Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in the House today to this motion and to reaffirm my opposition to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion project, on the record once again, and therefore my opposition to the motion before us today.
The motion mentions that it needs social licence to proceed. I must say I was incredibly disappointed to hear the Minister of Natural Resources suggest that somehow social licence was an outdated term, earlier this morning. Today, more than ever before, social licence is imperative for major initiatives, especially those that have significant impacts—and, I would argue in this instance, negative impacts—especially when we are talking about the environment and combatting climate change.
I am left with the assumption that the minister stated this because he is well aware that social licence for this project has not been obtained, so he would rather suggest it is not something that is needed. Sadly, this is just an extension of the Liberals backing away from their lofty election promises, hoping to break them without being noticed by Canadians.
The Liberal election platform states, “While governments grant permits for resource development, only communities can grant permission”. That was the definition of social licence then—before the election, of course—and now, after the election, not so much. In an effort to try to pull one over on Canadians, and particularly British Columbians, in the fall of 2016 a new, watered-down notion of social licence was stated. The new definition for social licence, according to the Liberal government, is about “ensuring public confidence in the decision-making for major resource projects”. Of course, the Liberals cannot even say that they have met the test of even this watered-down definition. Today, we learned that the government believes the term itself is actually outdated.
I have spoken to my constituents many times about this project, as I believe social licence is needed for a project like this. Their view was loud and clear: 78% of survey participants in my riding are against the pipeline expansion. It is an issue my office receives a significant amount of correspondence on, such as from Sarah, in my riding, who wrote that certainly economic prosperity is important in Canada, but not at the expense of our environment, wildlife, and the rights and resources of indigenous communities. She said taking such a gamble would be foolhardy, short-term thinking. Using basic risk analysis—what are the chances of something going wrong, and if something went wrong then how drastic would the impact be—reminds us of how serious the risks are in considering such a choice. She asked that we not approve this proposal.
This is not atypical but a common thread and a common theme of the messages that I get in Vancouver East from my constituents with respect to the Kinder Morgan expansion project.
The government said it has obtained the necessary social licence from Canada's first nation communities that would be impacted by this project. Can the government explain why there are currently numerous legal actions being taken by first nation communities to stop this pipeline? There are 17 court challenges, to be exact—so much for that promise of a renewed and strengthened nation-to-nation relationship.
The fact is that social licence simply has not been obtained, and no attempt to call the term outdated changes that.
With respect to the issue of the economy, which we have heard raised as well, the Simon Fraser University Centre for Public Policy Research found, on the Canadian economy issue, that 65% of the fiscal benefit would go to Kinder Morgan, 32% to Alberta, and—guess what—all of 2% to British Columbia.
The report found Kinder Morgan was also seriously understating the potential cost of a serious spill. While it was suggested that the most expensive diluted bitumen spill would be from $100 million to $300 million, the report pegged those costs more realistically in the $2 billion to $5 billion range. What is more, the science is simply not there to clean up a spill, if there should be one. The real issue is not whether there would be one, but when there would be one.
I must take exception to the second claim in this motion as well. What is critical for the Canadian economy and for the creation of jobs is to help move Canada towards a more sustainable economy, one that ensures the Canadian environment, such as B.C.'s beautiful coasts, are respected and preserved, one that tackles issues such as income inequality and precarious work.
The motion also points to the NEB's approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline's environmental safety issue. As my colleagues have pointed out throughout the day, the NEB's process is fundamentally flawed, and its approval of this pipeline is yet another of a growing list of broken promises made by the Prime Minister to Canadians.
The Prime Minister's personal approval represented a betrayal to all Canadians who expect better from government, who expect decision-making based on science, genuine consultation with first nations communities, and respect and protection of our environment.
Do not just take my word on the NEB, but let us take the word of the Prime Minister's—not one, but two—hand-picked expert panels that confirmed that the public has fundamentally lost confidence in the NEB and that there is a crisis in confidence in the decisions being made.
For good measure, let us take the word of the Liberals' election platform, which was highly critical of the NEB, and where they promised to “make environmental assessments credible again”, and that they would “immediately review Canada's environmental assessment processes”. Finally on this, the words of the Prime Minister himself assured Canadians publicly on August 20, 2015, that the NEB overhaul would apply to Kinder Morgan, when he said "Yes. Yes. It applies to existing projects, existing pipelines as well.”
There was clear acknowledgement from this government that the NEB was flawed, the government's expert panels were clear that the NEB is not trusted by Canadians, and the Prime Minister provided clear assurance that an overhauled NEB would be the body that approved the Kinder Morgan pipeline. However, here were are with yet another broken promise.
We know there are serious environmental concerns should there be a spill from this pipeline, or as a result of the anticipated nearly sevenfold increase in tanker traffic. The results could be devastating for our environment and our coastal economy. The science is not there to properly clean up a diluted bitumen spill into the water. How can the government claim to be making evidence-based decisions with this serious question unanswered?
We know Canadians are seriously concerned about this project, and we know they have lost confidence in the ability of the NEB to make decisions for the greater public good. We also know that many first nations communities on the proposed pipeline route are staunchly opposed to this project. We know that, by pushing forward on this project under its current conditions, the Liberal government is breaking promises made to Canadians.
I, along with my NDP colleagues, both in this house and in the provincial legislature, will continue to oppose this project, and I will oppose this motion today.