The "Bernard the Roughneck" campaign rolled out against the Trudeau government in Ottawa a week ago has been in preparation for at least seven months, possibly longer.

However, while each of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, the Conservative Party of Canada, and Rebel Media appear to have been directly involved in aspects of the effort, and both Alberta's Wildrose Party and the frontrunner for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party have played supporting roles, it cannot be determined who started the ball rolling or the degree of co-operation among the participants in this piece of political performance art.

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Pipeline politics has been on the uptick in recent years -- from sit-ins outside the White House to canoe flotillas, days of actions, legal challenges, rallies, numerous reports, blockade, town halls, letters and petitions.

Months of grassroots action on Burnaby Mountain -- situated about 15 kilometres from our office in downtown Vancouver -- have just culminated in a week of non-violent direct action that saw more than 100 people arrested forcing Texas-based Kinder Morgan to leave before it could complete survey work for its proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.