tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/pipeline-54398/articlesPipeline – The Conversation2020-12-03T13:32:18Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1506002020-12-03T13:32:18Z2020-12-03T13:32:18ZWhat makes the world’s biggest surfable waves?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372324/original/file-20201201-19-dqsty5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C54%2C4482%2C2952&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some places, like Nazaré Canyon in Portugal, produce freakishly huge waves.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PortugalBigWaveSurf/829564e6d6db420694b27898150d22c2/photo?Query=nazare%20surf%20maya&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=9&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo/Armando Franca</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Feb. 11, 2020, Brazilian <a href="https://youtu.be/fTuqJE03aH4">Maya Gabeira surfed a wave off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal,</a> that was 73.5 feet tall. Not only was this the biggest wave ever surfed by a woman, but it also turned out to be the biggest wave surfed by anyone in the 2019-2020 winter surfing season – the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/22/sports/biggest-wave-surfed-nazare-maya-gabeira.html">first time a woman has ridden the biggest wave of the year</a>.</p>
<p>As a female surfer myself – though of dubious abilities – this news made me really excited. I love it when female athletes accomplish things that typically garner headlines for men. But I am also a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=kAGkuGgAAAAJ">physical oceanographer and climate scientist</a> at Brandeis University. Gabeira’s feat got me thinking about the waves themselves in addition to the surfers who ride them. </p>
<p>What makes some waves so big? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372331/original/file-20201201-21-y63erf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A satellite image of Hurricane Epsilon in the North Atlantic." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372331/original/file-20201201-21-y63erf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372331/original/file-20201201-21-y63erf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372331/original/file-20201201-21-y63erf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372331/original/file-20201201-21-y63erf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372331/original/file-20201201-21-y63erf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372331/original/file-20201201-21-y63erf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372331/original/file-20201201-21-y63erf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After Hurricane Epsilon moved into the North Atlantic in late October, it sent a huge swell to Europe, including at Nazaré.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Atlantic_hurricane_season#/media/File:Epsilon_2020-10-21_2000Z.png">NOAA via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Waves start with a storm</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372326/original/file-20201201-13-ywe1bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pond with circular ripples against a mountain backdrop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372326/original/file-20201201-13-ywe1bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372326/original/file-20201201-13-ywe1bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372326/original/file-20201201-13-ywe1bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372326/original/file-20201201-13-ywe1bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372326/original/file-20201201-13-ywe1bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372326/original/file-20201201-13-ywe1bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372326/original/file-20201201-13-ywe1bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just like ripples in a pond, waves in the ocean propagate outward from the storm that generated them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/rXVFCA3fQ4I">Garrett Sears via Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Think for a few seconds about what happens when you throw a stone into a serene pond. It creates a ring of waves – depressions and elevations of the water’s surface – that spread out from the center.</p>
<p>Waves in the ocean act similarly. On rare occasions earthquakes and landslides can generate waves, but usually waves are created by wind. Generally, the biggest and most powerful wind-generated waves are produced by <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00361">strong storms</a> that blow for a sustained period over a large area.</p>
<p>The waves that surfers ride originate in distant storms far across the ocean. For instance, the wave that Gabeira surfed at Nazaré was likely generated by a storm somewhere between Greenland and Newfoundland a few days earlier. The waves within a storm are usually messy and chaotic, but they grow more organized as they propagate away from the storm and faster waves outrun slower waves.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1948.0005">organization of the waves</a> creates “swell,” or regularly spaced lines of waves. When describing a swell, oceanographers and surfers generally care about three attributes. First, the height – how tall a wave is from the bottom to the top. Then the wavelength – the distance between the top of one wave and the top of the wave behind it. And finally the period – the time it takes for two consecutive waves to reach a fixed location.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372335/original/file-20201201-13-14sjc3q.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graphic showing waves getting closer together and taller as seafloor gets shallow." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372335/original/file-20201201-13-14sjc3q.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372335/original/file-20201201-13-14sjc3q.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372335/original/file-20201201-13-14sjc3q.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372335/original/file-20201201-13-14sjc3q.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372335/original/file-20201201-13-14sjc3q.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372335/original/file-20201201-13-14sjc3q.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372335/original/file-20201201-13-14sjc3q.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As the seafloor gets shallow, it starts to affect waves moving toward shore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_shoaling#/media/File:Propagation_du_tsunami_en_profondeur_variable.gif">Régis Lachaume via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Seafloors control the waves</h2>
<p>Waves are not just sitting on top of the ocean. Their energy extends far below the surface, sometimes as deep as 500 feet. When waves move into shallower water close to shore, they start to “feel” the ocean’s bottom. When the bottom pulls and drags on the waves, they slow down, get closer together and grow taller.</p>
<p>As the waves move toward shore, the water gets ever more shallow and the waves keep growing until, eventually, they <a href="https://youtu.be/5nCcE-jABSo">become unstable and the wave “breaks”</a> as the crest spills over toward shore.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372337/original/file-20201201-19-amvsbd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map showing the a large canyon extending off Nazaré." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372337/original/file-20201201-19-amvsbd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372337/original/file-20201201-19-amvsbd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372337/original/file-20201201-19-amvsbd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372337/original/file-20201201-19-amvsbd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372337/original/file-20201201-19-amvsbd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372337/original/file-20201201-19-amvsbd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372337/original/file-20201201-19-amvsbd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Nazaré Canyon, the dark winding depression extending horizontally across this aerial map, funnels and focuses wave energy toward one spot on the Portuguese coast, producing some of the biggest waves on Earth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canh%C3%A3o_da_Nazar%C3%A9_mapa_batim%C3%A9trico.png">Rúdisicyon via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When a swell is traveling through the ocean, the waves are all more or less the same size. But when swells run into a coastline, waves at one beach can be many times bigger than waves at another beach a mere mile away. So why don’t we find large waves breaking on all shores? Why are there some spots like Nazaré in Portugal, Mavericks in California and Jaws in Maui that are notorious for having big waves? </p>
<p>It comes down to what’s at the bottom of the ocean. </p>
<p>Most coasts do not have a smooth, evenly sloping bottom extending from the deep ocean to shore. There are reefs, sand banks and canyons that shape the underwater terrain. The shape and depth of the ocean floor is called the bathymetry.</p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-favorite">Weekly on Wednesdays</a>.]</p>
