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Opposition Leader Rich Coleman’s statement on Trans Mountain Pipeline

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Background: At last fall’s Union of BC Municipalities’ meeting, Sooke Mayor Maja Tait stood in opposition with other mayors against the construction of the Kinder Morgan pipelines. Sooke Council has previously expressed concerns about potential damage to the Juan de Fuca coastline should a significant oil spill from water transport occur. Following is the government’s release on the latest regarding the pipeline. This is one of three views (NDP, Greens, Liberal) on today’s announcement from the BC government to oppose the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

Rich Coleman, leader of the official opposition issued the following statement on today’s announcement by the NDP government outlining how they plan to oppose the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

“Today’s announcement by the NDP continues to drive the message home to investors that our province is not open for business or investment of any kind and is willing to forfeit an almost $20 billion increase to our GDP .

This project, which was approved by the Trudeau government after lengthy review, would create thousands of jobs across British Columbia and the BC NDP has just told those workers they won’t have a job.

British Columbians should be rightly concerned that their government is spending tax dollars to stop a project that will not only boost our local economies but also benefit the rest of our country. They should also be concerned the BC NDP have unilaterally declared the First Nations consultations are incomplete, even though the federal government has said the consultation was appropriate before they approved the project.

The five conditions, which the federal and Alberta governments have approved, protect British Columbia’s environment, respect First Nations and provide a fair share for B.C. But instead of working collaboratively with Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Notley to ensure they are fully implemented, the BC NDP are hiring high-priced help to find ways to introduce more red tape so they can strangle another project.

It’s another example – like opposing LNG and looking for ways to cancel Site C – that illustrates the BC NDP has a no jobs plan agenda.”

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Opposition Leader Rich Coleman’s statement on Trans Mountain Pipeline — 18 Comments

  1. BC is open for business, it’s just no longer for sale. It was the liberals that sold off BC mining interests to the Chinese in exchange for jobs, but they couldn’t find qualified miners in BC that could speak Chinese so they brought in cheap labour from China, doesn’t anyone remember this crap??

  2. I am with Mayor Tait on this one.
    Generally, the BC Liberals are so in favour of imperilling BCs coast and natural heritage that they are a party on the lunatic fringe of environmental concerns.

  3. Do you remember what the NDP did to the province in the eighties? And how long it took to recover? I think we have to look at our own demands for free medical, free childcare, free this free that…where is the money

  4. Thank you to John Horgan & Andrew Weaver for their commitment to do what is right for our B.C. Coastline!

  5. Ya, ok, and here’s my opinion:

    Why the heck is no one listening to Dave Black??? I’m not sure where this proposal is at now. He can make an awesome refinery in Kitimat happen with or WITHOUT a pipeline! Way better money and better long term jobs for BC, compared to just a pipeline and tankers shipping raw crude. Doesn’t that make more sense? Value-added products!

    http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/how-media-mogul-david-black-is-pushing-to-keep-his-22-billion-oil-refinery-plan-in-play/wcm/9203d620-1114-4ceb-835c-450cdcb36e55?__lsa=eb22-56e9

  6. The narrow-mindedness of BOTH sides of this issue is starting to make me sick in the stomach! For crying out loud, people!!!

    There aren’t only 2 possible solutions……this isn’t a sports competition! Several ways of dealing with oil sales! If people just shut up with the rude and unproductive rhetoric long enough to listen to each others’ ideas, then we can make this work! We CAN ‘have our cake and eat it too’!!!

  9. British Columbia needs jobs, of course. But instead of looking towards fossil fuel’s, perhaps a better way to go would be something with a longer projected lifespan, like solar and wind energy development. Victoria is a tech giant, there are new tech jobs available all the time, the green energy industry can employ everybody Who thought they were going to work in the oil and gas, and when Canada and British Columbia develop technology for green energy, that technology will be exported been sold and bring money into British Columbia. It’s not like oil and gas is the only way to go. Will be using oil and gas for a long time to come, it’s more than just gasoline for cars. But if we want long-term jobs, we have to invest in long-term business, that is not oil and gas.

  10. Minister Coleman: I am a British Columbian who is also against more pipelines. I will be against them until the threat of an oil spill in our waters is eliminated. The Exxon Valdez effects are still being felt after 25 years…. also look at the Gulf of Mexico… The CEO of the west coast oil spill response team made an amazing statement which is foremost in my mind… they consider a clean up of a spill of 8-10% a success!! Until those numbers are close to 100, I am always against expansion. Perhaps build a refinery in Alberta and refine your bitumen then send it to market in our own country in existing pipelines.

  11. This comment by Rich Coleman is an irresponsible lie. It is possible to have a vibrant economy without sacrificing our environment. The only losers here are BCLib cronies. Our province is not for sale.

  12. From the government that always talked jobs brought in Chinese workers they did not give a shit about jobs from cancelling the BC apprenticeship program to then foriegn workers ,,, Steve nice of U to offer up Kitimat having lived there & much of northern BC for years I can tell U flat out that the residents don’t agree with U, Douglas Channel Watch was formed to protect the pristine north from exactly that. I fished & enjoyed those pristine lakes & rivers for years & nobody wants them destroyed with pipelines refine it in Alberta please.

  13. Think of all the things you use that are plastic. Plastic comes from petrochemicals. Now think of replacing plastic for a non oil product. Metal extraction is far more environmentally challenging. So replace it for wood? deforestation. So replace it with vegetable oil products – arable land is abused for non food crops while the environment suffers and people go hungry. Petrochemicals are not just about energy and fuel. The problems and solutions are not as simple as most people care to try and understand.

    • Now think of the fact that there is no petroleum shortage anywhere today and the fact that none of what you mentioned will be produced in Canada by the use of this oil. It’s planned to ship away in a way that is not value-add…you know, like the damage done to BC jobs when companies decided that shipping off raw logs created greater profits after removing the cost of value-add.

    • Exactly! Why are we exporting so many of our products and then importing them again as finished product? I understand that on the surface it may be cheaper to manufacture elsewhere and will remain so until we invest in the infrastructure necessary to manufacture and make it cost effective here but by investing in our infrastructure we would only strengthen our own economy and could control so much more – from a consumer perspective.

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