Federal government unveils $1.5B national coastal strategy
Trudeau tours harbour before touting standards as world-class
Premier Christy Clark praised the Trudeau government’s commitment to fund $1.5 billion for coastal protection measures, and said she’s confident her province will get the lion’s share.
But Clark, who since 2012 has drawn a line in the sand declaring that any heavy oil pipeline proposals must meet conditions that include a world-leading safety regime, said Ottawa hasn’t yet fully met her demand.
She told reporters Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement Monday merely meets all B.C.’s current needs in protecting the coast from a devastating spill.
“There’s still a lot of work to do should Kinder Morgan be approved,” she said of the $6.8-billion project that, if it gets approval, would increase the number of large tankers entering Burrard Inlet from five to 34 a month.
Clark was responding to Trudeau’s commitment over five years to fund a national oceans protection plan aimed at ensuring environmental sustainability and responsible commercial use.
Trudeau made the announcement after touring the Vancouver Harbour aboard the Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Canadian Coast Guard ship named after the former Canadian prime minister who first coined the “sunny ways” slogan adopted by Trudeau.
He told a gathering at the Royal Canadian Navy’s HMCS Discovery facility in Stanley Park that the “historic” announcement would finally give Canada a “world leader” in marine safety, meeting or exceeding standards found in Norway and Alaska.
The announcement was made as the government prepares to announce its decision, expected by Dec. 19 at the latest, on the Kinder Morgan expansion.
Trudeau’s announcement didn’t explicitly include many of the specific requests Victoria has put forward, including three new salvage rescue tugs costing up to $50 million apiece, anew $6- million coast guard station in Prince Rupert, and funding for the maritime training centre at the B.C. Institute of Technology.
The announcement also doesn’t include any reference to Trudeau’s promise of a crude oil tanker ban for B.C.’s north coast. However, the federal government has insisted that campaign vow will be kept.
But Clark said Ottawa’s pledge to, for instance, improve the Canadian Coast Guard’s towing capacity represents important progress. She also speculated that while the plan includes the Arctic and Atlantic coasts, the government will devote the majority of the $1.5 billion to B.C.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson welcomed the announcement and called it “a step toward rectifying the previous federal government’s decade of cuts and neglect that have put our coast at risk of major disasters.”
First Nations opposed to heavy oil pipelines kept their optimism in check. “We welcome improvements to oil spill cleanup, but at best this may help with the current threats we face. It changes nothing in regards to our opposition to drastically increase tanker traffic carrying dangerous diluted bitumen,” said Charlene Aleck, a spokeswoman for the Tsleil Waututh Nation Sacred Trust Initiative.
Coastal First Nations, which represents northern B.C. groups that would be affected by the Trudeau government’s proposed tanker moratorium, called on Ottawa to make First Nations full partners in any coastal plan.
“Last night’s sinking of the Columbia Layne barge near Klemtu and the spill of the Nathan E. Stewart in Heiltsuk territory underscores how our communities pay the price for an inadequate system,” said Marilyn Slett, CFN president and Heiltsuk chief councillor.
“This is an important step, but our nations need to be involved at the nation-to-nation level in the design and delivery of marine safety and shipping management in our territories.”
The federal plan announced Monday by Trudeau has several parts:
In an apparent response to the recent diesel spill involving a sunken tug near Bella Bella, Ottawa says it will increase the West Coast towing capacity to ensure a greater ability to rescue large vessels and container ships.
A new regional oil spill response plan, to include four new lifeboat stations, will be introduced on B.C.’s northern coast.
Long-promised legislation will be introduced in 2017 to prohibit the abandoning of vessels in Canadian waterways and make owners responsible for the cleanup and removal of derelict vessels.
Improved marine traffic and navigation information, in areas like charting and hydrography, will be introduced, and the data will be shared with mariners, coastal communities and aboriginal groups.
Besides the new rescue stations and improved towing capacity, the coast guard will get new communications equipment.
Money will be provided for research into spill response and the impact of increased shipping on marine ecosystems. No dollar figure was provided.
The coast guard will help form indigenous community response teams to engage in search-and-rescue and environmental response.
A new coast guard auxiliary will be created in B.C. to work with First Nations communities.
Ottawa will fund a pilot project to study the impact of currents, wind and waves on petroleum product spills, arming responders with better information and technology. No dollar figure was provided.
Environmentalists said the announcement is good news — but only if it isn’t part of a strategy to win public support for the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline, which would triple to 890,000 barrels a day the capacity of the company’s pipeline system to its Westridge terminal in Burnaby.
“Prime Minister Trudeau promised to put the Kinder Morgan expansion through a serious, science-based review. That hasn’t happened,” said Kai Nagata, communications director at Dogwood Initiative, which opposes oil tankers on B.C. coasts.
Our nations need to be involved … in the design and delivery of marine safety and shipping management.