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Offshore oil fades away for election
Issue 'not a vote-getter' for May, says BC Liberal
Victoria Times Colonist, January 12, 2005
By Peter O'Neil
Canwest News Service
OTTAWA - The federal and BC Liberal governments, both fearing vote
losses in urban ridings, have agreed to place on the backburner the
divisive issue of whether to permit energy exploration and production
off the West Coast.
A federal official confirmed Tuesday that Ottawa, which in mid-2002
launched steps to lift the moratorium within 12 to 18 months, has no
plans to remove the 33-year-old ban.
"There's already a moratorium in place on the offshore and we don't see
a groundswell of opinion right now pushing to change that," said Ian
Jack, director of communications for Industry Minister David Emerson.
BC Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said there is no formal plan to
shelve the issue by both governments going into a May BC election and a
potential vote at any time for the federal Liberals, who have a minority
government.
But he confirmed there will be no major steps taken before the BC
election and said it may not be until 2010 before advanced exploration
work, such as seismic testing, begins in the Queen Charlotte Basin.
The BC Liberals campaigned on the issue in 2001 and two years later a
provincial government throne speech declared there would be an offshore
industry "up and running, environmentally sound and booming with job
creation" in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in BC.
Neufeld acknowledged there is speculation that urban Liberal seats could
be jeopardized if offshore exploration became a major issue in the May
election against the NDP.
"Would there be some seats in the Lower Mainland that may be at risk?
I'm not sure. I guess there could be because there are huge...there's
differences between urban and rural BC," he said.
A provincial Liberal insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said
Premier Gordon Campbell's Liberal party has concluded that the offshore
issue isn't a vote-getter in 2005.
"I think there's a kind of tacit agreement (between Ottawa and Victoria)
that we're all not going to push too hard, and we'll see how the debate
unfolds during the election," said the BC Liberal, who strongly supports
the lifting of the moratorium.
The federal Liberal won eight seats in Greater Vancouver and Victoria in
the 2004 election, appealing directly to left-leaning West Coast voters.
Federal and BC officials say they will continue to work behind the
scenes in hopes of answering public concerns and key questions relating
to environmental issues, native land claims, and regulatory issues.
A 2004 report by the Royal Society of Canada estimated there could be
1.3 billion barrels of oil in the Queen Charlotte Basin and 9.8 trillion
cubic feet of gas worth a total of $110 billion.
But the report also warned of the potential for major spills and
blowouts in the basin, resulting in harm and possible "large-scale
kills" of mammal, bird, fish, and invertebrate populations in the area.
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