<p>Just as light waves and sound waves will bend when they hit something or change speed – a process called refraction – so do ocean waves. When shallow bathymetry slows down a part of a wave, this causes the waves to refract. Similar to the way a magnifying glass can bend light to focus it into one bright spot, reefs, sand banks and canyons can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2011.08.004">focus wave energy toward a single point of the coast</a>.</p>
<p>This is what <a href="https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/mechanics-nazare-portugual-biggest-waves-xl-surf/38658">happens at Nazaré to create giant waves</a>. Extending out to sea from the shore is an underwater canyon that was etched out by an ancient river when past sea level was much lower than it is today. As waves propagate toward shore over this canyon, it acts like a magnifying glass and refracts the waves toward the center of the canyon. This focusing of waves by the Nazaré Canyon helps make the largest surfable waves on the planet. </p>
<p>The next time you hear about someone like Maya Gabeira surfing a record-breaking wave at Nazaré, think about the faraway storms and the unique underwater bathymetry that are essential for generating such big waves. The wave she rode had been on a long journey, and at its crashing end, it was memorialized as she took off from its crest and rode down its huge, steep face.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Warner has received funding from National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, and the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative.</span></em></p>Some beaches in the world tend to consistently produce huge waves. Places like Nazaré Canyon in Portugal and Mavericks in California are famous for their waves because of the shape of the seafloor.Sally Warner, Assistant Professor of Climate Science, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1309852020-02-24T13:47:37Z2020-02-24T13:47:37ZGoldman Sachs’ push for board diversity doesn’t go far enough<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315056/original/file-20200212-61935-10zc3hy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. corporate boards still lack women.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/business-people-meeting-conference-discussion-brainstorming-434497435">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Several European countries – including <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/119343/impact-quotas-corporate-gender-equality">Norway</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/06/germany-gender-quota-legislation-boardroom-law-women">Germany</a>, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/norway-france-and-finland-tried-to-help-women-by-using-quotas-on-corporate-boards-it-hasnt-worked">Finland, France</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40804-016-0047-x">Spain</a> – have introduced quotas for women on company boards.</p>
<p>Other countries have introduced <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-41914806">voluntary targets</a> and imposed <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/women-directors-non-compliant-firms-to-face-r50k-penalty/">penalties for failing to appoint women directors</a>. And this year, public companies in <a href="https://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/california-companies-hustle-women-board-members-deadline.html">California will face a US$100,000 penalty</a> if their boards don’t include women. </p>
<p>Recently, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2020/01/26/goldman-sachs-announces-at-least-one-diverse-board-member-needed-for-companies-to-go-publicwhat-are-they-missing/#31651fb8408f">Goldman Sachs announced</a> that it will not take a company public unless the business has at least one woman on the board of directors. This signals a growing consensus among large investors that companies with all male boards are less profitable and less competitive than other companies.</p>
<p>This push is important, particularly as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/17/after-years-glacial-change-women-now-hold-more-than-corporate-board-seats/">women directors remain</a> significantly underrepresented on corporate boards and the <a href="https://hbr.org/2011/05/women-on-boards-america">U.S. falls behind</a> a number of other countries in women’s presence on boards.</p>
<p>But it’s not enough. </p>
<p>We are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christy_Glas%60s">a sociologist</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alison_Cook2">a management professor</a>, and for more than a decade, we have analyzed the impact of board diversity.</p>
<p>Our research shows that <a href="https://www.reminetwork.com/articles/board-diversity-spurs-improved-innovation/">companies with diverse boards are more innovative</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726717729207">enjoy stronger community relations</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726715611734">have better equity and diversity policies</a> and <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.05.009">outcomes</a>, pursue more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1879">environmentally sustainable practices</a> and are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726717729207">better governed</a>.</p>
<p>While a single woman on the board can move a business in the right direction, companies with a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726717729207">critical mass of women</a> directors – that means three or more – outperform others on nearly every measure. </p>
<h2>Women help women</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.05.009">Our work</a> shows that women’s presence on the board <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21907">increases leadership opportunities</a> for other women.</p>
<p>When women serve on the board, other women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12018">more likely to be appointed CEO</a> and enjoy longer tenures compared with women CEOs in companies without board diversity. Women on the board also shield women CEOs from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2161">glass cliff</a>, the tendency to appoint women to top leadership roles during times of crisis. </p>
<p>Board service can also serve as an important leadership pipeline. Only <a href="https://fortune.com/2018/05/21/women-fortune-500-2018/">5% of Fortune 500 companies</a> have a woman CEO and <a href="https://www.axios.com/fortune-500-no-women-of-color-ceos-3d42619c-967b-47d2-b94c-659527b22ee3.html">fewer than 1%</a> have a woman of color at the helm, so fostering talent is necessary to create change.</p>
<p>All too often companies practice a “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/business/one-done-firms-token-woman-board-have-no-excuse/">one and done</a>” policy when it comes to appointing women to corporate boards. Women are most likely to be appointed to boards when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793916668356">the current woman director is stepping down</a>.</p>
<p>In other words, the end of one woman’s tenure motivates the board to appoint another woman. This tendency reveals that many companies view women as tokens, necessary to check the right box but not vital to board functioning. </p>
<p>Appointing a single woman to a board can limit her ability to demonstrate the full range of her talents. Being the “only one” on the board can heighten one’s outsider status, increase performance pressures and exacerbate sexist stereotypes. </p>
<p>Appointing a single woman to the board also doesn’t guarantee influence. Often women are relegated to lower prestige board committees and denied leadership roles. While women hold <a href="https://boardmember.com/female-directors-next-battle-become-board-chair/">23% of corporate board seats in the Fortune 500</a>, they hold only 5% of board chair positions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315057/original/file-20200212-61952-fh6sac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315057/original/file-20200212-61952-fh6sac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315057/original/file-20200212-61952-fh6sac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315057/original/file-20200212-61952-fh6sac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315057/original/file-20200212-61952-fh6sac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315057/original/file-20200212-61952-fh6sac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315057/original/file-20200212-61952-fh6sac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi stepped down in 2018. She was replaced by Ramon Laguarta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Asia-Game-Changers/5b71959df9f14fafb971d9b9d12658b8/11/0">AP Photo/Seth Wenig</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Where else are the gaps?</h2>
<p>Our research also shows that women directors’ influence over board decisions is the true source of change.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726718809158">In a recent study</a>, we analyzed whether women’s presence on executive boards influenced the gender wage gap among senior executives. We analyzed companies under three conditions: Women served on the board, women served on the compensation committee and women chaired the compensation committee.</p>
