Carney and Smith’s pipeline pipe dream

OTTAWA | TRADITIONAL, UNCEDED TERRITORY OF THE ALGONQUIN ANISHNAABEG PEOPLE – Reacting to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement about Ottawa’s ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith,

Liz McDowell, Senior Campaigns Director, said:

“This dirty tar sands pipeline is a pipe dream. Prime Minister Carney is delusional if he thinks he can gleefully expand oil and gas without fierce opposition at home, and maintain our reputation on the world stage. As he plans one of the most voracious oil and gas expansions on the planet, this MOU darkens the stain already on our national climate commitments. Growing a sector that’s already responsible for 30% of this country’s pollution instead of investing in genuine nation-building projects like wind energy or a coast-to-coast electricity grid is short-sighted and will hurt us economically.”

Sven Biggs, Oil and Gas Campaign Director said:

“For decades First Nations and British Columbians have been clear: we don’t want oil tankers or crude oil pipelines on the north coast. Our voices made sure the Northern Gateway pipeline was rejected by the courts, when hundreds of thousands of Canadians appeared in front of the National Energy Board, marched in the streets, and organized to stop the last Prime Minister who thought this was a good idea. This is the wall of opposition Carney will meet if he tries to force this project on people who have repeatedly said no.”

In 2016, after years of Indigenous and civil society opposition and legal challenges, the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline – which would have transported 500,000 barrels of toxic bitumen oil per day – was halted. In 2019, a federal moratorium on oil tankers in coastal waters of B.C. stretching from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to Alaska was enacted in law, affirming the critical value of this region to coastal communities, First Nations, and marine life. In 1972, the Government of Canada implemented a policy moratorium that banned crude oil tanker traffic and offshore oil and gas exploration along British Columbia’s north coast.

Anna Barford, Oceans Campaigner said:

“Today Prime Minister Carney has torpedoed decades of work in salmon and fisheries recovery and wildlife protections to gamble the future livelihoods in the region by designating the west coast a tar sands tanker sacrifice zone. The tanker ban – enacted after decades of First Nations advocacy and leadership in marine protected areas –  protected rich wildlife, communities, and cultures too important to lose by keeping the most dangerous boats out. When the big spill comes and we can’t clean it up, we will know precisely who to blame.”

Kiki Wood, Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner said:

“B.C. communities are absolutely done with being sacrificed to fossil fuel corporations trying to squeeze out a few more years of profit. Civil society, climate advocates, and Indigenous Nations have made it crystal clear that they will not stand by while new fossil fuel infrastructure threatens lands, waters, and future generations. We demand that governments and industries invest in a just climate-safe future – not double down on expensive, risky pipelines that nobody wants. Any attempt to ram through another oil pipeline from Alberta to B.C. will be met with fierce and unrelenting opposition.”

Richard Brooks, Climate Finance Director said:

“The proposed Alberta to B.C. tar sands pipeline is economically unsound and lacks private sector backing. There’s a distinct possibility that taxpayers will be forced to subsidize the project, repeating the $34 billion boondoggle pipeline all Canadian taxpayers already own: the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Even more than TMX or Keystone, this new pipeline will face an overwhelming wall of opposition from Indigenous communities and Canadians coast to coast, which will make it even more financially untenable. Underinvesting in clean energy, giving exemptions to clean electricity regulations, and handing oil and gas an open-ended license to pollute is not a roadmap to future-proof and strengthen the Canadian economy.”

At the UN climate talks in Brazil, over 80 countries called for a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels. And some, from China to Pakistan, are making unprecedented leaps forward in renewable energy generation, particularly solar power, while their demand for oil and gas is flatlining. By contrast, Canada is moving in the wrong direction, expanding fossil fuel production, including recently announcing support for two new liquified methane gas (LNG) facilities. Fossil fuels are the single largest driver of human-caused climate change.

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Media contacts

Kathryn Semogas, Communications Specialist (ET):   kathryn.semogas@stand.earth
Richard Brooks, Climate Finance Director (ET):  richard@stand.earth
Liz McDowell, Senior Campaigns Director (PT):  liz@stand.earth
Sven Biggs, Canadian Oil and Gas Programs Director (PT): sven@stand.earth
Anna Barford, Oceans Campaigner (PT):  anna@stand.earth
Kiki Wood, Senior Oil and Gas Campaigner (PT): kiki@stand.earth