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Pelosi Has Her Pipeline Facts All Wrong

Pelosi Has Her Pipeline Facts All Wrong
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Democratic House leader, Nancy Pelosi, recently tried to meet with Canadian New Democrat Party ("NDP") Leader Thomas Mulcair, in Washington, under the radar.

They failed miserably.

The politically sensitive Keystone pipeline issue was discussed in secret. Confidential agreements were signed. Fingers crossed. And hope to die.

Advisers to these two loose cannon leftists held their breath. Praying these two leaders could walk through this political minefield, unscathed. Even the White House was hoping Pelosi would keep her famous bouche ferme.

Everyone's fears were justified.

We had not seen the non-camera shy Pelosi since 2010, when she led the House Democrats to a crushing defeat.

Pelosi emerged from sipping Zinfandel with Mulcair. And dropped her first grenade on US/Canada relations, when she declared, "It is just amazing to me that Keystone advocates claim the project would create tens of thousands of jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The oil is for export and the jobs are nowhere near that."

Pelosi dropped another verbal grenade when she added irrelevantly, "Canadians don't want the pipeline in their own country."

Fact check time, Ms. Pelosi. With due respect.

Canada is presently governed by the Conservative party, led by Prime Minister Harper, which has a majority in the Canadian Parliament. These Conservatives are in favour of the Keystone pipeline and a pipeline from the Alberta oil sands, west to British Columbia. Similarly, the Federal Liberal party, led currently by Bob Rae, and enjoying about a 30 per cent approval rating in Canada, also supports Keystone and a pipeline to BC .

Even publicly, Tom Mulcair of the NDP, the official opposition party, supports an east/west Canadian pipeline.

Ms. Pelosi, I am sure that there are some Canadians who do not want a Canadian pipeline transporting Alberta oil in Canada. Just as there are many San Franciscans in your tony hood who are in favor of bicycles and streetcars and don't want cars in your fair city.

But upon such limited appeal and flimsy strands of logic, national policies are not made. At least not in Canada.

Also, Ms. Pelosi, we get that you are a strong environmentalist against fossil fuel development.

And as I have warned in two previous HuffPost pieces, the most recent US State Department report cut the legs out of the environment opposition to the Keystone pipeline.

The Keystone pipeline will have a negligible effect on the environment. Without that argument, the environment movement is forced to argue on national security grounds and economic grounds. Both areas in which the anti-Keystone movement is woefully weak.

And Ms. Pelosi, thank you, for proving my point.

Notwithstanding Ms. Pelosi crapping all over Canada and the Canadian Conservative government, Canada still remains the United States' strongest and most trusted ally.

Don't believe me, Ms. Pelosi. Call up your Hollywood buddy, Ben Affleck, and privately screen his award-winning film, "Argo", once more. How easy you ungrateful Americans forget.

Oil coming from Alberta is still more secure and more reliable than oil from the anti-American, anti-capitalist Venezuela. Or from such unstable, authoritarian, homophobic, misogynistic, Mideast countries like Saudi Arabia or Al Gore's favorite,Qatar.

The US has the option, once this oil is refined in American Gulf refineries, to use it internally for its own purposes, or to export it. Reduction in dependence from non-North American oil. Pretty clear.

However, when Ms. Pelosi tried to undermine Keystone by questioning the number of jobs actually created. That is when her true colors were revealed.

Blue. As in blue blood. Elitist. The notorious One per cent. Welcome to Romney Country, Ms. Pelosi.

The US State Department has estimated that Keystone will create over 42,000 jobs. Either directly involved in the construction of the pipeline or in related service jobs, which will assist the construction workers. The Keystone pipeline may also lead to additional jobs related to the American Gulf refineries refining this Albertan oil.

So the Keystone project can employ over 42,000 currently unemployed Americans.

Note that these jobs will be funded by the private sector, as a result of demand from the private sector.

And as opposed to the US government borrowing more money from China to pay for "make work jobs" of

little economic value.

But Democrats like Pelosi, multi-millionaires, (family net worth about $12 million) from wealthy districts like San Francisco, are in reality, indifferent to the plight of your average lower/middle income Americans. Who need basic jobs to pay the mortgage, buy food for the family and provide an education for their children.

These fancy electric car-driving Liberals prefer putting their own esoteric environment/ideological interests over the day to day mundane interests of hard-working Americans, who desperately need the jobs that Keystone will provide.

As a result, leading Democrats like Ms. Pelosi, are driving working class Americans in America's heartland, into the arms of the pro Keystone Republicans. And the Democrats have only themselves to blame.

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