Enbridge and their front men in Ottawa (Stephen Harper and Joe Oliver) must think us coastal “radicals” are dumber than a bag of hammers if they think we will buy off on their Northern Gateway Pipeline.
The environmental concerns threatening our fragile river systems and coastline are well documented.
I feel B.C. is being treated like a third-world country by some colonial superpower. The benefits for B.C. to transport bitumen from Alberta to the markets in Asia are minimal.
Enbridge thinks they can hand out trinkets to native bands along the proposed route and provide only 2,000 permanent jobs for the rest of the province (half of which will be in Kitimat). Here in B.C. we will assume all the risk from this project and Alberta gets most of the economic benefits.
Alberta needs B.C. as a partner to get their heavy oil to the West Coast.
We should share equally in the Asian revenues with our province to the east. Alberta should provide a “heritage fund” for B.C. to provide rainy day money for oil spills (it will happen) so we can afford to clean up the messes.
Remember, Harper is currently initiating legislation in Ottawa to limit Enbridge’s liability on this pipeline so we need a good insurance policy.
I hope the Northern Gateway Pipeline never happens, but if it does then let’s run it down through Burnaby where there are three million people who can help clean up the inevitable oil spills. Not in my backyard they say. I say not in B.C.’s backyard.
Message to Alberta — if you want to create more jobs, build new refineries and we will gladly provide the hard hats and the bodies to help make it happen.
Message to B.C. — this is a cause worth fighting for so tape your ankles and get your game face on because we are going into battle.
John Townson
Colwood