Premier John Horgan:
I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of B.C. and a former member of the Prime Minister’s Science Advisory Council, to protest your government’s opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline.
Although I have never worked for an oil and gas company, I have lived in most provinces across Canada and appreciate the contribution made by these companies to our standard of living. They employ thousands of workers and pay salaries well above the norm while contributing vast sums by way of royalties and corporate income taxes. Equalization payments to have-not provinces have been fuelled largely by Alberta, whose prosperity is directly linked to this industry.
We are being forced to sell our oil and gas to the U.S.A. at discounts reaching 25 per cent because our offshore markets are severely limited due to lack of infrastructure – primarily pipelines and port facilities. Attempts to correct this anomaly are thwarted at every turn by governments, environmentalists – national and foreign – and by Indigenous groups. The question is why?
Pipelines are seven times safer than train transportation.
Double-walled tankers make shipping incredibly safe. If a dozen tankers a day can negotiate the confines of the narrow Strait of Hormuz without incident, surely one tanker per day can manage Georgia Strait.
Governments need the money and people need the well-paying jobs. Your government should be facilitating not impeding this initiative. The previous government obfuscated and introduced enough impediments and reviews to effectively kill the LNG export opportunity for B.C. and Canada. I urge you not to follow the same misguided path.
Gordon Politeski, Halfmoon Bay