<p>Women’s presence on the board or on the committee had little effect on compensation outcomes, but when women chaired the all-important compensation committee, the gender wage gap disappeared.</p>
<p>Companies must also move beyond a simplistic understanding of “diversity” that begins and ends with promoting white women. While Goldman’s statement included language about “diverse members” on boards, the firm clarified that its focus is on women. Yet people of color <a href="https://fortune.com/2017/06/09/white-men-senior-executives-fortune-500-companies-diversity-data/">remain vastly underrepresented</a> in corporate leadership roles.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127014564109">Our work finds</a> that when boards include people of color, companies become more competitive and better governed. Minority directors are particularly influential in businesses led by white CEOs, a characteristic that describes the overwhelming majority of large companies.</p>
<p>Racial and ethnic diversity on the board also enhances a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888414557292">company’s commitment to equity</a>. We find that companies with influential minority directors enjoy better work-life policies and stronger LGBTQ policies. They are also more committed to hiring and recruiting a more diverse work force and supplier base.</p>
<h2>Intentional diversity</h2>
<p>Some companies are expanding board size, appointing younger directors and relaxing outdated requirements for board leadership, all in an effort to increase women’s representation. </p>
<p>For example, The Motley Fool, a financial services company seeking to increase <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/report-diversity-on-boards-growing-slowly-but-steadily.aspx">board diversity</a> began leveraging internal and external networks, setting clear guidelines to reduce biased candidate evaluations and considering candidates at different career levels and from outside the industry. </p>
<p>The result is a board filled with a <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/report-diversity-on-boards-growing-slowly-but-steadily.aspx">diverse group of talented and innovative business leaders</a>. <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/report-diversity-on-boards-growing-slowly-but-steadily.aspx">According to The Motley Fool’s chief network officer</a>, talented and qualified candidates are out there but too many companies are not recruiting them.</p>
<p><a href="https://fortune.com/2019/10/08/pwc-gender-diversity-boards-men-2019/">A recent survey found</a> that most male directors believe board diversity is important but that boards will naturally become more diverse over time, even without much effort. <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-diversity-corporate-boards-bill-20190503-story.html">Evidence</a> suggests otherwise.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/business/women-minorities-corporate-boards.html">Board integration is slow and uneven</a> and can only be realized with a sustained commitment by companies and investors to champion best practices for recruitment and appointment. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130985/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More women on corporate boards means more opportunities for women, and better performances by businesses.Christy Glass, Professor of Sociology, Utah State UniversityAlison Cook, Professor of Management, Utah State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1145522019-04-30T22:06:55Z2019-04-30T22:06:55ZFar-right yellow vest extremists threaten Saskatchewan’s economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271793/original/file-20190430-136803-nauf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C61%2C1992%2C1428&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yellow vest protesters espouse far-right ideologies including opposing immigration. Anti-immigrant attitudes like these threaten economic growth in Saskatchewan. Here a Twitter snap from a yellow vest protest in Saskatoon against the UN GCM and Carbon Tax on Dec. 8, 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">twitter.com/GayConCanada</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the first time in generations, international migration has helped to fuel Saskatchewan’s population growth. “Suddenly,” wrote Saskatchewan-based columnist Tammy Robert in <em>Maclean’s</em> in 2017, <a href="http://www.macleans.ca/opinion/saskatchewans-brad-wall-problem/">“Saskatchewan was the place to be — not the place to be from.”</a> Starting in 2007, for almost a decade, a prolonged resource-led boom drew domestic and international migrants, reshaping the demographics of the province’s urban centres and rural hinterlands. </p>
<p>But with the recess of global commodity prices, particularly oil, and the slowing down of Saskatchewan’s prosperous economy, the welcoming attitude towards immigrants seems to have cooled. Recent <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/transparency/consultations/2017-consultations-immigration-levels-settlement-integration-final-report.html">federal polls show that 37 per cent of western Canadians believe Canada welcomes too many immigrants, a number that jumped from 24 per cent in 2014</a>, creating the conditions for a harmful backlash. In general, according to polls, all <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4794797/canada-negative-immigration-economy-ipsos/">people across Canada have stronger negative feelings about immigration in 2018 than they did in 2017</a>.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.estevanmercury.ca/2.2454/canadian-press/news/national/saskatchewan-ndp-asks-premier-to-distance-himself-from-yellow-vest-rallies-1.23667265">emerging yellow vest movement in Saskatchewan</a> takes <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4770509/yellow-vest-protests-canada/">aim at Canada’s commitment to the UN Global Compact for Migration and more broadly, immigration</a>. Left unattended, the yellow vests could potentially jeopardize the province’s efforts to grow and recruit workers from abroad.</p>
<h2>Immigration became public policy</h2>
<p>Saskatchewan’s resource boom in the early 2000s <a href="https://www.policyschool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/emerysasklabour-online.pdf">reversed a decades-long trend of outmigration</a>, which had drained the province’s labour market, particularly the skill and knowledge-intensive occupations.</p>
<p>Former minister of intergovernmental and aboriginal affairs Eldon Lautermilch said in 2003 that Saskatchewan <a href="http://migrantwork.ca/research/">“needs skilled workers in the fields of biotechnology, telecommunications and manufacturing. We need health-care professionals, business people and farm owners and operators.”</a> </p>
<p>By 2006, the province formalized its labour objectives by signing an agreement with the government of the Philippines <a href="http://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2006/december/18/government-signs-immigration-agreement-with-the-philippines-to-bring-more-skilled-workers-here">to increase the recruitment of Filipino workers through the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP).</a> In this case, international linkages and the recruitment of immigrants became a matter of public policy.</p>
<p>In 2009, the Saskatchewan Labour Market Commission published a report that said <a href="http://www.saskatchewan.ca/%7E/media/news%20archive/2009/july/03/labour%20market%20commission%20tables%20final%20report/saskatchewan%20labour%20market%20strategy.pdf">immigration was to remain a pillar of the province’s economic development strategy for decades to come</a>. Industries that were coming to depend on permanent new immigrants and temporary foreign workers would reflect this reality, as the faces of health care, construction, retail, long-haul truck driving, food services and hospitality quickly changed. </p>
<p>Thanks in part to an employer-driven immigration system, the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers.html">Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP)</a> and <a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/moving-to-saskatchewan/immigrating-to-saskatchewan/saskatchewan-immigrant-nominee-program">Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP)</a> were used to rapidly facilitate the entry of migrants into Saskatchewan’s workplaces. </p>
<h2>Negative views towards immigrants</h2>
<p>Isabelle Hudon, Canada’s ambassador to France, says the Canadian yellow-vest movement bears little resemblance to France’s “<em>gilets jaunes</em>” which started last November as a protest against a fuel tax and grew into a general movement against the tax burden imposed on regular French citizens. </p>
