Could it be true?
Anti-pipeline forces have taken the province’s concerns about the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion as evidence that the proposal has much less chance of succeeding. And, no wonder. The province had said that its support rested on the company fulfilling five conditions, one of which the province is already not satisfied with. The provincial government says Trans Mountain has not supplied enough information to determine whether the marine oil spill response plan is ‘world class’. However, Kinder Morgan was quick to reply that it is confident it will provide enough information to satisfy the province. What else would it say?
Unfortunately, the other four conditions aren’t looking good either. First Nations’ Rights, the province getting a fair share of economic benefits, and world-class prevention for land-based oil spills. But what may have more sway than any fact-based findings is simply that the politics have changed dramatically in Canada and Burnaby.
Last year Stephen Harper’s government was mucking about with appointments to the NEB that made it clear the Conservative government was continuing to support oil expansion full steam ahead. The hearing process was (and still remains) hugely flawed and biased.
This year, while the federal Liberals have not come out against the expansion, they have promised to look at the review process.
Mayor Derek Corrigan, who promised to lie down in front of bulldozers if the pipeline was approved, is pressing the feds to stop the hearings given those promises.
New local Liberal MP Terry Beech has assured local voters that these issues are “high up on various ministers’ radars.” As it should be.
Beech has said he is attending the hearings on Jan. 29. Corrigan has called for Justin Trudeau to stop the hearings before Jan. 19.
We’re with Corrigan on this one. Why, if there is going to be a review of the NEB process, should the process proceed? Acknowledging the fact that the process is flawed should surely taint the hearings at this point. Not to mention the outcome.
Trudeau needs to press pause on this pipeline and re-evaluate the whole damn thing. The provincial government has huge concerns, the community is against it, the city government is fighting it – on what rational grounds does it move forward?
