We have the coast and we can make things way worse if this turns into an all out war. It'll hurt us and it'll hurt them, that's why I think Notley is stupid to turn this into a trade war.
She knows she'll never win against Kenney and she's desperately trying to out-Kenney Kenney. In turn she's making this issue more contentious than need be.
Horgan is protecting our interests. The locals here overwhelmingly don't want the expansion and I don't blame them (us). I certainly don't want to see a 7 fold increase in tankers in Metro Vancouver.
Burnaby is the next municipality over from me. It doesn't matter how rare oil spills are, a 7 fold increase = 7 times more likely to happen.
7 times more likely than what? 7 times nothing is still nothing.
I think you are in denial as to how much it can hurt us. What do you think up to a 100% increase in the cost of fuel would do to cost of goods in BC and the province's ability to compete in general?
Ships can go to Seattle which is the Port of Vancouver's main competitor. If you have been paying attention for the past few decades, you will know that the Port of Vancouver is always concerned about their ability to compete with Seattle. Aircraft only have to fly another hour to bypass YVR and land at YYC or YEG. Airlines do analysis as to whether it is more economical to tanker fuel or buy it locally. When the price reaches a point it is more economical to tanker that buy locally, their aircraft will carry as much as they can into the expensive airport so they only have to buy the minimum necessary for their next flight. Of course it costs fuel to tanker the extra weight which is bad for the environment but in a highly competitive industry, little things count.
Do you think people would be bitching if there was a 7 fold increase in shipping of any other kind? Alaska crude has been shipping since the early seventies under more challenging conditions that shipping out of Vancouver. Other than the Exxon Valdes which changed everything about the way oil is shipped, there have been no major incidents. Not only that, many of those Alaskan ships transit the Straight of Juan de Fuca enroute to American refineries right across the border.