XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.geeral   
   From: Cons¦cons@cda.ca   
      
   New government coming in.  Lots of speeches by their leaders and   
   candidates coming up during the next month......   
      
   But there is one single issue that all British Columbians who do NOT   
   want Albertan tarsands pipelines across this province for waiting   
   Chinese tankers TO HEAR THAT FROM THE NEW DEMOCRAT CANDIDATES during   
   this campaign.   
      
   Loud and clear.  They will NOT allow the Enbridge Pipeline across BC.   
      
   Put the question to them during candidates' forums.  Put the question to   
   Adrian Dix - over and over again.   
      
   We don't need another government like the one we currently have: not   
   talking about, or obfuscating on an issue that means so much to all of us.   
      
   SPEAK OUT.  ASK.  LISTEN.  And make sure the media is there to record   
   their answers.   
   ___________________________________________   
      
   April 14, 2013 - The Globe and Mail   
      
   Northern Gateway appears likely to be rejected by next B.C. government   
                             ^^^^^^^   
      
   Pipeline project will be top issue for incoming premier and both   
   Liberals and NDP seem set to say 'no'   
      
      
   Premier Christy Clark will pop by Government House on Tuesday morning to   
   formally set the election campaign in play. By the afternoon, the   
   campaign buses will be rolling, beginning a four-week scramble for votes.   
      
   Back at the legislature, the bureaucrats will be stacking up a tower of   
   briefing documents for whichever party leader gets to pick up the keys   
   to the premier's office after May 14.   
      
   The incoming premier may detect a ticking sound in that pile of   
   documents, coming from the folders on the proposed Northern Gateway   
   pipeline. It's an issue that will demand immediate attention. On any   
   number of issues, the incoming government will find itself fettered by   
   the outgoing one. But on this topic, the final decision on what the   
   province will actually say – thumbs up, thumbs down, or silence – has   
   been temporarily shelved while the campaign runs its course.   
      
   That's an appropriate call. However, the National Energy Board hearings   
   on the project are winding down. The schedule requires that the B.C.   
   government finally take a position on the $6-billion pipeline proposal   
   before the B.C. election results have even been confirmed on June 5. On   
   May 24, the province is scheduled to deliver its final arguments at the   
   NEB hearing on the Enbridge project. If there is a change in government,   
   there won't even be a new B.C. cabinet in place at that point, only a   
   premier-elect.   
      
   The bureaucracy has been instructed to produce a range of options for   
   the incoming government and to act on the wishes of that new   
   administration. The options are expected to include: Support the project   
   with conditions, reject the project, or simply opt out and make no   
   recommendation to the NEB.   
      
   Should the Liberals hang on to power, it's likely the B.C. legal team   
   will be instructed to say "no" to the pipeline. Even with the draft   
   conditions on Northern Gateway released last week by the NEB, the five   
   conditions for B.C. government approval that were laid out by Ms. Clark   
   have not yet been met. Ms. Clark, at a party fundraiser last week,   
   signalled she will take the pipeline issue to voters as she laid out her   
   campaign priorities in a half-hour speech.   
      
   "We have set five conditions for the movement of heavy oil through our   
   province and I will not bend," she said. In the same speech, she   
   disparaged Alberta oil as dirty – not an encouraging sign for Enbridge.   
   She said B.C.'s natural-gas reserves hold as much energy as Alberta's   
   oil sands, but "the difference, though, is this: It's clean. A clean   
   fuel, to wean Asia off dirtier sources of energy."   
      
   The Liberals and the NDP would like to say their positions are vastly   
   different, but they both appear to be heading in the same direction. If   
   the NDP wins, it will be "no" either by word or by deed. Environment   
   critic Rob Fleming says the NEB hearing might be a nice venue for   
   outlining his party's opposition to the project, but the main focus of   
   an NDP government would be to set up a B.C. environmental review. And   
   they can: In 2010, the Liberal government signed an agreement with   
   Ottawa giving away responsibility for examining Northern Gateway and   
   several other energy projects. But that agreement includes an escape   
   clause allowing B.C. to give 30 days' notice to terminate the agreement.   
   But the NDP still oppose the project. "The Liberals have surrendered the   
   right to really say 'no,' " Mr. Fleming said. "If B.C. is headed to   
   disagree with Ottawa, it needs to have its own legal process."   
      
   Still, it makes for an oddly undefined debate about the top   
   environmental issue on voters' minds. Eric Swanson is running a parallel   
   No Tankers campaign for the Dogwood Initiative. He says the NDP have   
   been more clear and consistent in their opposition to Northern Gateway   
   than the Liberals. But, given the mood among voters in B.C., it doesn't   
   matter which method the next premier takes to get to 'no.' "If the Prime   
   Minister tries to force an unwanted project on B.C., he is going to lose   
   pretty big out here. That's the main power the next premier has."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)