<p>In a report by <em>The Canadian Press</em>, Hudon said the movement in Canada “<a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/yellow-vests-in-canada-bear-no-resemblance-to-protesters-in-france-ambassador-1.4263034">appears to have been appropriated by far-right extremists espousing racist, anti-immigrant views</a>.” <a href="https://www.canadalandshow.com/far-right-yellow-vests-taking-over-canada/">Far-right racist elements appear at both yellow-vest rallies and on social media sites.</a> </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271789/original/file-20190430-136803-76ie13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271789/original/file-20190430-136803-76ie13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271789/original/file-20190430-136803-76ie13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271789/original/file-20190430-136803-76ie13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271789/original/file-20190430-136803-76ie13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271789/original/file-20190430-136803-76ie13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271789/original/file-20190430-136803-76ie13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unlike Canada, France’s yellow vest protesters includes people across political, regional, social and generational divides angry at economic injustice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP/Kamil Zihnioglu)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This has not stopped the Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and members of his cabinet <a href="https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/moe-not-concerned-about-cabinet-ministers-attending-yellow-vest-protests">from speaking at such events, citing the pro-pipeline nature of the movement as cause for attendance.</a> </p>
<p>In many ways, the yellow vest phenomenon represents the contradictory relationship Saskatchewan residents have with its immigration policy. Immigrants have become crucial to the economic fabric of the province, helping to keep many businesses in small towns and cities stay alive. But at the same time, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4830265/facebook-removes-comments-yellow-vests-canada-trudeau-threats/">resentment from some residents towards immigrants and foreign workers appears to be on the rise</a>.</p>
<h2>Labour exploitation</h2>
<p>Along with the expansion of Canada’s foreign worker programs <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Saskatchewan%20Office/2014/07/temporary_foreign_workers_saskatchewan.pdf">came a growing list of cases of exploitation and abuses experienced by immigrants</a>. Threats of deportation, challenges accessing health care, ignorance of basic employment standards, substandard accommodations and poor workplace training came to define immigrant labour conditions. </p>
<p>To combat worker exploitation in Saskatchewan, the province constructed new employment rights oriented towards newcomers. The <a href="http://www.qp.gov.sk.ca/documents/English/Statutes/Statutes/F18-1.pdf">Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act (FWRISA)</a> proclaimed in 2013 functioned as a counterweight to the precarious realities faced by these often-vulnerable workers. </p>
<p>A Program Investigative Unit (PIU) was also tasked with enforcing FWRISA, adding new enforcement elements to Saskatchewan’s employment standards regime.</p>
<p>Before his exit from politics, then-Minister of the Economy Bill Boyd, who oversaw the crafting of FWRISA, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Saskatchewan%20Office/2019/02/Safe%20Passage.pdf">“We need this legislation. It’s about fairness for newcomers and ensuring Saskatchewan continues our strong reputation as a preferred destination for immigrants.”</a> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ultimately, the legislation would create registration and licensing requirements for both employers and recruiters. Most importantly, through the lens of FWRISA and the PIU, employment of immigrants is seen as a privilege — not a right — for employers who have a demonstrable need for foreign workers. </p>
<p>Hundreds of cases of exploitation have been investigated by the PIU since its inception, in co-operation with the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety. Most employers investigated through the process are small businesses in the food services, accommodations, construction, property management, manufacturing and auto repair industries. <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Saskatchewan%20Office/2019/02/Safe%20Passage.pdf">Of the 356 licensed recruiters, only two have been reported to have their right to practise in the province suspended.</a> </p>
<h2>Economic futures</h2>
<p>What is revealed from an overview of the PIU cases is that training and education for employers is minimal, and that a basic knowledge of migrant rights is required in advance of accessing workers from abroad. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.estevanmercury.ca/2.2454/canadian-press/news/national/saskatchewan-ndp-asks-premier-to-distance-himself-from-yellow-vest-rallies-1.23667265">senior policy makers flirt with harmful anti-immigrant protest movements</a>, a new regime of migrant worker rights has shed light on the routine abuses newcomers face in Saskatchewan’s labour market. </p>
<p>Evidence suggests that these lived realities are being taken seriously by thoughtful civil servants who recognize the precarious situation of migrant labour in the province, and who have developed a response. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/yellow-vest-rally-regina-1.4948026">yellow vests dotting the political horizon</a> for the foreseeable future, Saskatchewan will need to reconcile its relationship with migration if it wishes to be seen as a choice destination for immigrants. Political and economic fortunes hinge on the path politicians choose.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Stevens receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Foundation and is the inaugural Unifor Research Scholar in the Faculty of Business Administration. He is serving his first time as a city councillor in Regina.</span></em></p>Far-right yellow vest extremists in Saskatchewan could jeopardize Saskatchewan’s efforts to grow and attract immigrants.Andrew Stevens, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business, University of ReginaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1144252019-04-07T14:58:35Z2019-04-07T14:58:35ZWhy Alberta would be foolish to abandon carbon policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267217/original/file-20190402-177181-eaw9e1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters wave signs during an anti-carbon tax rally in Calgary in October 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alberta’s New Democratic Party government has had an aggressive carbon policy <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/alberta-carbon-tax-timeline">that’s been central to its term in office.</a> The carbon policy was meant to be a bookend to getting a pipeline built to tidewater so Alberta oil could reach international markets. </p>
<p>The climate policy plus pipeline strategy was designed to be collaborative with the federal government because the <a href="https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/energy/energy-resources/The_Inescapability_of_Carbon_Taxes_for_Canada.pdf">federal Liberals also campaigned in 2015 on climate policy plus pipeline</a>. Alberta’s largest oil industry players were supportive of the NDP government’s carbon policies and committed to continue and boost their efforts to reduce their emissions. </p>
<p>But a series of federal environmental and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/trans-mountain-appeal-ruling-first-nations-duty-to-consult-1.4805694">Indigenous consultation</a> legal hurdles over the past four years has resulted in delays in pipeline building. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, Alberta’s largest oil industry players <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ceraweek-suncor-husky-carbon-tax-1.5053182">continue today to be supportive of a proactive carbon policy.</a></p>
<p>With an election on April 16, the polls-leading United Conservative Party (UCP) is now campaigning with a no-holds-barred aggressive “get a pipeline built” approach complete with a <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/ucp-promises-30-million-oil-war-room-environmental-group-funding-cut">$30 million war room to attack environmental opponents</a>. </p>
<p>Carbon policy is all but missing from the UCP platform, with the notable exception of scrapping the carbon tax and hinting that most other NDP climate initiatives will face a similar fate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267469/original/file-20190404-160948-8ise4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267469/original/file-20190404-160948-8ise4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267469/original/file-20190404-160948-8ise4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267469/original/file-20190404-160948-8ise4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267469/original/file-20190404-160948-8ise4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267469/original/file-20190404-160948-8ise4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267469/original/file-20190404-160948-8ise4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UCP leader Jason Kenney campaigns in Calgary late last month.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many Albertans lean to fiscal conservatism and worry that the NDP is not sufficiently frugal while the province continues to suffer a recession. Yet they are not committed UCP supporters. Many of these fiscally conservative voters share the NDP’s environmental values. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-undecided-voters-will-determine-albertas-future/">Recent polls suggest that this group is in the “undecided” camp</a>. </p>
