Kinder Morgan – Michal Rozworski

#RealChange wearing thin: A look back at Trudeau’s first year

We’re one year into Justin Trudeau’s government of #RealChange, yet it’s mostly the rhetoric not the policies that have changed. Some of the shine is finally wearing off. Whether approving pipelines, settting electoral reform up to fail or privatizing airports and transit, the Liberals are showing themselves to be the good capitalist managers they’ve always been, not the anti-austerity crusaders of the last election campaign.

Today, three guests—Derrick O’Keefe, Clayton Thomas-Müller and Luke Savage—take a look back at this first year of the Liberal government and look forward to how opposition to it can develop. Derrick is a journalist, author and editor at Ricochet Media. He’s based in Vancouver and currently working on a book on BC politics and history. Clayton Thomas Muller is a climate campaigner with 350.org based in Winnipeg. Luke Savage works for the Broadbent Institute at its Press Progress media outfit and writes frequently on US and Canadian politics.

All the best to you and yours! Back in the New Year!

Climate deals and pipeline steals

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Today’s episode is focused on the economics and politics of climate change: my two guests look at climate negotiations in light of the recent US-China climate deal and the corporate history and dodgy tax practices of Kinder Morgan, looking to expand its tar sands pipeline into Vancouver.

To get a global perspective on the state of climate negotiations and the recent US-China climate deal, I speak with Leigh Phillips, a science writer and journalist who has written for Nature, the EU Observer and many other publications. His article on the China-US climate deal is here and he also has a book coming out early in 2015 so be on the lookout for that.

My second guest is economist and former head of ICBC Robyn Allan who updates us on oil pipelines here in Canada. She describes the cost-benefit analysis that somehow always comes out in favour of the interests of large oil companies as well as her investigative work into the corporate structure of Kinder Morgan. Kinder Morgan, of course, is looking to greatly expand the existing Transmountain pipeline from the tar sands to Vancouver and its work site on Burnaby Mountain is currently subject to daily protest and civil disobedience.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, following this link.