Let's be clear. We shouldn't singularly point to Grand Chief Edward John as the scapegoat for holding up the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline because I know a whole lot of folks who live in the Lower Mainland who aren't first nations who are dead set against it, and it is not too hard to figure out why. People don't want to see supertankers go under the Lions Gate Bridge every day. People don't want to see Vancouver become a major export oil terminal, and if you're going to change that perception.... I'm an economist. Prices are my religion. Big cheques are going to have to be written, but there is a lot more opposition to that than just Chief Edward John here.
I get back to the problem that, sure, there is maybe $30 a barrel to be picked up in Fort McMurray, but unless that can be distributed in places like British Columbia or ports of entry going up to Churchill, there's going to be a problem here. What we are seeing is that problem, and it's not just first nations. The people in the Lower Mainland are dead set against it. Look what provincial politicians are saying in British Columbia about that.
We have to recognize the reality for what it is.