Three days after leaving Toronto, traveling eco-friendly by train, I’ve arrived in Alberta. The province many are calling a “Petrostate” dominated by dirty oil from the tar sands project. On a nine-day journey to the tar sands, I am seeking to find the truth about Canada’s ‘worst eco-crime’ and the world’s largest energy project. I am accompanied by MTV News Canada who is filming my journey. Today, day one is in Edmonton. Everywhere I looked in Edmonton, Alberta’s love of oil is vibrant. It seemed like almost every street had a car dealership and a gas stations. Big cars dominated the roads with SUV, Hummers and 4X4’s. Even when you drive into Edmonton, the backdrop to the ‘welcome’ sign is historic monument to oil rigging. We were in ‘Petro-land,’ where unconventional oil called bitumen is god. One gas station called “Karma Gas” seemed to say it all.
But in this land, where so much money (30 per cent of Alberta’s revenue) and so many jobs stream from tar oil, seeking truth about it will make us more enemies than friends. Already upon arrival, one of my main interviews with an oil company, ConocoPhilips, cancelled. Refusing to talk with us about their work in the oil sands.
I have a background as an eco-activist and can only assume they cancelled because they found out about it. This creates a conflict for me now as an eco-journalist trying to uncover an issue. If all my pro-tar sands interviews are just going to cancel then the truth will not prevail and only a one-sided slant will. Things are looking grim and the journey has only just begun.
Media is also not well liked out here. A former MTV reporter was nearly run off the road before for doing a story on the tar sands. And a friend in the province told me to “keep my head low.” Wanting to hide our identities and keep a low profile was made impossible when the hybrid rental car we were handed was a neon yellow. We might as well put a big flashing sign on it that read ‘MTV’s Journey to the Tar Sands’ and waited for the darts to come at us.
Is this journey a flop before it has even begun? I am starting to wonder.
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
