Saturday, 27 April 2019

Irving Oil makes rare public comment on carbon pricing, offers support with a catch

https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies




Replying to and 47 others 
Methinks everybody knows I don't care what the many minions of Irving Clan or NB Power's Yankee vice-president of nuclear energy say about anything N'esy Pas? 
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2019/04/irving-oil-makes-rare-public-comment-on.html
 







https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/irving-oil-carbon-pricing-bill-c69-senate-hearing-1.5113736



Irving Oil makes rare public comment on carbon pricing, offers support with a catch




116 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.




Mo Bennett
hypocrites. 



James Lane
Irving has used the same ploy for decades, threaten to make them an accountable firm on an even playing field and they threaten to pull up roots and walk to a more appreciable location. Here’s your coat and hat. NB has such potential but it’s resources are being sucked dry by that huge leech on our shoulder. We lose the real cream to other provinces and countries where the game’s not rigged. 



James Lane
MeThinks? N’esy Pas? LOL! Why does anyone ever engage a person which spews such inane, derogatory tripe? The lack of ability to converse above an entry level in the grade schools should give one the signal, steer clear. The concepts of climate change and mass extinctions are lost on these people, they will fight tooth and nail to support the Blue and Higgs.











David R. Amos
Methinks many politicians know why I wholeheartedly agree with Ray Bungay in that the Council of Canadians does not speak for me or anyone else I know and respect N'esy Pas?


Ray Bungay
Content disabled
Ms Pohl you do not, could and will not speak for me and millions of Canadians. I do not like this tax and I will complain publicly about until it is removed on ordinary hard working New Brunswick workers and retirees. We do not drive and more hence no car. This tax is going to hit my wife and I very hard because we have zero, nada, no, etc. choice but to heat our rented apartment by electricity. What does the Council of Few Canadians plan to do that would benefit my life and thousands of other on the edge $$$$$ wise seniors. Oh I hear much quiet! That only means you are just has much an embarrassment as Trudeau is.


David R. Amos   
Content disabled
Reply to @Ray Bungay: "Ms Pohl you do not, could and will not speak for me and millions of Canadians"

I Wholeheartedly Agree Sir










David R. Amos
"Massicotte invited the Council of Canadians activists to respond"

Methinks I should ask if folks think Ann Pohl uttered "fine words" N'esy Pas? 


David R. Amos 
Reply to @David R. Amos:

"New Brunswick independent Sen. René Cormier, a committee member, said he still hasn't come to a conclusion on how he'll vote on Bill C-69. "I'm still listening very, very carefully."

Methinks René Cormier and Mikey Holland must know by now that that I don't care what Brett Plummer, NB Power's Yankee vice-president of nuclear energy says about anything N'esy Pas?

Brett Plummer said "NB Power is already planning 15 years ahead in looking at new, smaller-scale and emissions-free nuclear reactors, but "this uncertainty could lead to investors going elsewhere to build their projects." 


Johnny Horton
Reply to @David R. Amos:

If you don’t like no power, you sre free to live off grid.


David R. Amos  
Reply to @Johnny Horton: Methinks you make no sense I still own a stake in NB Power just like you do whether I am on the grid or not N'esy Pas? 
 

Johnny Horton
Reply to @David R. Amos:

Not if you leave the province.


David R. Amos   
Reply to @Johnny Horton:Methinks your buddy Mr Higgs and his minions should agree that I would continue to have a stake in NB Power no matter where I was as long as I continued to pay my property taxes and my power bill in New Brunswick N'esy Pas?


Johnny Horton
Reply to @David R. Amos:

Well duh. It sure why I’d you moved out of B.B. to not have to deal with the civil empires of B.B. power and Irving you’d still pay for power and keep property. That’s just kinda more than dumb.

Bts, Higgs ain’t my friend I’m a libertarian. I don’t believe in government,


David R. Amos   
Reply to @Johnny Horton: If you do not like Higgs then I doubt you have any friends at all Perhaps you should join the Council of Canadians Methinks they would love to have you in their fold N'esy Pas?
David R. Amos   
Reply to @Johnny Horton: What is B.B. code for and who said I wanted to move anywhere? 
 

