In Premier Christy Clark’s mind there is a difference between starting from no and working towards yes when it comes to controversial, large-scale pipeline projects.
Last week, during a stop in Sicamous, the premier broached the topic of non-renewable energy resources by championing the development of B.C.’s liquid natural gas industry and the spin-offs that could benefit the community and others throughout the province. But LNG wasn’t the only resource on Clark’s mind. The premier also took a swipe at BC NDP leader Adrian Dix and his “Kinder surprise,” referring to Dix’s Earth Day announcement that he didn’t want to see Vancouver become a “major oil export port,” referring to Kinder Morgan’s twinning of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from Edmonton to the Lower Mainland. This comment was later followed with the caveat that the BC NDP is still waiting to see the yet-to-be submitted application for the proposal, reflecting an earlier statement by Dix that he wouldn’t pre-judge the pipeline before plans are submitted to the federal environmental review process.
Clark first called this flip-flopping on Dix’s part, but then alleged he’d actually made up his mind on this some time ago and had “concealed it from British Columbians.”
“The NDP want to delay, they want to review, a chance to play out at being reasonable, when they secretly know their answer to economic development is always going to be “no,” claimed Clark.
As for Clark’s position on the pipeline, it would be the same as it is for another controversial pipeline project, Enbridge’s Northern Gateway, which would see a twin pipeline built to export bitumen from the Athabasca oil sands through the port in Kitimat. Clark says she’s been consistently clear in her position, that “every proposal for the expansion of heavy oil movement” through B.C. must meet five conditions set forward by her government: 1. successful completion of a federal environmental review process; 2 and 3. world-leading marine and land oil response and prevention recovery systems; 4. responding to First Nations treaty rights and giving First Nations an opportunity to benefit; 5. B.C. must receive a fair share of economic benefits proportionate to risk borne by the province from the project.
“Those are the five conditions that I’ve set out, and I can tell you today, the Northern Gateway proposal hasn’t come close to meeting any of those five conditions,” said Clark. Asked if the same conditions would apply to David Black’s proposed bitumen refinery project in Kitimat, Clark said that while it’s a “different kettle of fish,” it would still have to meet the five conditions, “absolutely.”
“I am not going to back down on this,” said Clark. “And what we’ve done is encouraged the project to move forward. That doesn’t mean it’s going to succeed. But the difference between me and Adrian Dix is I believe in trying to get to yes with economic development, and he believes in starting from ‘no.’
So, having five conditions in place to get to yes is not the same as starting with no? That’s certainly not the impression Alberta Premier Alison Redford seemed to get.
Shuswap NDP candidate Steve Gunner says Clark and the BC Liberals are doing their best to paint the BC NDP as being against everything, including Northern Gateway.
“A project of that magnitude has to have a social contract in order to be allowed to go through. In other words, the people who are affected by it have to buy in, and it’s a long process, it’s not something that can be put through in a year,” says Gunner, noting the NDP would pull out of the Environmental Assessment Equivalency Agreement with the federal government and create a “made-in-B.C.” act to guide the process of provincial assessment and consultation for such projects.
To sum up, with the Liberals, we have five fairly conditions, and a review process, that do not guarantee a yes, but certainly doesn’t say no. And with the NDP, projects would not proceed without going through an assessment process set out by the province and its people. Again, neither a yes or no.
Oh, except maybe Kinder Morgan’s, on which Dix had the audacity to take a position.
Of course, this is all pre-election campaign rhetoric. What will happen after remains to be seen.
Regarding other parties who Clark made no mention of, the BC Conservatives feel the benefits of Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain far outweigh the risks, while the Greens oppose these projects and would ban oil tankers along province’s west coast.