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Eco-Protection Award
Victoria Times Colonist, November 24, 2005
By Cindy E. Harnett
Victoria MP David Anderson will drop out of politics in the upcoming federal election, but he vows not to drop his 35-year fight to protect the Pacific Coast from offshore oil drilling and tanker traffic.
“I won’t stop because I’ve retired from politics,” Anderson said in an interview from Ottawa. “There will be further flare-ups on offshore drilling and proposals to put tanker traffic into Kitimat and Vancouver. We have to keep up the battle.”
The former environment minister - dumped from cabinet in the summer of 2004 - was awarded the Oil Free Coast Achievement Award Wednesday from the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.
The award is part of a national day of action to maintain the moratorium on off-shore oil and gas development off Canada’s Pacific Coast.
Anderson, an Esquimalt-Saanich MP in 1968, crusaded - without the prime minister’s or cabinet’s approval - against the American government’s planned Alaska oil pipeline that would have oil tankers plying the choppy waters of B.C.’s rugged coast.
In 1971, he prompted then prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau to slap on a moratorium. It was based on concerns heightened tanker traffic and oil exploration would wreak havoc on marine ecology and undermine coastal communities that rely on unpolluted.
“He’s been excellent, absolutely fierce,” said Ken Wu, WCWC’s campaign director in Victoria. “He’s been one of the best examples of true environmental leadership- on this issue particularly.”
Anderson said he was flattered by the recognition: “It’s been an interesting battle- most of it fought 35 years ago.”
The award falls on the one-year anniversary of the federal public-input process headed Rolan Priddle, a former chairman of the National Energy Board. The review showed 75 percent of 3,700 respondents supported the moratorium.
“It’s one of the few marine areas not subjected to heavy tanker traffic, and it’s a particularly fragile area because of the sea conditions and high winds,” Anderson said.
A rally was held Wednesday outside the federal Liberal constituency offices of Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin and of Industry Minister David Emerson to pressure politicians in the upcoming federal election.
“We want them to publicly commit to maintaining the moratorium, “ Wu said.
Emerson as said his government isn’t a hurry to deal with question of lifting the ban. The B.C. government pushed the idea over the last few years but has backed off now.
"We have not heard a word from the Premier [Gordon] Campbell on this even though he was pushing this four, three and two years ago," Anderson said.
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