Pipelines, Power and Democracy

The expansion of Canada’s oil sands industry—one of the most polluting on the planet—represents a huge environmental challenge. And, as the documentary Pipelines, Power and Democracy makes clear, when it comes to fossil fuels, political power doesn’t always lie where we think it does. From the hallways of Quebec’s National Assembly, where parliamentary power resides, to the campaigns waged by environmental defence groups and the big media splashes made by some activists, director Olivier D. Asselin follows the journeys of four people who adopt a variety of tactics—showing that it is still possible to effect change. Over the course of two years, Asselin documents the growth of an anti-pipeline movement in Quebec that rekindled a sense of collective purpose and solidarity. The result is a film that urges action at a moment in which our planet’s fragile ecological balance is threatened by those who embrace economic growth at any cost.