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Cameron directs attention to oilsands
| Edmonton Journal | Graham Thomson | September 28, 2010
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Last Friday, U.S. satirist Stephen Colbert turned Washington on its ear by testifying before a Congressional subcommittee studying whether migrant farm workers should earn legal rights.
He appeared in character as the faux-conservative talk show host he plays on the Comedy Network which amused some representatives, bemused others and had a whole host of observers asking themselves, what does this television comedian know about migrant farm labour?
After promising to tell the “whole truthiness” and declaring “one day of studying anything makes me an expert,” Colbert — who had been invited by a Democrat committee member — effectively turned his appearance into a Colbert Report skit: “This is America. I don’t want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American then sliced by a Guatemalan and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian.”
House majority leader Steny Hoyer said Colbert’s testimony was an embarrassment and “not appropriate.”
It was also headline news and wildly popular. The committee room was packed and dozens of people had to be turned away. Politicians said they hadn’t seen this kind of interest in a subcommittee meeting since the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton a decade ago.
“I think it’s great,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “It can bring attention to an important issue like immigration.”
When it comes to politics, people are attracted to sex and celebrity. That would be a troubling thought if it wasn’t as old as Antony and Cleopatra.
It’s something to keep in mind this week when American celebrity intersects with Alberta politics.
If all goes according to plan, Hollywood movie maker James Cameron will spend three days in Alberta to tour the oilsands, meet with First Nations leaders who live downstream and talk with Premier Ed Stelmach.
Cameron, of course, is Canadianborn, but like many of our biggest entertainers, he found success in the United States. And like many of America’s entertainers, he’s interested in politics — and the environment, in particular.
His visit has people debating the same points raised over Colbert’s appearance before the Congressional subcommittee. Who does this guy think he is? What does he have to add to the discussion? Why should we care?
I’m not Cameron’s public relations agent, so he’ll have to answer the first two questions for himself. But we should care because Cameron’s opinion will help shape American opinion and that could shape our public policy on the oilsands back home.
On Monday, as Cameron was making his way to Alberta, the British newspaper The Guardian named him the most powerful and influential person in Hollywood, according to a poll of 100 leaders in the movie business.
Being powerful in the movie business doesn’t necessarily make you an expert in the oilsands business but it does make you newsworthy. To doubt that is to ignore the small army of journalists who have invaded northeast Alberta this week hoping for a glimpse of, and a comment from, Cameron as he goes about his self-organized tour.
What we’re all waiting on, though, is the punchline. That should come after he meets with Stelmach Wednesday morning.
A lot is riding not only on Cameron’s opinion of the oilsands, but what he plans to do with that opinion.
Simply giving the oilsands environmental record two thumbs down would embarrass Alberta and undermine efforts by the industry to clean up its image. But, at the end of the day, it would just be a movie maker’s opinion. So what?
However, what if Cameron starts repeating his negative opinion everywhere he goes? Or, what if he ratchets it up a notch and produces a documentary on the oilsands?
In that case, Cameron wouldn’t just be a Hollywood outsider interfering in Alberta politics, he’d be using his skills, popularity and power to make a political point.
Cameron could yet create a public relations headache for the oilsands and that could lead to all kinds of ancillary aches and pains such as boycotts of Alberta products along the line of the “Rethink Alberta” campaign aimed at our tourism business.
Of course, there’s always the chance he’ll come away with a thumbs-up for the oilsands — a doubtful scenario, perhaps, given his environmental activism of the past and his “black eye” comment on the oilsands in April.
Perhaps the best the Stelmach government can hope for is a neutral review from Cameron, one where he doesn’t cheer the oilsands but neither does he equate it to an act of violence.
Perhaps he’ll use the media attention to do what Colbert did for a few seconds last week: force us to think about uncomfortable topics and the consequences of our actions.
“I like talking about people who don’t have any power,” said Colbert, temporarily dropping his conservative pundit persona to talk about the plight of migrant farm workers in the U.S.
“It seems like one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come in and do our work but don’t have any rights as a result.”
Unfortunately, most of the media ignored that part of Colbert’s presentation and focused on the laughs.
That likely won’t be a problem when Cameron delivers his punchline on the oilsands.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Graham+Thomson+Cameron+directs+attention+oilsands/3589383/story.html#ixzz10vgzoa2J
Tagged with: first nations, alberta, avatarsands, edmonton journal
