LandKeepers News Archive
MLA, Premier Lock Horns Over Pipeline
March 31 2010 | News Articles | Houston Today
Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson got a rise out of the Premier when the Liberal leader stood up during Question Period to answer a call by the MLA to oppose the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.
But the NDPer wasn’t sold on Gordon Campbell’s response.
“I was shocked by [the answers],” said Donaldson. “He was bringing up an old dynamic of it’s jobs or the environment.”
He said the Premier is out of touch with the majority of people in the Stikine around putting jobs ahead of the environment.
“This is an oil tanker disaster on the coast waiting to happen that will affect lots of our businesses and existing jobs that we have upstream along the Skeena.”
He also took to task Campbell’s statements regarding the positive work he has done with First Nations, pointing out the announcement last week of unified opposition against the pipeline from First Nations, including the Wet’suwet’en.
A full page ad listing opponents to the project ran in the Globe and Mail last week to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill off the coast of Alaska that was last Wednesday.
Included in the list opposing the project are 28 aboriginal governments, including the Haida, Kitasoo, Haisla, Lax Kw’alaams, Kitkatla, Carrier Sekani, and Wet’suwet’en Nations.
In Campbell’s response in the legislature he did not explicitly proclaim support for the pipeline but but did support economic development.
“There is no question the opposition will say no to anything,” he said in reply to Donaldson’s question. “Here’s what we have said quite clearly. We believe in economic and environmental assessments. We believe in wind power. We believe in new independent power projects. To that member opposite, his constituents call our offices and come to us every single day and say ‘Please provide us with jobs, encourage investment and do it with First Nations.’ We will work with first nations.”
Nechako Lakes’ Liberal MLA John Rustad issued a statement following the exchange in the legislature calling the NDP “wildly irresponsible” for saying no to projects before they’ve gone through appropriate reviews.
“I was astonished to hear northern MLAs stand in the legislature and say an outright no to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project,” said Rustad in a media release.
But while Rustad said that reviews have not yet occurred, Donaldson said that there have been years of studies by First Nations already on the project.
“The First Nations have done their due diligence on this project for five years,” he said. “It’s not like anybody’s just all of a sudden pulling a decision out of the hat. These people have seriously looked at the project for five years, studied it from all angles and the analysis said … the risks far outweigh the benefits.”
Donaldson also said that it’s hypocritical for the Liberals to point the finger at the NDP for making decisions before any review and that the Liberals have in the past said no to any new uranium mines were reviewed.
A spokesperson from Enbridge said that as the company is in the final stages of filing its application to the National Energy Board (NEB) it would not be appropriate to conduct in-depth media interviews at this time.
However Jennifer Varey, senior manager with Corporate and Business Communications for the company, said that their outreach efforts will continue throughout the extensive regulatory review process that is lead by the NEB and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency.
“We invite all interested parties to participate,” she said in an e-mail.
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