Name: Ahmed Alnassir
BUSI 1010
Critical Thinking and Ethics
ID # 100573189
Critique this argument by finding the manipulative language and informal fallacies.
Obama betrayed America’s closest ally over Keystone XL to prop up climate change legacy
By Claudia Cattaneo (Financial Post Nov 6, 2015)
Canadians of every political persuasion should be dismayed by U.S. President Barack Obama’s cowardly
rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline. After seven years of review involving massive documentation,
scientific justification and some $3 billion in spending by proponent TransCanada Corp., Obama offered
weak and questionable reasons Friday for the denial.
Meanwhile, he betrayed Canada, America’s closest friend and ally, to feed his vanity project – a climate
change legacy he hopes to cement at the UN climate summit in Paris in the coming weeks.
Aside from furthering his climate change ambitions, Obama highlighted three reasons for ruling the
Alberta-to-U.S. Gulf pipeline project would not serve the U.S. national interest: Keystone XL would not
make a meaningful long-term contribution to the U.S. economy; Keystone would not lower gasoline
prices for U.S. consumers, and shipping "dirtier crude" oil into the U.S. would not increase America’s
energy security.
As Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, put it: "It’s politics at its worst."
In fact, Keystone XL would have created 42,000 construction and related jobs and is widely supported by
labour organizations. Some 2,400 U.S. companies supply goods and services to Canada’s oil sector, and
the U.S. is second only to Canada in corporate control of oilsands production – 56 per cent Canada, 30
per cent U.S., 10 per cent Europe, five per cent Asia.
The rejection reeks of hypocrisy. Obama is turning his back on Canada’s oil while making a deal with
Iran that enables it to push its oil in the global market, undermining North American supplies.
Keystone XL would actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions by carrying oil that is now going on trains,
making Obama’s symbolic gesture look like cheap political theatre.
In his statement, Obama said senior members of his team would engage with their Canadian counterparts
to deepen energy and climate change cooperation.
Having thrown Canada under the bus, Trudeau should be careful about dealing with an administration
with such tunnel vision about what’s important and is so invested in making Obama look good.
Besides, Trudeau doesn’t need Obama’s input to chart a climate and energy course that fits Canada’s
needs.
The denial is also a wake up call to all Canadians. In turning down KXL, Obama stood side by side with
environmental activists who want to shut down a big part of Canada’s energy economy. Those same
groups were gloating Friday that the KXL win is just the beginning and that Canadian energy projects are
next on their hit list.
"If Big Oil thinks that after Keystone XL the protesters are going home, they’re going to be sorely
surprised," Bill McKibben, co-founder of the U.S. environmental group 350.org, said in a statement.
"Today in Canada, dozens of people are risking arrest at Prime Minister Trudeau’s residence as part of the
‘Climate Welcome’ action to urge him to put an immediate freeze to tar sand expansion."
That’s blatant interference by U.S. groups deploying deplorable tactics to influence choices that are
Canada’s to make.
Marking Rubric: (Max 20 Marks)
Two (2) Marks for each correctly identified example of manipulative language and/or informal fallacy:
Type of Manipulative
language
Example(s) in Article
Obama’s cowardly rejection