<p>These environmental values received a jolt with <a href="https://changingclimate.ca/CCCR2019/">the recent release of the federal environment commissioner’s 2019 audit conducted by government scientists</a>. The report concluded that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-report-on-climate-change-shows-canada-warming-at-twice-the-rate-of/">Canada’s climate is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world.</a> </p>
<p>I believe, as a scholar in energy and environment, that the responsible production and export of oil, as well as the export of industry expertise and know-how, is key to Alberta’s future. Renewables and electricity storage will no doubt be important growth sectors, but oil will remain a significant part of Alberta’s energy portfolio for decades, despite the global energy transition to a lower-carbon economy.</p>
<h2>Most of Canada’s oil is in Alberta</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/oil-sands/18085">Canada has the third-largest oil reserves in the world</a>, and <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/company-insights/082316/worlds-top-10-oil-exporters.asp">is the fourth-largest exporter of oil.</a> Most of that oil is in Alberta. </p>
<p>The oil-and-gas industry is also Canada’s largest exporter. <a href="http://www.worldstopexports.com/canadas-top-exports/">The industry represents over 20 per cent of Canada’s exports, followed by the auto industry at just under 15 per cent.</a> The industry and its supply chains employ thousands across the country in good jobs. <a href="https://ceri.ca/assets/files/Study_166_Executive_Summary.pdf">The industry’s royalties and taxes fund government services in Alberta and across Canada.</a> </p>
<p>More than a dozen years ago, former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper proclaimed to the world in London that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/pm-brands-canada-an-energy-superpower/article1105875/">Canada was an “emerging energy superpower.”</a> I was in the room in Houston two years ago when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trudeau-no-country-would-find-173-billion-barrels-of-oil-in-the-ground-and-leave-them-there-1.4019321">“No country would find 173 billion barrels of oil in the ground and leave them there.”</a></p>
<p>Global oil demand is growing and the United States, historically Canada’s only oil customer, has recently become the world’s largest oil producer <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Impact-Emerging-Economies-Global-Environment/dp/1498519113">due to innovations in fracking technology and the resulting “shale revolution.”</a> </p>
<p>Like the U.S., Canada’s oil industry has also <a href="https://www.jwnenergy.com/article/2018/11/high-tech-nature-canadas-oil-and-gas-sector-needs-be-understood-all-canadians/">made technological leaps to meet the growing oil demand</a>. Canada, however, needs pipelines to its coasts to reach overseas markets. And Canada, unlike the U.S., lacks a large domestic market. </p>
<p>The United States, meantime, for the first time in half a century, has so much oil that it’s exporting it. <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Energy_Security_and_Environmental_Sustai.html?id=8LD8DQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">The U.S. has become Canada’s oil industry competitor</a>.</p>
<p>Canada is a signatory to the Paris Accord on climate change. Consequently, the federal and Alberta governments introduced carbon taxes and Alberta placed a greenhouse gas emissions cap on the oilsands. </p>
<p>Alberta’s largest oilsands companies, understanding that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199808)19:8%3C729::AID-SMJ967%3E3.0.CO;2-4">being proactive with respect to corporate environmental strategy pays off</a>, endorsed these policies. They welcomed them as being consistent with their own efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions and costs, despite their heavy oils being higher in emissions than lighter oils.</p>
<h2>Reducing emissions</h2>
<p>My organizational studies on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amir_Bahman_Radnejad/publication/277630796_Collaborative_competitors_in_a_fast-changing_technology_environment_Open_innovation_in_environmental_technology_development_in_the_oil_and_gas_industry/links/591b57520f7e9b7727d8a66a/Collaborative-competitors-in-a-fast-changing-technology-environment-Open-innovation-in-environmental-technology-development-in-the-oil-and-gas-industry.pdf">industrial process innovation in Canada’s oil industry</a> show that, due to restrictions on emissions and cost pressures, the industry is leading in technology development. These new <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497217300056">technologies reduce emissions by increasing energy efficiency</a>.</p>
<p>Another stream of research I am involved in examines quantitatively —using data from the Alberta Energy Regulator, Statistics Canada and corporate financial and sustainability reports — what the results are of this process innovation in terms of a metric called <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/5/614">energy return on investment (EROI)</a>. </p>
<p>Our studies show that EROI, or energy efficiency, from Alberta oilsands is improving and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619307280">approaching the average of all global oils</a>. Improved energy efficiency equals lower emissions. Among much sought-after <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/opinion/articles/2019-03-10/shale-oil-boom-leaves-the-world-awash-in-light-sweet-crude">heavy oils, which fetch high prices in Asia</a>, Alberta’s heavy oil has, arguably, the lowest carbon footprint, making it attractive.</p>
<p>Yet another recent study, published in <em>Science</em>, found that while waste gas flaring from conventional oil production worldwide had increased since 2010, it has not in Canada. The paper concluded that <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6405/851">if Canada’s minimal flaring practices were adopted worldwide, greenhouse gas emissions per barrel would fall by 23 per cent</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267479/original/file-20190404-160933-18a6e32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267479/original/file-20190404-160933-18a6e32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267479/original/file-20190404-160933-18a6e32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267479/original/file-20190404-160933-18a6e32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267479/original/file-20190404-160933-18a6e32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267479/original/file-20190404-160933-18a6e32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267479/original/file-20190404-160933-18a6e32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A gas flare is seen in Malaysia. Canada has minimized gas flares.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Alberta exports knowledge</h2>
<p>Besides oil, Alberta has long exported technology and know-how to other oil-producing countries.</p>
<p>I am carrying out my EROI studies collaboratively with colleagues at the China University of Petroleum-Beijing, and funding comes jointly from my Suncor-sponsored research chair in strategy and sustainability and from the <a href="http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/english/site_1/index.html">Natural Science Foundation of China.</a> </p>
<p>According to Chinese diplomats in Canada with whom I have spoken, China is keen to reduce their carbon footprint and to meet their Paris commitments by switching electricity generation from coal to natural gas from Canada, and, for <a href="https://www.jwnenergy.com/article/2018/9/canadian-fossil-fuels-could-lower-chinas-ghgs-resource-works/">industrial refining purposes, by using the lowest carbon heavy oils globally available. They’re also from Canada.</a></p>
<p>Given this innovative spirit and its emissions-reducing results, is this a time for Alberta to turn its back on carbon policy and tarnish its reputation in a world transitioning to lower carbon? </p>
<p>I say categorically no. </p>
<p>The United States may be able to isolate itself from global carbon policy because it has a large domestic market. Alberta and Canada are dependent on global energy markets and we cannot isolate ourselves from global carbon policy. Industry understands that. As they head to the polls soon, Albertans must understand it too. </p>
<p>Carbon policy should not be polarized as a left-right partisan issue, but should be embraced across the board.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harrie VREDENBURG is a member of the boards of directors of Touchstone Exploration, a Calgary-headquartered oil and gas company with operations in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and listed on both the Toronto and London stock exchanges, Prairie Thunder Resources, a Calgary-based oil and gas company majority-owned by Edge Natural Resources of Dallas and minority shareholder Thunderchild First Nation of Saskatchewan, whose share holdings he represents, and Teric Power, a privately owned Calgary-headquartered independent power producer with operations in Alberta and Saskatchewan. He is also executive board member of Project Reconciliation, an initiative to acquire a 51% ownership stake of TransMountain pipeline and expansion for an inclusive coalition of western Canada's Indigenous communities. He owns shares in Touchstone and Teric. He receives funding from the Suncor Energy Foundation which sponsors the Suncor Chair in Strategy and Sustainability at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, which he holds.
