So much for new democrat leader Jagmeet Singh. He betrays his caucus and his party and his British Columbia voters. He has said he will not back long-time NDP stalwart Peter Julian in his effort to stop the Trudeau government’s TransMountain pipeline expansion.
There is only one reason for expanding the capability of the TransMountain pipeline (from 300,000 barrels per day to almost 900,000). The government is spending upwards of estimated $16 billion on twinning the pipeline and increasing pressure to almost triple its capacity. It has already accepted contracts worth about $20 billion from Alberta oil sands companies to ship diluted bitumen to Burrard Inlet at Vancouver for loading on ocean tankers.
Now, does that sound like a government that gives a damn about global warming? Does Singh’s approval of the pipeline expansion sound like he gives a damn about global warming? He should visit his riding in that province sometime and see what global warming has been doing to our beautiful British Columbia?
This is not to say that the more than 60-year-old pipeline should not be fixed after the recent washouts of the line. B.C. gets its refined gasolines and jet fuel through that pipeline and it can continue to meet that need as long as it is needed. It is the twinning of the line that needs to be stopped.
The twinning of the line is all on prime minister Justin Trudeau’s shoulders. He bought the line for $4.4 billion in 2018 and it has hung like an albatross around his neck ever since.
But it is not an albatross for Peter Julian. His position is clear. This is not the first time he has tried to do something about Mr. Trudeau’s pipeline. He can cite many authorities on why the line does not need to be twinned. Some are just realistically of the opinion that the line is hardly needed in a rapidly decreasing market for fossil fuels with high carbon content. The tar sands exploiters can keep bringing bitumen to the surface but what is the point as the world decides that greenhouse gases are destroying our planet?
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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry
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