'Cagey' Christy Clark's
Pipeline Prevarications
 |
| BC Premier Christy Clark - what's my pipeline? |
Tuesday May 15, 2012
By Bill Tieleman
By Bill Tieleman
"With
elections maybe a year away, you're still pretty cagey, frankly, on this
Northern Gateway Pipeline."
-
CBC Radio's Evan Solomon to B.C. Premier Christy Clark
One
British Columbia political party opposes the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline
proposal that would ship Alberta oil sands bitumen through B.C. to Asia.
The
B.C. New Democrats say building the pipeline through northern B.C. to Kitimat
and then sending bitumen to Asia via giant tankers down B.C.'s coastline would
be too environmentally risky.
"Under
the Enbridge proposal, British Columbia would assume almost all the project's
risk, yet would see only a fraction of the benefits. By any measure, such a
high-risk, low-return approach simply isn't in B.C.'s interests," NDP
leader Adrian Dix said
in formally registering opposition with the National Energy Board's Joint
Review Panel.
Agree
or disagree, Dix is clear.
Another
provincial party supports the Enbridge pipeline on the basis of economic
development -- the B.C. Conservatives.
"We
believe and support the notion of the Enbridge pipeline. We think it would be
good for British Columbia, good for Canada to get a better price in the world
market for our oil," B.C. Conservative leader John Cummins says in an
Integrity B.C. online video.
But
our governing party -- the BC Liberals -- won't take any understandable
position on the pipeline.
All
over the pipeline map
In a
CBC Radio interview Saturday with host Evan Solomon on The House, Clark was all
over the map on Enbridge.
Clark
says if the pipeline goes ahead B.C. "would get as many benefits as Nova
Scotia," and that "it would create almost no jobs in British Columbia."
Sounds opposed.
But
then Clark tries to have it both ways.
"Evan,
I'm pro-pipeline... we're enabling the construction of three pipelines from the
Peace River country... Those are going to be liquefied natural gas... It's
going to mean $60 billion in revenue to the province. So we're very much
pro-economic development." Sounds in favour.
But
if Clark is actually "pretty cagey" on Enbridge, it hasn't stopped
her from publicly attacking federal NDP opposition leader Tom Mulcair for
expressing concerns about the impact of oil sands exports on Canada's economy,
by inflating the value of the dollar and negatively affecting the manufacturing
sector.
"I
really thought that type of thinking was discredited and it had been
discredited for a long time. It's so backwards. I think that's just
goofy," Clark told
CBC.
"The
NDP talk their gobbledygook, but really... they want less economic development.
We all know it's a recipe for disaster."
What
Mulcair actually said was also clearer than Clark’s views.
"The
Canadian dollar is being held artificially high, which is fine if you're going
to Walt Disney World, [but] not so good if you want to sell your manufactured
product because the American clients, most of the time, can no longer afford to
buy it," Mulcair said
May 5.
"We've
hollowed out the manufacturing sector. In six years since the Conservatives
have arrived, we've lost 500,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs," he
added.
Mulcair
compared oil exports increasing the world value of Canada's dollar, making
manufacturing exports more expensive, to the "Dutch disease"
of the 1960s, when the Netherlands developed huge offshore natural gas deposits
and its manufacturing sector was severely damaged by the higher value of its
currency.
And
Mulcair said in a substantive Policy Options magazine article in March
he does not oppose oil sands development but wants it done in a sustainable
manner that includes oil companies paying the costs of environmental impacts.
Which
is it?
Clark,
not surprisingly, hasn't explained why she believes Mulcair is wrong --
preferring to fire off insults than debate economics.
But
some of her comments about Enbridge may be more alarming to its proponents than
the NDP.
After
all, Enbridge and its supporters strongly argue
it will bring major benefits to B.C. through jobs, investment and tax revenue.
So
this telling exchange between Clark and Solomon about Enbridge may rankle them:
Clark: "If it goes ahead, at the
moment, British Columbia would get as many benefits as Nova Scotia."
Solomon: "I don't understand that --
what do you mean by that?"
Clark: "Well, it would create almost
no jobs in British Columbia but we would be a net beneficiary just as any other
province is from the royalties that go to Canada."
Solomon: "This is interesting. Building
the pipeline doesn't really create jobs for B.C.?"
Clark: "It creates some jobs in the
construction phase but there are almost, there are very few long term jobs that
would be left in the province after that."
"So
for us it's really a balance of risk and benefit. Evan, I'm pro-pipeline. We're
building three pipelines, we're enabling the construction of three pipelines
from the Peace River country in the northeast right across British Columbia to
the north west in Kitimat and Prince Rupert."
"Those
are going to be liquefied natural gas... It's going to mean $60 billion in
revenue to the province. So we're very much pro economic development."
Hmmm.
"Goofy gobbledygook" seems an appropriate description all right, but
for Clark's confused views on the Enbridge pipeline, not Mulcair's.
.
28 comments:
The lady is a light weight and is so used to doing her hot line spiel just babbles along.She wants so bad to be liked, it seems and has little concern for the province she supposedly runs. Exit stage right Christy and as soon as possible
Time to get out the paper bags so the rest of Canada won't know we're from BC.
Her IQ matches her body temperature.
CGHZD
Based on the most recent poll cant we just say this about Christy--"stick a fork in her..shes done"
I can only imagine how much worse the Dix smears are going to get from the likes of Krueger and company. So far they have backfired but never underestimate the stupidity of the average voter in being manipulated with lies. We already see what is happening down South where Obama will most likely lose due to the oppositions overwhelming money superiority and the abilty to tell lie after lie after lie. And I am sure most readers here know what Goebbels said about lies.
I'm sure the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals, approve of the Enbridge pipeline. Campbell most certainly works for Harper. Campbell and Harper signed a secret deal, behind the citizens backs. This deal,enables Harper to force the Enbridge pipeline onto the BC people anyway. Same as Harper and Campbell forced the HST onto the BC citizens.
Boessenkool another Conservative, he has been placed in with the BC Liberals. Boessenkool lobbied for Enbridge.
The BC Conservatives, made no bones about, supporting Harper.
To me, all of them are one and the same party.
Unless they can get rid of Harper and the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals very quickly, this country will belong to China.
Arn't royalties payable only to Provinces, in the case of the oil sands, royalties will go to Alberta. BC will only indirectly share in oil sands profits through Corporate Income Taxes paid to Canada.
Unless they can get rid of Harper and the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals very quickly, this country will belong to China
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Where were you when the NDP needed additional support to become govermment?
Seems that Mulcair is all against
development of natural resources wehich brings high paying union jobs.
Bassenkool has not been "placed in" with the BC Liberals. He went there himself. He was already gone from Harper's government.
Unfortunately the BC Liberals were stupid enough to take him.
Just as the NDP in BC will be stupid enough to take political hacks from other provinces as they have in the past.
This blog seems to collect at least one Anon who hates the NDP both provincially and federally. ,Tom Mulcair in my view isn't against development of national resources, he and his caucus are against throwing our resources to places like China for a quick buck and leaving BC with no protection. The increased sales of raw log exports does little to help local jobs or to keep some of the profit in the province's workers hands
Two words on Christy Clarks views on Northern Gateway. Gwen Morgan
Nuff said
"This blog seems to collect at least one Anon who hates the NDP both provincially and federally. ,Tom Mulcair in my view isn't against development of national resources, he and his caucus are against throwing our resources to places like China for a quick buck and leaving BC with no protection."
Protection from what exactly? If we have accessible extractable resources that can be sold through good practices for additional revenue for health services, infrastructure, why not sell to who wants it? How else is BC to pay for the things the citizens want?
"The increased sales of raw log exports does little to help local jobs or to keep some of the profit in the province's workers hands"
Granted and a half point awarded there, but the problem is cost of finished lumber products. As far as local jobs they exist, DPL. Equipment, harvesting, etc. There does need to be a revisit and improvment in raw log sales, but there's no way it would be stopped 100%. The NDP advocated raw log sales when they set the sytem for it.
As far as the NDP goes, the NDP has alot to be a negative target. They've promised too much and delivered too little. They cater and cave in to too many special interest groups. The NDP must learn to say "no".
Mulcair doesn't want development of natural resources to help earn revenue for those things that are needed in order to keep our social programmes going. Pure and simple.
He would rather have the well paid boys in the mine pit unemployed, and yet pay for the poverty groups having their staff earn two dollars above minimum wage to keep themselves busy with their perpetual wanting of government money.
Certainly agree with DPL.
The "dutch disease" is an economic disease & it is not "gobbly gook". Mulcair is right to be concerned. Norway had the same problem but solved it by other means. Their gas revenues do not become part of their national income.
The jobs just aren't there in the long term & Christie knows to deny it won't help. The lieberals have been selling off our natural resources without thinking about Canada in 100 yrs. We need to think long term.
Exporting oil & gas now, will lead to problems later. One, we won't have any. Two, China is developing its own deep water drilling rigs. The first is set to go. They are "staking their claim" to the China sea. Once they bring their own oil on line they will have little use for ours. They will force Canada & other suppliers to sell it to them for less & less. We should not forget there is the possibility of large oil/gas reserves off the coast of Vietnam.
It simply does not make economic sense for Canada to ship oil to other countries while we Canadians are paying more & more for gas. Oil should be kept in Canada, refined in Canada, & sold in Canada. With lower gas prices people & businesses would be in much better financial shape. We might even have a few jobs.
The tar sands in Alberta are only a stop gap measure for China. There is no long term benefit to Canada.
1) The Shadow knows! ^^^^^^
2) The troll knows jack!
It's Socialism for the uber rich and Capitalism for the poor.
"Certainly agree with DPL. "
We now know it's worse than we imagined.
"The "dutch disease" is an economic disease & it is not "gobbly gook". Mulcair is right to be concerned. Norway had the same problem but solved it by other means. Their gas revenues do not become part of their national income. "
Their gas/oil revenues goes into a trust fund from which pension funding is drawn. They have something similar to the Heritage Fund in Alberta.
But they do draw from oil and gas revenues to pay for public services such as health. No reason why that couldn't be done here.
"The jobs just aren't there in the long term & Christie knows to deny it won't help. The lieberals have been selling off our natural resources without thinking about Canada in 100 yrs. We need to think long term."
Forestry if properly managed is a renewable resource. The NDP will no doubt want to sell our natural resources to pay for social programmes and public initiatives.
Will be interesting when John Horgan decides to agree with his Cabinet associates to sell more BC coal and mineral resources to Asia
"This blog seems to collect at least one Anon who hates the NDP both provincially and federally. "
Yeah so? Is there something out there that says I have to like everything the NDP does?
The NDP federally hasn't done much of anything for BC except create temporary jobs for hacks during the leadership.
"Tom Mulcair in my view isn't against development of national resources, he and his caucus are against throwing our resources to places like China for a quick buck and leaving BC with no protection."
A bit of a contradition there. You say he isn't against development of natural resources but then you say no selling to places like China. So where are we to sell our resources to pay for public and social programmes? There isn't much market in Mongolia.
"The increased sales of raw log exports does little to help local jobs or to keep some of the profit in the province's workers hands.
A 3/4 point awarded there, there need to be a revisit, but you're forgetting the jobs in the forest, the hauling out of the logs, and all jobs related to getting them to the ship.
The mills need to retool to meet demands for specialty lumber products and be cost competitive on the lumber market if they want to retain the highly paid jobs.
"Yeah so?"
So the New Democrats have not been in power provincially for 11 years and the debt is now unpayable, while its citizens drive south of the border just to survive. Sound fiscal conservative policy hard at work.
"but you're forgetting the jobs in the forest, the hauling out of the logs, and all jobs related to getting them to the ship." So truck driving jobs is a good alternative to Made in Canada products? Sorry, no soup for you.
"So the New Democrats have not been in power provincially for 11 years and the debt is now unpayable, while its citizens drive south of the border just to survive. "
Oh puhleez. If that was the case, the border line up would go from Blaine back to the Massey Tunnel. People go to shop, but on many items you're not saving much, but there's wider choice.
Sound fiscal conservative policy hard at work.
"but you're forgetting the jobs in the forest, the hauling out of the logs, and all jobs related to getting them to the ship." So truck driving jobs is a good alternative to Made in Canada products? Sorry, no soup for you"
Sure. Look around. Your computer was not made in Canada nor were much of the appliances in your home, unless you have a McLarey Stove. If your car is not Dodge, Ford, Gm or Plymouth it is foreign made (Asian cars for Western Canada come from Japan and Korea, not Back East).
Your paper products are most likely not BC paper as much of the paper in the stores is imported.
The newsprint is local.
There have been no locally made large trucks since Kenworth and Freightliner BC left in the late 1980s.
Even your Crackberry is not manufactured here. It is assembled in China or other Asian country as is your iPod and iPad.
Truck drivers hauling for companies do make a decent wage esp. if they are Teamsters or the forestry unit of the United Steelworkers. The tugboat operators get a good wage as do the longshoremen. Sorry, no soup for you.
Probably wasting my time but, have you heard about the cross border shopping dilemma? It's been on the news all week. As I type, the line up at Peace Arch is way past 8th Avenue and will continue all day. Businesses are complaining about cross border shopping as Canadian dollars flow southward and tax dollars disappear. Good for Bellingham, bad for Van. etc.
If you really believe that exporting raw materials is better for the economy, then you need to think again. All that crap you posted is small change compared to Made in Canada. Or do you think that Canadian jobs are insignificant as EVERYONE here makes massive UNION wages. Puhleeeze! It's Libturd thinking like that which has caused a $60 billion debt.
I do not own a Crackberry, whatever that is. I do not own a foreign car.
"Oh puhleez. If that was the case, the border line up would go from Blaine back to the Massey Tunnel. People go to shop, but on many items you're not saving much, but there's wider choice."
Jeez Louise, the#1 reason folks travel south is because of the price. 40 cents/litre less is the big reason. Dairy is half price. Liquor is half price. Eating out is less than half price (see Old Country Buffet). Sigh, so passionate about being so wrong.
that guy that keeps repeating everybody elses thoughts and comes up with inane answers really takes away from your blog I just stopped commong here that often and if I were you all of his posts would be deleted just do a check and you will see for yourself how much readership has fallen,and for the rest of your commenters ignore the creep he's on a mission to what I don't know but he's getting awfully stale.
News for you Annoymous 10:29 AM. While I agree Anon. 9:49 is getting stale, alot of Bill's blog is also getting stale. Not much in the dynamic commentary he used to provide. Seems to be perpetual whining over issues, and nothing postive other than the Tsunami Bike tale.
Another one who is getting stale is DPL. He perpetually whines about everything.
But that's the reason to visit Bill's blog. To view and take in B.C.'s finest whines.
Bill knows the art of and apperciates fine whine making.
"Jeez Louise, the#1 reason folks travel south is because of the price. 40 cents/litre less is the big reason."
You'll burn much of that in the line up and doesn't make much sense to travel an hour there and back unless you have almost an empty tank.
"Dairy is half price. "
Reason for that is that dairy producers in Washington State are heavily subsidized by the State. It doesn't cost much more to get a gallon of milk from Elsie the Cow in Lynden than it does 4 litres of milk from Melinda the Cow in Abbotsford. The difference is marketing boards in BC set the price for milk.
