The Occupy Toronto Livestream drummers co-opting Sammy Yatim’s memorial…
On Thursday afternoon Ezra Levant did an epic show on Sun News sharing his discovery that the people fighting against Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline reversal had very little idea what they were protesting about. One person had the misguided belief that the oil would be filled with abrasive sand. Mike Roy of the London Ontario anarchist collective called The Indignants had no clue that the pipeline was currently carrying oil from the Middle East.
Ezra caught the protester’s ignorance so brilliantly that it almost hurt to watch their reactions. Later that evening some of the Line 9 protesters joined a live broadcast on Occupy Toronto’s Livestream where they talked about their experience and views about the protest. And, wouldn’t you know, they confirmed what we saw in Ezra’s show- many of the Line 9 protesters are absolutely clueless.
Two of the Line 9 protesters were involved in the coversation: Sigrid Kneve of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, and Cathy Walker from Occupy Toronto. Both speakers were at Swamp Line 9, Kneve got arrested, but Walker got away before the police arrived. At first they discussed their experience pitching tents at the Westover Line 9 terminal, then they shifted the discussion to the reasons they were protesting.
At one point they were reading a comment on article from an unnamed newspaper. The commenter stated he felt the protesters were hypocrites because they use plastics and they probably used gas powered vehicles to get out to the protest.
Kneve and Walker were offended by this comment and felt the need to justify their action. So, they made a very very similar mistake as Mike Roy made on Ezra’s show. Cathy Walker first read out another person’s response to the comment:
“What she is using for her car and heating in her home is stockpiled- these pipes specifically are used for exporting our oil to China- they’re not even being used for us”
She then her own words to re-affirm the statement made by the commenter:
“We’re using our resources to go to China, so we’re not even using this oil this oil for our homes and our cars- this is specifically going to China”
Then Sigrid Kneve responded to the original comment questioning the protesters saying:
“It’s not true.”
If you’ve already watched Ezra’s show, of have even a minimal understanding of the Line 9 reversal, you probably had a good laugh at their statements. The key word here is ‘reversal’- currently, Line 9 is being used to carry imported oil from the Middle East. And, when the reversal is complete, it will then be used to carry oil from Western Canada- not only from the oil sands, but likely from the Bakken shale deposits in Saskatchewan and Manitoba too.
It’s also worth noting how they said that our oil is “stockpiled”. Where do they think that oil came from in the first place? Yes, it came through the pipelines. And, stockpiles aren’t everlasting horns of plenty- they have to be refilled on a regular basis. Lastly, considering that Line 9 runs from Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean- how will that oil ever be delivered to China? You’d need a pipeline to the Pacific coast to accomplish that.
Next, Sigrid Kneve moved on to share her belief that there’s a massive conspiracy to stop us from using alternative energy sources.
“Cars don’t need to run on that anyway. There’s other ways to run cars- it’s just that we don’t have an opportunity to use those other alternatives because the government won’t let us”
Luckily, Cathy Walker chimed in with some common sense saying:
“And even if we do, who can afford 50-60 thousand dollars on a car?”
Exactly. It’s not that the government is trying to stop us from using electric and hybrid cars- they’re actually subsidizing them. The problem is that the technology is still under development, and it will still take some time until they’re (hopefully) affordable.
It would be a good idea for Walker and Kneve (and others) to spend a little less time creating a ruckus over Line 9, and a bit more learning what they’re protesting. Because, as things stand, their presence is only hurting the cause they claim to be supporting…
Here’s the video:
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Oh wow are these people clueless. The more they talk the more the expose themselves lol
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Let’s hope they keep on talking then!
Yeah, that’s quite a government conspiracy to stop them from using other forms of energy. Someone should tell Tesla Motors to stop making electric cars before the mean old government shuts them down.
Heck, GM and Ford have been making electric cars for years.