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Harper encounters pipeline foes in BC Climate change activists penetrate security, disrupt speech in defense of oil sands pipelines; Harper says approval not assured Gary Park For Petroleum News
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper started out 2014 where many thought he should have been long ago.
He made a week-long swing through Western Canada offering what he obviously viewed as a rationale argument for exporting oil sands bitumen and LNG.
Others showed they were more interested in disrupting his plans.
Harper was speaking at the Vancouver Board of Trade Jan. 6 when two climate change activists managed to dodge his Royal Canadian Mounted Police minders, get within an arm’s length of him and raise signs carrying their message before they were hustled off stage.
Board of Trade CEO Iain Black described the incident as a “warm British Columbia welcome,” while Harper quipped that it “wouldn’t be B.C. without (a protest).”
There had been a security screening for the event, including a bomb-sniffing dog to check bags and cameras.
But, whatever oversights allowed the event to happen, there was one clear warning: Opponents of Harper’s plan to diversify Canada’s energy export markets are formidable.
Equally daunting are the aboriginal communities, many of which have threatened to snarl the bitumen projects in legal action and civil disobedience.
Harper, who has experienced a drastic slide in public opinion polls over recent months with only 21 months until the next election, tried reaching out to both factions.
Go-aheads not assured He also injected a note of surprise, telling his audience of 530 that a cabinet go-ahead for Enbridge’s Northern Gateway, and Kinder Morgan’s proposed Trans Mountain pipeline, are not sure things.
“We will not approve projects unless they are not only in our economic interests, but also meet the highest standards of environmental protection.
“We want to make sure that these kinds of projects are not just viable and give us lots of economic prosperity, but we want to make sure they are environmentally safe and every measure is taken to prevent any kind of serious environmental threat or other kind of disaster and, in the rare case that anything might happen, there are adequate responses,” Harper said.
But he emphasized his government will make its decision on the “best scientific and expert advice available” and will settle for nothing less than “rigorous systems” of pipeline safety and marine operations.
He also said the bitumen pipeline projects might offer economic opportunities for aboriginals through employment and economic spinoffs.
“If handled correctly, this is an unprecedented opportunity for aboriginal people and their communities to join the mainstream of the Canadian economy” by seizing the opportunity for training in skilled jobs or working through aboriginal businesses.
Public opinion test A test of public opinion on Northern Gateway will be held in the District of Kitimat, where tanker terminals are planned for Northern Gateway and LNG export projects.
A date for the non-binding, referendum-style vote will be set once the district council and staff have agreed on the wording for the plebiscite.
The council has remained neutral on the project pending an assessment of the Joint Review Panel’s December approval and its 209 conditions.
But there is a growing element of optimism in the economically-struggling region that Kitimat will become a resource boom town.
Real estate values started to climb last year according to British Columbia Assessment’s annual report issued Jan. 2 which showed single-family homes in the area shot up 26.7 percent last year to an average C$228,000, with similar increases posted in Prince Rupert, also a leading candidate for LNG terminals.
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