What would Canada be like today if Sir John A. MacDonald had to seek social licence to build the Canadian Pacific Railway or Louis St. Laurent needed it to build the St. Lawrence Seaway? The descent into thuggish behaviour by a few protesters at the hearings on the proposed Energy East pipeline, should be a cause for worry among those who support the notion of a social licence for such projects. Social licence has come to stand for loud aggressive behaviour from a small minority who will never approve anything. Mob behaviour can never be condoned, but the actions in Montreal may have finally exposed social licence for what it is … an unworkable, false and probably illegal way of determining how projects get approved in this country. We argue about these things a lot, but ultimately sociologists don’t agree on a single best approach to their trade.

Source: National Post August 31, 2016 19:18 UTC