{"id":56637,"date":"2021-02-05T08:14:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T13:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56637"},"modified":"2021-02-05T08:14:02","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T13:14:02","slug":"conservatives-bid-to-overturn-tanker-ban-on-north-coast-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56637","title":{"rendered":"Conservatives\u2019 Bid to Overturn Tanker Ban on North Coast Fails"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Conservatives\u2019 Bid to Overturn Tanker Ban on North Coast Fails<\/a><\/h3>\n

After 40 years\u2019 debate, proponents are still pushing for oil exports via BC\u2019s ports. And residents are still pushing back.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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\u2018If we did see a Conservative majority down the road, the oil tanker moratorium would be something they would want to repeal as quickly as possible,\u2019 said NDP MP Taylor Bachrach.\u00a0Photo by Jonathan Hayward, the Canadian Press.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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A Conservative MP\u2019s attempt to reverse a ban on oil tankers on British Columbia\u2019s north coast was defeated in the House of Commons Wednesday.<\/p>\n

But Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach says the bill is a warning that a Conservative government would open up the coast to tanker traffic carrying diluted bitumen from Alberta\u2019s oilsands and create pressure for more pipelines.<\/p>\n

Discussion about whether vessels laden with crude oil should ply the waters off the north coast has been ongoing for decades. It includes debate over the existence of an informal tanker moratorium, outcry over the proposed\u00a0Enbridge Northern Gateway<\/a>\u00a0pipeline and, finally, the passing of Bill C-48, a moratorium on oil tankers that appeared to put the conversation to bed two years ago.<\/p>\n

But recently, as the oil and gas industry\u00a0flounders<\/a> and new U.S. President Joe Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline project, pressure to get Canadian crude to tidewater has escalated.<\/p>\n

Enter\u00a0Bill C-229<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bill, introduced a year ago by Edmonton Centre Conservative MP James Cumming, aims to repeal\u00a0Bill C-48<\/a>, which was passed in 2019 and prohibits tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of crude oil from stopping at B.C. ports between the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the southern tip of the Alaskan Panhandle.<\/p>\n

MPs defeated Cumming\u2019s bill in a 208-118 vote Wednesday, with Conservatives backing the attempt to eliminate the ban.<\/p>\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n