Two powerful agendas appear headed for a collision as increasingly chummy federal and provincial politicians push ahead with pipelines to the west coast while a majority of British Columbians oppose the Northern Gateway plan.
sa国际传媒 Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford have put aside their famous feud over British Columbia鈥檚 potential share of oil wealth. Gone are the days of walking out of meetings.
Instead, a group of deputy ministers from both provinces is working on ways to ensure co-operation over the pipeline issue. It鈥檚 clear that the premiers want to find a way to meet both Clark鈥檚 five conditions and Redford鈥檚 insistence that Alberta won鈥檛 give up its royalties.
The terms of reference for the deputies say that sa国际传媒 isn鈥檛 looking to snatch royalties, but does want a share of the overall economic benefits. Creative minds will find creative ways to put money into the province鈥檚 pocket. It will have to be a lot of money to compensate for the risks to our land and water from oil spills.
Meanwhile, the federal government touts the economic benefits of exporting oil and gas. Lately, the Conservatives haven鈥檛 met a pipeline they didn鈥檛 like, including Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan, Keystone XL and plans to reverse flow of the Line 9 pipeline to send crude from the West to refineries in Ontario and Quebec.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper went so far as to tell the Americans he 鈥渨ouldn鈥檛 take no for an answer鈥� on Keystone XL.
With the politicians firmly focused on the jobs and economic development that are promised with energy exports, other considerations seem to get short shrift. Considerations such as the opinions of British Columbians.
In February, the polling firm Insights West found that 61 per cent of British Columbians polled opposed the Northern Gateway project, while only 18 per cent of Albertans were opposed. Meanwhile, 35 per cent of British Columbians were in favour of the pipeline, compared to 75 per cent of Albertans.
The pollster found that British Columbians were well aware of the advantages of the pipeline and Albertans were informed about its dangers.
Opinions in sa国际传媒 are more evenly divided on Kinder Morgan鈥檚 plan to increase the capacity of its pipeline to Vancouver. In May, Mustel Group found 44.4 per cent of those polled supported the plan and 46.2 opposed it.
The Conservative government has not done itself or the energy industry any favours by painting pipeline opponents as 鈥渞adicals.鈥�
Simon Fraser University researcher John Axsen looked at the opinions of British Columbians and found that 54 per cent believed Northern Gateway presents 鈥渦nacceptable environmental risks.鈥� He also found that rather than being radicals, most opponents were 鈥渕ainstream鈥� British Columbians.
Of course, the possibility of more jobs and economic growth is attractive to many in the province. Just ask the New Democrats, who gambled that opposition to Kinder Morgan would win them much-needed votes. The prevailing wisdom is that leader Adrian Dix sank the NDP ship with his unexpected announcement that the party was against the pipeline.
Clark and Harper might be banking on the factor that won the sa国际传媒 Liberals the last election 鈥� when forced to choose between jobs and the environment, enough British Columbians picked jobs. Or they might have calculated that if they can find a way to meet Clark鈥檚 conditions, they can build Northern Gateway even in the teeth of public opinion, counting on economic benefits to heal the wounds.
If the governments continue with their apparent desire to ship oil, conflict seems guaranteed.
