is almost always a waste of time because the very nature of their work is to attract public support to their cause. That kind of attention is the last thing any scheming radical planning illegal and/or harmful activity wants.
Scrutiny is always good for government, business and activism.
It's the quiet ones in their midst, brimming with anger and resentment, that we all have to watch out for.
