CALGARY – Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley is urging the Senate to toss the federal government’s bill to ban tankers off the British Columbia coast “in the garbage.”
Notley says 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.
She also says it’s a double standard given that Ottawa supports the liquefied natural gas industry, tankers on the St. Lawrence Seaway and Newfoundland’s Hibernia oil project.
Notley made the comments via video link from Calgary to senators in Ottawa meeting to discuss Bill C-48.
The bill would make law an existing moratorium on tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of crude oil in the waters between the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the Alaska border.
The legislation passed in the House of Commons last spring and is being debated in the Senate.
“Let’s show Canadians that 90,000 jobs in downtown Calgary are just as important as 90,000 jobs in downtown Montreal,” Notley told the senators Tuesday.
“Don’t block us, back us,” she said.
“Toss C-48 in the garbage where it belongs.”