</span></em></p>Given Alberta’s innovative spirit and its emissions-reducing results, is this a time for the province to turn its back on carbon policy and tarnish its reputation in a world transitioning to lower carbon?Harrie Vredenburg, Professor & Suncor Chair in Strategy & Sustainability, Haskayne School of Business; Research Fellow, School of Public Policy, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1097042019-01-20T14:41:49Z2019-01-20T14:41:49ZUnist’ot’en and the limits of reconciliation in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254197/original/file-20190116-163268-12rg96q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of the Unist'ot'en camp and Wet'suwet'en walk along a bridge over the Wedzin kwa River leading towards the main camp outside Houston, B.C., on Jan. 9, 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>RCMP units armed with assault rifles and tactical gear recently moved to enforce a temporary <a href="https://www.coastalgaslink.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2019-01-04-filed-order-re-interim-injunction-revised.pdf">court injunction</a> issued by the British Columbia Supreme Court against members of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. </p>
<p>Since 2010, members of the Nation’s Unist'ot'en clan have constructed and operated the <a href="https://unistoten.camp/">Unist'ot'en gated checkpoint and action camp</a> located on the Morice River Bridge in northern B.C. The RCMP raids took place at a second checkpoint located on a logging road west of the Unist'ot'en camp operated by the Gidumdt'en clan. </p>
<p>The Unist'ot'en camp and the Gidumdt'en checkpoint have been built to block the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline on the Wet'suwet'en Nation’s traditional territories.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-next-standing-rock-looming-in-northern-b-c-108461">Is the next Standing Rock looming in northern B.C.?</a>
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<p>However, the reoccupation is much more than a blockade. Over time, the camp has built a decolonial healing centre, and become a space where Wet'suwet'en and others come to <a href="https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2018/12/12/an-injunction-against-the-unistoten-camp/">reconstruct and nurture land-based relationships</a>. </p>
<p>In their raid of the Gidumdt'en checkpoint, <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/3k993b/police-enforce-injunction-at-indigenous-checkpoint-in-northern-bc">the RCMP dismantled the fortifications and arrested 14 Wet'suwet'en land defenders, including a Wet'suwet'en elder</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the RCMP’s efforts to <a href="https://aptnnews.ca/2019/01/08/rcmp-denial-of-journalists-access-to-protest-site-frightening-says-press-freedom-advocate/">limit the ability of journalists to report on their operation</a>, information and updates were widely shared on social media leading up to, during and after the raids. </p>
<p>In the aftermath of the RCMP’s actions, <a href="https://aptnnews.ca/2019/01/09/thousands-rally-in-cities-across-canada-in-support-of-unistoten-and-gidimten/">solidarity efforts and protests have been organized across Canada and in the United States</a> in support of the Wet'suwet'en land defenders. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254198/original/file-20190116-163283-199s3fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254198/original/file-20190116-163283-199s3fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254198/original/file-20190116-163283-199s3fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254198/original/file-20190116-163283-199s3fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254198/original/file-20190116-163283-199s3fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254198/original/file-20190116-163283-199s3fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254198/original/file-20190116-163283-199s3fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Protestors demonstrate in Jan. 11, 2019, in downtown Seattle in support of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)</span></span>
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<p>It’s important that settlers understand what Unist'ot'en represents in the era of reconciliation currently being promoted by governments in Canada. </p>
<p>The injunction and RCMP operations against the Unist'ot'en camp demonstrate the limitations of reconciliation as it’s developed in Canada. It underscores the need to offer greater support of Indigenous governance structures rooted in land-based relationships.</p>
<h2>Unist'ot'en & Indigenous collective action</h2>
<p>The militaristic images that have come out of the RCMP raids on the Gidumdt'en checkpoint are indeed shocking, but perhaps not surprising for those familiar with past government responses to territorial reoccupations by Indigenous peoples.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254204/original/file-20190116-163283-1t5ey8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254204/original/file-20190116-163283-1t5ey8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254204/original/file-20190116-163283-1t5ey8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254204/original/file-20190116-163283-1t5ey8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254204/original/file-20190116-163283-1t5ey8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254204/original/file-20190116-163283-1t5ey8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254204/original/file-20190116-163283-1t5ey8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">RCMP members gather at a Wet'suwet'en checkpoint to remove barriers on a bridge over the Morice River, southwest of Houston, B.C., on Jan. 11, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito</span></span>
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<p>Similar to actions taken by Indigenous peoples at <a href="https://standwithstandingrock.net/">Standing Rock</a>, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/oka-crisis">at Oka</a> and <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/gustafsen_lake/">at Gustafsen Lake</a>, the Unist'ot'en camp was created to fight back against government and corporate claims to unceded Indigenous territory.</p>
<p>The proposed <a href="https://www.transcanada.com/en/operations/natural-gas/coastal-gaslink/">Coastal GasLink pipeline</a>, owned by resource development corporation TransCanada, cuts across the Wet'suwet'en’s traditional territories.</p>
<p>Despite the natural gas pipeline receiving approval from the federal and B.C. provincial governments, as well as the elected chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation, it has been unanimously rejected by Wet'suwet'en’s hereditary chiefs.</p>
<p>This rejection is important, as <a href="https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2019/01/10/Unistoten-Movement-Law-Its-Side/">legal authority and jurisdiction over the 22,000 square kilometres unceded Wet’suwet’en territory rests with the Wet’suwet’en’s hereditary chiefs</a>, and not the elected band council.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/corporations-dont-seem-to-understand-indigenous-jurisdiction-109608">Corporations don't seem to understand Indigenous jurisdiction</a>
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<p>The Wet'suwet'en’s territorial claims are supported by the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1997 <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1569/index.do">Delgamuuk'w decision</a>, which ruled that the Wet'suwet'en and the neighbouring Gitxsan had never surrendered their territory, and thus retain authority over any lands not ceded by treaty.</p>
<p>Despite this ruling, the Canadian and B.C governments have assumed their own sovereignty over Wet'suwet'en lands and have unilaterally signed off on pipeline projects moving forward on Wet'suwet'en territory. </p>
<p>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the RCMP’s actions to enforce the temporary court injunction <a href="https://www.haidagwaiiobserver.com/news/trudeau-b-c-protest-arrests-not-ideal-but-rule-of-law-must-be-respected/">“not ideal”</a> but noted that <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4831253/rcmp-arrest-14-wetsuweten-camp-explainer/">“the rule of law” and the legal authority of the Canadian courts must be respected</a>.</p>
<p>This response mirrors long-standing beliefs held by settler politicians and citizens who reject Indigenous authority over their own territories, favouring a view of sovereignty as residing solely with settler-organized governments and institutions.</p>
<p>Trudeau’s regurgitation of these views should be especially troubling given his government’s steadfast promotion of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. </p>
<h2>The limits of reconciliation</h2>
<p>Beginning with the 2015 federal election campaign, the Trudeau Liberals have used a discourse of reconciliation to frame its commitments to Indigenous peoples. </p>
<p>Despite this, Trudeau’s Indigenous affairs track record has been largely inconsistent, blending together seemingly progressive changes with policy decisions that resemble those of his Conservative predecessor. </p>
