It didn't have to be this way because the government didn't need to make this a wedge issue between its base and other parties. It poisoned the well immediately saying that anyone who was against this project was a foreign funded radical who hated Canada. Instead of being, a responsible measured government, they hunkered down on the only strategy they know which is partisan pit fighting. A real government would have NOT taken a stand on it and would have let the merits of the project speak for itself. That way the decision to approve or not would not have been this moronic 2 year long piece of theatre that was a foregone conclusion.
They could have also done a number of things, such as honestly build bridges. They could have satisfied their duty to consult with First Nations instead of outsourcing the messiest bits to Enbridge. But again, the mouth foaming herd that is this government's base would never accept an honest attempt at negotiating and conciliation with FNs and this government has shown since it was voted in that when push comes to shove they will always appease the base or at least not directly thumb their nose at them.
They could have honestly dealt with the GHG emissions which is the backbone of the environmental movement's opposition. Back in 2007 they could have followed through on their own plan to regulate GHGs from oil and gas removing an important leg of the stool of opposition. They could have proactively put money to actually developing a "world class" monitoring and spill prevention system before it was in the late stages of consideration by the NEB. What they did was ad hoc and hamfisted reactionary response to some pretty legitimate science on the inadequacy of spill prevention and impacts of spills that were coming out of the testimoney in the JRP.
Basically everything this group of yokels has done has simply mirrored the adage of using tactics in the place of strategy. They can't see beyond the lobby of the base's AGM.
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