Nearly two weeks after the prime minister approved the controversial Kinder Morgan pipeline, the MP for Burnaby North-Seymour has finally come out to say he stands by the decision.
During an interview on Monday afternoon, Terry Beech told the NOW he will not be crossing the floor or running as an independent, as previously suggested by some of his constituents and Kennedy Stewart, MP for Burnaby South.
“I’ve been actually amazed how many people have asked me that,” he said. “I believe in this government, and I ran on a platform that I believe in.”
Beech added he wants to continue to work on the “hundreds of items” that were promised, including housing affordability and traffic on the North Shore.
Beech released his statement on the proposed Trans Mountain expansion project, which would triple the Edmonton-to-Burnaby pipeline’s capacity to 890,000 barrels a day, via YouTube on Saturday. During the nearly 25-minute video, he talks about the work he put into sharing his constituents’ concerns with Ottawa, including his report to the ministerial panel in August.
“At the end of the day, I was able to communicate our community’s concerns to the vast majority of the Liberal caucus, including members of cabinet and the prime minister,” he said. “Now that the broad strokes of our government’s policy to balance economic growth with protection and restoration of the environment are starting to solidify, I believe it is my job to determine how to best continue to advocate on behalf our community within these policies.”
Asked about possible protests in his riding, Beech said he fully supports the right to a peaceful protest.
On his party’s stance that “governments grant permits, communities grant consent,” Beech said he did his best to take that issue “head on” in his report to the panel.
“The way our system works is that you have individual MPs who advocate ferociously for the best interests of their communities, and sometimes, we’re put in a tough position where we don’t get everything the community wants,” he said.
The young MP’s riding straddles both sides of the Burrard Inlet where tanker traffic is expected to increase nearly seven-fold. It’s also home to the proposed expansion of the Burnaby Mountain tank farm and the Westridge Marine Terminal.
“These are valid concerns,” he said in regards to a potential fire at the tank farm or an oil spill in the inlet. “Now that the decision has passed, we need to recalibrate how we can go about being the best advocates for the community in a post-decision world.”
In his video, Beech called the current government an “environmental champion” and outlined a host of environmental and economic policies currently being pursued. They include investing $20 billion into green infrastructure and Trudeau’s pan-Canadian climate framework that was signed last week. The carbon pricing plan seeks to meet Canada’s international commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
“You need to do it in such a way that you can do it but also grow the economy, because if you can’t accomplish both then you won’t be in power for long; you won’t keep the confidence of Canadians,” said Beech. “There’s been no government in the history of this country that has put forward such progressive environmental legislation on so many different measures.”
When Trudeau gave the project the green light on Nov. 29, Beech said he was notified the day of. He attended a closed briefing with other caucus members where no phones were allowed, and watched Trudeau deliver his speech live on a TV in the room.
“By the time I exited the briefing and got my phone back, I had five outstanding media requests. At the time of recording this message, I have more than 40,” Beech said in his video statement.
Besides an exclusive interview with the Vancouver Sun on Dec. 6, the MP declined all media requests up until this week. He said he wanted to reserve comment until he met with constituents, which he did at an open house at his constituency office on Dec. 3.