<p>While in office, Trudeau has initiated a number of long-called for actions such as a <a href="https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1448633299414/1534526479029">National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls</a> and taken steps to developing an <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/indigenous-languages-legislation.html">Indigenous Languages Act</a>. </p>
<p>Yet his government has also <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/indigenous-rights-framework-bennett-1.4819510">bungled the development of an Indigenous Rights Framework</a> and supported a number of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trans-mountain-pipeline-liberal-government-1.4805501">highly controversial resource development projects</a> that fly in the face of the principles of <a href="https://www.kairoscanada.org/what-we-do/indigenous-rights/free-prior-informed-consent">Free, Prior and Informed Consent</a>.</p>
<p>The divide between rhetoric and action demonstrate Canada’s ongoing commitment to what Anishinaabe scholar Sheryl Lightfoot calls a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Global-Indigenous-Politics-A-Subtle-Revolution-1st-Edition/Lightfoot/p/book/9781138946682">“doctrine of discovery” model of reconciliation.</a> </p>
<p>Under this model, the state has focused its efforts on rectifying its past treatment of Indigenous peoples by addressing contemporary socio-economic disparities and promoting the cultural equality for Indigenous peoples within Canadian society.</p>
<p>However, at the same time, the state has also taken political, bureaucratic and judicial steps to shore up its zero-sum claims to territorial sovereignty that limit and ignore Indigenous rights to land and resources. </p>
<p>The reconciliation discourse that has been seized upon by the Liberals and other settler politicians has provided cover for the status quo in Indigenous-settler relations to continue uninterrupted. There’s no focus on renewing and supporting Indigenous peoples’ land-based relationships. </p>
<h2>Challenging settler comfort</h2>
<p>The RCMP raids on the Wet'suwet'en should serve as a wake-up call to progressive-minded Canadians of the current trajectory of reconciliation politics in Canada. </p>
<p>The court injunction and the RCMP’s actions against the Unist'ot'en camp demonstrates Canada’s continued unwillingness to engage with Indigenous governance structures outside of a <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/red-skin-white-masks">colonial politics of recognition</a>. </p>
<p>The actions against the Wet'suwet'en also reflect the failure of settlers —politicians and citizens alike — to understand that meaningful reconciliation is about the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples to self-determination over their traditional territories. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/settlers-with-opinions-83338">Settlers with Opinions</a>
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<p>Rather, what we’ve seen develop in Canada is a version of reconciliation that preserves the interests of settler populations, corporations and governments at the expense of Indigenous self-determination. </p>
<p>In our eyes, true reconciliation requires settlers to critically engage with the meaning of “nation-to-nation” relationship so often touted by federal and provincial politicians. </p>
<p>A starting point would be to recognize and engage with Indigenous people through the governance systems built and upheld prior to European settlement.</p>
<p>In the case of Unist'ot'en, this hasn’t happened. The federal government has labelled Wet'suwet'en’s hereditary chiefs as <a href="https://aptnnews.ca/2018/12/03/government-document-calls-unistoten-leader-aboriginal-extremist/">“Aboriginal extremists”</a> instead of engaging with them as the national leaders they are.</p>
<p>Reconciliation must move beyond what’s palatable to the interests of settlers and what’s possible under the existing terms of Canada’s constitutional order. </p>
<p>We must move towards offering material restitution that supports Indigenous land-based relationships and governance structures while <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/the-sleeping-giant-awakens-4">rolling back</a> the absolute sovereignty of the Canadian state.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109704/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Budd is a settler academic of Irish ancestry who lives and studies in the Dish With One Spoon territory. He is not a member of nor speaks on the behalf of any Indigenous nation, community or organization.
Brian receives research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Midzain-Gobin is a settler academic from Stó:lō territory, living on Algonquin territory and studying on territory covered by the Dish With One Spoon wampum. He receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). </span></em></p>It’s time to engage with Indigenous people through the governance systems built prior to European settlement.Brian Budd, Ph.D Candidate, University of GuelphLiam Midzain-Gobin, PhD Candidate, Political Science, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/974502018-05-30T22:56:31Z2018-05-30T22:56:31ZThe complicated history of building pipelines in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221050/original/file-20180530-120496-1l41tgx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A aerial view of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain tank farm is pictured in Burnaby, B.C. The federal government is buying Trans Mountain and all of Kinder Morgan Canada's core assets. Opposition to pipeline construction in Canada has transformed over the decades, shifting from being a local issue to one of global concerns.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government’s <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/05/29/justin-trudeaus-45-billion-trans-mountain-pipeline-purchase-met-with-a-storm-of-criticism.html">$4.5 billion decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline</a> has set off a new debate about the controversial project.</p>
<p>Canada has a long history of building energy pipelines, but Canadian attitudes toward major energy pipeline projects have changed over time.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/betrayed-canadians-could-launch-unprecedented-protests-over-trans-mountain-activist-says-1.3951191">Unease over the environmental effects of pipeline construction</a> and operation have grown from primarily local concerns, led by communities of settlers and Indigenous peoples along pipeline routes, to global concerns about climate change and international environmental policy.</p>
<p>Oil companies have built pipelines in Canada to move petroleum since 1862. But the construction and operation of major long-distance oil and gas pipelines that cross interprovincial and international borders did not commence until the mid-20th century, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/leduc-oil-discovery-anniversary-oil-boom-history-1.3980331">following the discovery of enormous volumes of crude oil and natural gas near Leduc,</a> Alta., just south of Edmonton.</p>
<p>Within six years of Imperial Oil’s discoveries at Leduc, two major trunk oil pipelines were built, spanning the country.</p>
<p>The first was the <a href="https://www.albertaoilmagazine.com/2010/10/canada%E2%80%99s-main-oil-transporter-marks-60-years-of-building-bridges/">Interprovincial pipeline</a>, opened in 1950, that connected Edmonton to refineries in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and parts of the northern U.S. The second was the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/4239520/trans-mountain-pipeline-timeline/">Trans Mountain pipeline</a>, a western line that travelled from Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C., and began shipping oil in 1953.</p>
<p>These two pipelines carried the overwhelming majority of Alberta’s crude oil to markets across Canada and parts of the United States. They fuelled Canada’s rapid transition to a high-energy, fossil-fuel economy and extraordinary economic growth and prosperity. </p>
<p>But pipeline construction in the past was not without controversy.</p>
<h2>Approved in days</h2>
<p>The construction of these first two long-distance oil pipelines occurred under the regulatory authority of the federal Board of Transport Commissioners. The board approved both pipelines following a few days of hearings with no public consultation or environmental assessments. </p>
<p>Some who lived along the paths of these pipelines worried about the potential for oil spills and other adverse environmental consequences.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/justin-trudeaus-risky-gamble-on-the-trans-mountain-pipeline-97449">Justin Trudeau's risky gamble on the Trans Mountain pipeline</a>
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<p>For instance, in 1953, the chief and council for the Aamjiwnaang First Nation from the Sarnia Indian Reserve wrote to the Minister of Transport Lionel Chevrier. In the letter, he objected to the government’s granting of a right-of-way through the reserve to Interprovincial Pipe Line Company. <a href="http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/collectionsearch/Pages/record.aspx?app=cabcon&IdNumber=35978">The cabinet approved the right-of-way and ordered the company to compensate the First Nation.</a></p>
