B.C. Premier David Eby says he supports the tanker ban on the province's North Coast
First Nations leaders seek clarity on Eby's stance amid talk of pipelines
Despite Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's push to pump crude oil to British Columbia, B.C. Premier David Eby says his government backs the federal tanker ban that prohibits oil tankers from stopping, loading, or unloading at protected area ports on the province's North Coast.
"This is a pristine ecological area that produces huge benefits for British Columbia and also is an increasing corridor, generally speaking, for cargo," Eby told CBC's Daybreak North on Tuesday.
"That's why we support the existing oil tanker ban."
The tanker ban prohibits oil tankers plying B.C.'s North Coast from carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of crude oil or persistent oil products as cargo.
But Eby won't directly say if he is against a future pipeline to the area, something Smith has said she's actively searching for interested private sector companies to fund.
While the premier has said he's open to a discussion with the Alberta premier if a private proponent came to the table, he says he's more interested in the $50 billion in resource and energy projects already under development in B.C.
"The challenge for me is that the conversation has been almost exclusively about a project that doesn't actually exist. There's no proponent; there's no money," Eby said.
"I would prefer very much that we stay focused on what actually exists, what's ready to go through environmental assessment processes, or nearly."
Marilyn Slett, chief councillor of the Heiltsuk First Nation and president of the Coastal First Nations/Great Bear Initiative, says she wants clarity on Eby's commitment to protect the area.
"Certainly there's a contradiction, you know, in terms of supporting privately funded oil pipelines on the North Coast and that direct contradiction of his, you know, supposed support to the oil tanker moratorium," said Slett.
"We need to know whether or not he's changed his stance, you know, on protecting the coast," Slett said.
Eby says there are other projects apart from a potential pipeline that can benefit both British Columbia and Alberta.
When asked by a CBC reporter whether his support of an oil tanker ban on the North Coast ruled out the idea of a northern pipeline, the premier sidestepped the issue, replying:
"I think that if we're talking about benefiting Canada's economy, if we're talking about growing British Columbia's economy and opportunities, and Alberta's too, let's focus on the projects where there are actually proponents and we're ready to go," said Eby.
'Getting on the federal radar'
LNG Canada began producing liquefied natural gas, a fossil fuel often extracted from northeastern B.C. and Alberta, for export at its facility in Kitimat, B.C., on Sunday.
According to the B.C. government, the facility is expected to export 14 million tonnes of LNG a year, creating close to 300 ongoing jobs worth an estimated $575 million annually for 40 years.
In May, a new 44-square kilometre gold and silver mine officially opened in the province's central Interior, southwest of Vanderhoof, B.C., and west of Prince George.
The mine is approved with an economic and community development agreement with the Lhoosk'uz Dené Nation and Ulkatcho First Nation to share mineral tax revenue from the mine.
Ebys says the two First Nations are equity partners in the project.
"And this is the model that you're going to see and are seeing increasingly across the province," Eby said.
When it comes to the spectre of a possible oil pipeline, Eby says no discussions with First Nations have yet occurred because the project doesn't exist.
"There are lots of conversations underway with First Nations on actual projects that have actual proponents that actually are through or going through the environmental assessment process," said Eby.
"B.C. has a hard enough time getting on the federal radar at all, and we have such huge projects with such consequential impacts for Canada's GDP, for prosperity, for our province, than to have the discussion be about a nonexistent project because Alberta wants to talk about it."
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