‘The dice have been loaded’ – NDP leader on Alberta oil sands hearings

The leader of Canada’s NDP party, Thomas Mulcair, slammed an Alberta environmental department on Thursday, accusing officials of cheating the rules of natural justice in oil sands hearings, Canadian Press reports.

Mulcair’s comments didn’t come out of nowhere. He was referring to an Alberta court’s ruling that accused the department of showing bias when refusing to address environmental groups’ concerns over an oil sands project.

“It’s a very damning analysis of what’s been going on here,” Mulcair told Canadian Press reporters.

On Wednesday an Alberta judged quashed an Alberta government decision that tossed out Statements of Concern from the Pembina Institute and the Fort McMurray Environmental Association.

Justice Richard Marceau said the environmental review board had violated “the rules of natural justice.”

Mulcair called Marceau’s ruling a “very damning analysis of what’s been going on here.”

He said the case reinforces the perception that “the dice have been loaded.”

See more here: Alberta court backs environmental groups; calls government decision ‘biased’