<p>Settler farmers also began raising concerns about the environmental effects of pipeline construction and oil spills on their land in the late 1950s and early 1960s.</p>
<p>Norman Richmond, a southern Ontario landowner from Pelham Township, was one such concerned citizen. He spoke before the National Energy Board in November 1961, warning of the need for careful environmental planning in pipeline construction. He argued that “future planning is so important that to be ruthless about it and not consider what our children and our children’s children are going to find would be a detriment to all concerned.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"988535935326449666"}"></div></p>
<p>Occasionally, pipeline politics rose to national prominence.</p>
<h2>The Great Pipeline Debate</h2>
<p>This first occurred in the mid-1950s during what was known as “<a href="https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:40000020">The Great Pipeline Debate</a>,” an acrimonious political debacle over the construction of the TransCanada pipeline, the country’s first long-distance interprovincial natural gas pipeline.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221053/original/file-20180530-120484-7oabez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221053/original/file-20180530-120484-7oabez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221053/original/file-20180530-120484-7oabez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221053/original/file-20180530-120484-7oabez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221053/original/file-20180530-120484-7oabez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221053/original/file-20180530-120484-7oabez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221053/original/file-20180530-120484-7oabez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A photo from 1957 showing the construction of the TransCanada pipeline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Library and Archives Canada</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>A mixture of nationalist economic and energy policies influenced the decision to prioritize an “all-Canadian” route for the original line from Alberta to Ontario.</p>
<p>Shaky financing ultimately led to what amounted to a government bailout of the U.S. consortium that led the project. The Canadian and Ontario governments formed a joint Crown corporation to build the more difficult (and less profitable) segment of the pipeline through northern Ontario. </p>
<p>The federal opposition parties objected to the Liberal party’s approach to the TransCanada pipeline and the high-handed measures of the unusually powerful cabinet minister, C.D. Howe.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221059/original/file-20180530-120508-1vlsiwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221059/original/file-20180530-120508-1vlsiwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221059/original/file-20180530-120508-1vlsiwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221059/original/file-20180530-120508-1vlsiwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221059/original/file-20180530-120508-1vlsiwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221059/original/file-20180530-120508-1vlsiwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221059/original/file-20180530-120508-1vlsiwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crowds line up to watch pipeline debates in the House of Commons in June 1956.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Duncan Cameron/Library and Archives Canada</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The result was the end of more than two decades of continuous Liberal rule in Canada and <a href="https://www.usask.ca/diefenbaker/virtual-exhibits/federal-elections-1957-1958.php">the election of John Diefenbaker</a> and the first Progressive Conservative government in Canadian history.</p>
<h2>Ordinary Canadians involved</h2>
<p>More and more ordinary Canadians started to raise concerns about oil and gas pipeline development in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Numerous, repeated oil spills along the Interprovincial pipeline in Western Canada led to calls for more environmental regulation of the industry and research into the effects of oil spills on soil quality.</p>
<p>Oil spills along the Trans Mountain pipeline in Jasper National Park and Merritt, B.C. in the early 1970s raised anxieties within affected communities about the environmental implications of oil pipelines and their further expansion. </p>
<p>When the federal government approved the extension of the Interprovincial pipeline system from Sarnia to Montreal in the mid-1970s, southern Ontario farmers organized to resist its construction, and called for better construction practices and environmental protections.</p>
<p>In the North, three competing gas pipeline proposals for the Mackenzie Valley alarmed the region’s Indigenous residents who feared the potential environmental harms that might come from pipeline construction and operation in delicate northern environments.</p>
<p>They were joined by environmental and conservation groups who saw the gas pipeline proposals as threats to wildlife. Indigenous peoples in the North were also concerned about the implications of pipeline development for unresolved land and resource claims. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221060/original/file-20180530-120484-vmg7dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221060/original/file-20180530-120484-vmg7dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221060/original/file-20180530-120484-vmg7dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221060/original/file-20180530-120484-vmg7dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221060/original/file-20180530-120484-vmg7dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221060/original/file-20180530-120484-vmg7dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221060/original/file-20180530-120484-vmg7dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mr. Justice Thomas Berger, chairman of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Commission, in 1977.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The federal government appointed Justice Thomas Berger to lead an inquiry into the gas pipeline proposals for the Mackenzie Valley. In 1977, after listening to numerous groups of northern peoples — including First Nations, Métis, and settler communities — <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/the-berger-report-is-released">Berger recommended the federal cabinet impose a 10-year moratorium on pipeline development in the Mackenzie Valley</a>. </p>
<p>Northern pipeline development quickly re-emerged in the early 1980s with a proposal from Interprovincial Pipe Line Co. (<a href="https://www.enbridge.com/about-us/our-history">the company that today is Enbridge</a>) to build an oil pipeline in the Mackenzie Valley from Norman Wells, N.W.T., to Zama, Alta., to deliver northern oil to southern markets.</p>
<h2>First Nation objections</h2>
<p>In spite of the recommendations of the Berger inquiry and the continued objections of First Nations, the National Energy Board and the federal cabinet approved the construction of the <a href="https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/nrg/ntgrtd/pplnprtl/pplnprfls/crdl/nbrdnrmwlls-eng.html">Norman Wells Pipeline</a>. </p>
<p>The local Dene were eventually persuaded to accede to the construction of the pipeline in exchange for additional environmental mitigation efforts, employment opportunities and protections against potential socio-economic effects of pipeline development. The company completed construction of the pipeline in 1985, but Dene objections to the pipeline and concerns over oil spills, disruptions to wildlife habitat and other adverse environmental effects persisted.</p>
<p>The pipeline debates today reflect some continuities with the past 70 years of oil and gas pipeline development, but there are some significant differences in contemporary pipeline politics.</p>
<p>The most significant difference is that opposition to new pipeline development is deeply implicated in global environmental politics concerning climate change. The issue of climate change has elevated the question of pipeline development in Canada from a local or even national concern to a global one. As a result, the political stakes have been raised to a degree not previously experienced in this country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97450/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Kheraj has received funding from a Petro Canada Young Innovator Award. </span></em></p>Canada has a long history of building energy pipelines against a backdrop of environmental uncertainty. Decades ago, the opposition came from local groups. Now it’s a global issue.Sean Kheraj, Associate Professor, Department of History, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.