B.C. Premier Christy Clark raised the stakes in the pipeline poker game last week. But given that she has such a weak hand, it’s not likely to be a game changer.Clark and her Liberals are way down in the polls in B.C, running far behind NDP leader Adrian Dix. She needed to do something dramatic if the trend was to be reversed before next year’s election.
What better way than to hold hostage the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline and make a few demands?
It’s a $5-billion pipeline project that the federal government and the Alberta government want pushed through northern B.C. as quickly as possible, even though there are serious environmental ramifications. The pipe would carry tarry bitumen from the Alberta oilsands for loading onto a fleet of tankers that would then have to navigate tricky coastal waters before heading to the open seas and Asia.
But despite Alberta and Ottawa’s enthusiasm, many people living in B.C. aren’t so thrilled. After all, this is the province that has “Beautiful British Columbia — the best place on Earth” on its licence plate.
Clark’s demands include: successful completion of the environmental review process; the highest standards for the prevention and recovery of spills should there be any on land or sea; satisfying the legal requirements regarding aboriginal and treaty rights; opportunities for First Nations to participate and benefit from the pipeline project.
But it’s the final demand that is the most contentious. Clark wants B.C. to receive a fair share of the fiscal and economic benefits commensurate with the risks borne by the province, the environment and taxpayers, not just for this project but other projects that involve heavy oil being transported across the province.
Alberta Premier Alison Redford immediately made it clear that Alberta was not about to share any of its oil and gas royalties with B.C. Clark backed off a bit and indicated that there may be other ways to extract what her province considers its due.
The spat certainly added some drama to the annual meeting of all the premiers in Halifax last week.
But in the end, it’s all posturing, bluffing in a high stakes poker game, because the Harper government in Ottawa will be making all the key decisions, not the government of B.C.
“British Columbia’s legal position is weak,” says Nigel Bankes, Chair of Natural Resources Law at the University of Calgary’s law school where he also teaches and researches aboriginal law and international environmental law.
In a law school blog he points out that because this is an interprovincial project the federal government not only has jurisdiction but has already shown that it is more than willing to use its power to overcome any obstacles to completion of the project.
“At the end of the day the province can put nails on the road in a legal sense but it is clearly federal jurisdiction and they can’t do much to stop it,” Bankes said in an interview.
B.C. First Nations have a much stronger legal card to play than the provincial government, adds Bankes, especially given that the federal government has historical and constitutional obligations to aboriginal peoples.
How First Nations choose to play that card will likely have much more impact on the course of the project than what the province does.
“I would be stunned if we didn’t see some litigation at some point,” said Bankes.
Nevertheless, he predicts that the environmental review process and any legal hurdles could be resolved in two to three years at which point Enbridge could proceed with construction of the pipeline.
But of course scoring legal points is much different than scoring political points.
And at this stage it is political points that Clark and the Liberals are after. If she (and the NDP) in B.C. can convince most voters that the pipeline is a bad deal for the province, would the Harper Conservatives be willing to risk the wrath of those same voters in the next federal election?
And what if the pipeline becomes a key issue during B.C.’s provincial election, slated for May 2013? And what if Clark is no longer premier this time next year? Her list of demands would become meaningless. Instead, Harper would have to deal with the NDP’s complete rejection of the project.
And what about the influence of the Chinese government, which just bought into the oilsands in a big way and no doubt wants that pipeline completed as soon as possible?
It’s a high stakes game, no doubt about it.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Steward, Gillian
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