A recommendation to provide letters of support of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project to the provincial and federal governments received the support of Williams Lake City Council.
“It’s a political statement in terms of ensuring that when these types of projects that come forward it has massive impacts not only in Alberta but B.C as a whole both in terms of economics and jobs,” says Councillor Scott Nelson who brought forth the late item Tuesday evening.
“During the construction of this, it will create 15,000 jobs and that’s significant. There’s significant tax dollars that come back to municipalities across B.C and Alberta. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Councillor Sue Zacharias was absent from the meeting, and Councillor Ivan Bonnell said he did not see any benefit to the City of Williams Lake stepping in.
Mayor Walt Cobb noted that although he does not want it to become a partisan issue, he wants the Lower Mainland to understand how important the project is to the Cariboo.
“We’ve got gas lines and industrial types of products that go through our community and I think when you look at a project of this magnitude and the impacts that it can have there are people in Williams Lake that work in other communities, work on the pipelines, work in the mines as well,” says Nelson.
“It’s important for rural British Columbia to ensure that they have a strong voice in projects like this.”
Kinder Morgan announced on Sunday that it is suspending all non-essential activities and related spending on the Trans Mountain Expansion Project.
It also announced that under current circumstances, specifically including the continued actions in opposition to the project by the Province of British Columbia, it will not commit additional shareholder resources to the project.
“British Columbians expect their government to stand up for their interests and our coast, and to do everything we can to protect our land and waters, our coastal communities and our local economies,” said Premier John Horgan in a statement regarding Kinder Morgan’s decision to suspend non-essential spending on the project.
“The federal process failed to consider B.C.’s interests and the risk to our province. We joined the federal challenge, started by others, to make that point.”
“We believe we need to grow the economy while protecting the environment. We want to work to address these challenges together. But we will always stand up for British Columbians, our environment and the thousands of jobs that depend on our coast.”
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