'Fossil Fuel Friendly' Banks & Trudeau Secretly Supporting Pipeline Expansion...

[G.L.R.]

Canada's big banks are secretly supporting Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion

May 31, 2022

An analysis published Tuesday revealed that six of Canada's largest banks are financing the construction of the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline expansion, partially fulfilling a promise by the center-left government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to secure private funding for the highly controversial project while calling into question the administration's pledge to cap oil and gas emissions. "Our big fossil banks and the federal government have been working in tandem for a long time behind the scenes."Based on data from Bloomberg Terminal, the grassroots advocacy group Stand.earth found that the banks—TD Securities, RBC Capital Markets, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, BMO Capital Markets, Scotiabank, and National Bank of Canada—quietly agreed last month to lend CAD $10 billion (U.S. $7.9 billion) to Trans Mountain Corporation...

Trudeau observing non existent native 'mass burials',
while promising to respect native lands

"Once again, we see that Canadian banks are leading the world in financing climate-destructive, Indigenous rights-violating projects like the Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project," Stand.earth climate finance director Richard Brooks said in a statement. "It's time for them to choose sides—are you going to help us reach our national climate goals, or do everything possible to hold us back?" The approximately 1,150-kilometer (715-mile) pipeline, which was completed in 1953, is owned by the Canadian government through its Trans Mountain Corporation ...

Tar sands oil is often called the world's dirtiest. Climate activists have called on the Canadian government to cancel the expansion, arguing that in addition to exacerbating the climate emergency and threatening the environment, it desecrates sacred Indigenous lands...

Trudeau—who has often come under fire for his fossil fuel-friendly policies... All six of the banks named in the new report also claim they are committed to climate action. .. the government announced that the pipeline's price is expected to nearly double to over $21 billion. ... "Why have they been so secretive? Should we not have transparency at Canadian crown corporations when we are all on the hook for this massive, climate regressive, Indigenous rights-violating investment?"

Canada's Big Banks Are Secretly Supporting Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion – Radio Free
https://www.radiofree.org/2022/05/31/canadas-big-banks-are-secretly-supporting-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion