Mayor Don Scott was in Edmonton Tuesday to speak to the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications.
Honoured to present at hearings on Bill #C48 in #yeg. I spoke to senators about how this bill will keep oil from our region from reaching tidewater in B.C. & accessing emerging markets. It will negatively impact hardworking people & families across the West. #rmwb #ymm
— Don Scott (@DonaldKScott) April 30, 2019
The committee is holding public hearings on the federal government’s bill C-48, a bill that would ban oil tankers off the British Columbia coast.
Tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of crude oil in the waters between the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the Alaska border would be banned.
Mayor Scott told the committee that the bill is a “systematic attack on the oilsands”
“Not only will this bill prevent Alberta oil from reaching tidewater, it essentially tells investors to put their money elsewhere; and it delivers a devastating blow to communities, like ours, that depend on the economic investment, well-paying jobs, contracting service opportunities, and economic spin-offs created by oil sands development.”
Scott also noted that the bill doesn’t apply to the east coast, which he said puts the two sides of the country against each other.
“What Bill C-48 will do is keep Canadian oil—oil from an industry that’s regulated to the highest environmental and labour standards—from reaching tidewater and accessing global markets,”
The committee heard earlier this month from outgoing NDP premier Rachel Notley, who urged the Senate to toss the bill “in the garbage.”
She said the proposed law is discriminatory because it wouldn’t be able to stop international tanker traffic, but would impede Alberta’s efforts to get oil to new markets.
Kenney has also criticized the tanker bill. He agreed with Notley that it unfairly targets “ethically produced” Alberta oil instead of “dictator oil” imported from overseas.
Mayor Scott along with councillors Krista Balcom, Sheila Lalonde and Verna Murphy will be in Ottawa on May 1 and 2 to meet with federal officials to discuss concerns over Bill C-69, which would overhaul the regulatory process for energy projects.
*With files from The Canadian Press