Liquor is half price.
Wouldn't know champ, I don't drink liqour and do not allow it in my home at anytime, ever.
"Eating out is less than half price (see Old Country Buffet). Sigh, so passionate about being so wrong."
Not much difference between McD's down there than here.
Same thing with Wendy's and Burger King. Buffets are different kind of restaurants.
There is better selection in the States but for big ticket items, warranties on products sold in the U.S. are not valid in Canada.
Sigh so passionate about being so out of not supporting BC local business and hospitality employees.
I'd rather support business and the working person in the store or restaurant here than go on a two hour return trip each week to Bellingham to save a few loonies. I'll save the trip to the Excited States for the summer road trip and Christmas.
that guy that keeps repeating everybody elses thoughts and comes up with inane answers really takes away from your blog
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Some of the inane answers come from the left wingers of this blog too.
^^^^^ Absolutely agree!
Same old talking points.
The negative Nelly is quite ho-hum.
On a brighter note...less than 12 months to go!
Sure 12 months to NDP bliss and pereptual uplifting of the spirit.
The NDP can do no harm.
Everyone will be happy happy as the NDP provides everything to anybody.
The NDP will disappoint many.
Be here when it happens.
"You'll burn much of that in the line up and doesn't make much sense to travel an hour there and back unless you have almost an empty tank."
Incredible! Wrong yet again! There is an idle free zone there and 90 litres saves me $36. Block of cheese saves me $5. Jug of milk saves me $2. I do it weekly with each car. Add it up.
As far as local merchants, I shop for deals. If I cannot get a better deal in town, tough luck. Free enterprise! Thousands do it every day.
As far as my vote, how many times must I say... anybody but the Libs! You assume wrongly if you believe I vote socialist.
PS. I do not care why it's less, I care about me and the family pocketbook. Thanks.
Incredible! Wrong yet again! There is an idle free zone there and 90 litres saves me $36. Block of cheese saves me $5. Jug of milk saves me $2. I do it weekly with each car. Add it up.
There is no "free zone" and never was one.
For you, but doesn't make much sense for someone in Maple Ridge or even Chilliwack or North Vancouver to make that trip every week.
"As far as local merchants, I shop for deals. If I cannot get a better deal in town, tough luck. Free enterprise! Thousands do it every day.
As far as my vote, how many times must I say... anybody but the Libs! You assume wrongly if you believe I vote socialist.
PS. I do not care why it's less, I care about me and the family pocketbook. Thanks."
Well thanks for your rant. Many others do not cross the border each week, and many support local stores and merchants.
If everyone in the southern half of the Lower Mainland did what you do each and every week, there would be no local stores and hundreds of working people would be out of a job.
What you are doing is not helping the economy here. And why burn off the extra fuel there and back to save just $6.00 on a block of cheese? You've already burned off the savings on that purchase.
Any one but the Liberals? I agree, and would even tolerate 4 years of the NDP if it means that John Cummins and his BC Tories do not make government or even the balance of power.
You assume wrong that I vote BC Liberal.
As for your being socialist, I mean honestly who cares if you are or not?
If businesses cannot compete, they will fail. That's the free market system. Even Harper has said it's ok as the limits are to be increased shortly. If Harper doesn't give a rats ass, why should I?
Ps. There is an "Idle Free Zone". Signs are all over including a traffic light at the top of the hill. You don't know that because you do not border shop. That's also your freedom to choose.
What started out as a column about Ms.Clark , and how she won't declare a position on a pipe line, and now is a couple of posters arguing with each other. Maybe it's time for a couple of anons to start their own blogs. Just asking.
Here's an idea DPL. Why not start your own?
Just asking.
Why would I want to start a blog when Bill T. and a couple of others I follow suits me just fine
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