Opinion: Blocking pipelines could end Canadian unity

You saw the headline. "Ottawa won't appeal court decision blocking Northern Gateway pipeline"

If you don't feel like clicking on that handy link, the story is essentially that Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, says the federal government won't appeal a decision ithat ruled the previous government had not adequately consulted with Indigenous peoples who will be affected by the project.

At the time, the court found "it would have taken Canada little time and little organizational effort to engage in meaningful dialogue on these and other subjects of prime importance to Aboriginal Peoples. But this did not happen."

Now that story also caught the attention of Nathan Giede.  

Giede acknowledges the concern of First Nations about traditional lands and "unceded territory", but he believes opposition to pipelines can only result in one outcome — a crumbling of the federation.

"Enbridge is simply one more investor in the economic infrastructure of the Queen's Dominion of Canada," he says. 

And he argues that if Canada no longer gets to have the final say on economic activity within its own borders, then the country will reach an existential crisis. 

"It seems to me that Canada, as it was built, no longer exists."