Johnny Horton
Reply to @David R. Amos:

All you do is complain about everything here, I figure for your mental health it is probably best to leave,












Neil MacLean
I tend to believe the people at Irving Oil understand the value and crucial importance of carbon pricing. So this is a conscience play even as the family's newspaper chain foments hateful views of carbon pricing. Just yesterday(?) the main headline was about the money Ottawa was taking out of our pockets with carbon pricing: you had to read on in the small print to see note of the balancing refunds.


David R. Amos   
Reply to @Neil MacLean: "I tend to believe the people at Irving Oil understand the value and crucial importance of carbon pricing"

Methinks thou doth jest too much N'esy Pas?


Johnny Horton

Reply to @Neil MacLean:

I think the Irving’s are smart enough to know what sells papers. Populism.
 
 
Buddy Best
Reply to @Neil MacLean: There are people that still read that rag and base their opinions on the Irving monopoly of MSM in NB.
 
 
Buddy Best
Reply to @Johnny Horton: They are not selling papers they are trying to alter local mindset. It is called propaganda. Have you seen how many pages comprise their paper now. Barely enough to do the bird cage, let alone swat flies.
 
 
David R. Amos  
Reply to @Buddy Best: Methinks you are overlooking the fact that you are arguing a cheerleader for the Irving Clan N'esy Pas?
 
 
Johnny Horton 
Reply to @David R. Amos:

I’m not a cheerleader for the Irving’s. I just don’t care what they do. Not my business not my problem.
 
 
Johnny Horton 
Reply to @David R. Amos:

Here’s another way to put it.

I’m not a fan of the legal stealing (aka property;income taxes) of money from hose who do better/are richer, to make others lives better.













Roy Kirk
I don't u understand why people are so bent out of shape over the carbon tax on gasoline. Most people get it back as a tax rebate. That's a much better deal than the 25 cent excise tax that's on the same fuel, and the HST that's on top of that, none of which is rebated back to the user.


Daryl Doucette
Reply to @Roy Kirk: Bent out of shape? Why take it if they are just going to give it back? Utter loonacy. 


David R. Amos
Reply to @Roy Kirk: "Most people get it back as a tax rebate."

I won't because I can't file with the CRA


David R. Amos 
Reply to @daryl doucette: 'Utter loonacy."

YUP


Johnny Horton
Reply to @David R. Amos:

Don’t confuse can’t and won’t.

Amos and Irving bedmates in not paying their fair share of taxes in this place,


David R. Amos  
Reply to @Johnny Horton: Methinks the "Power That Be" know I pay my fair share of taxes and yet the CRA won't provide my entitled rebates because they deleted my SIN my Health Care Card and Drivers License etc etc etc N'esy Pas?

Maritime Noon April 25th, 2019 - Phone-in on personal taxes with CRA expert [mp3 file: runs 00:53:34]

https://podcast-a.akamaihd.net/mp3/podcasts/maritimenoon-9MY19HVg-20190425.mp3

 
Johnny Horton
Reply to @David R. Amos:

The car does NO take health cards and drivers licencnes.

Methinks the people of this province are tired of your BS.













Robert G. Holmes
Question for Irving Oil; What does your long range Sustainable Development Plan, (Industry business centre by Industry), look like today, as compared to 10 years ago? ie. where are we headed?


David R. Amos  
Reply to @Robert G. Holmes: Methinks you know as well as I that all you will ever hear in response is crickets N'esy Pas?















Steve Dueck
Yah...I support it too...as long as it doesn’t take money from my pocket...which it does...so like Irving...I really don’t support it at all.


Lou Bell
Reply to @Steve Dueck: Actually , it puts your money back in your pocket , if you can understand .


Steve Dueck
Reply to @Lou Bell: oh I fully understand...but until we..the tax paying public...actually see it...I will remain cynical. Politicians are not known for telling the truth


Daryl Doucette 
Reply to @Lou Bell: that is simply not true.


David R. Amos   
Reply to @daryl doucette: You are correct 
 

David R. Amos  
Reply to @Steve Dueck: "Politicians are not known for telling the truth"

Oh No Please say it ain't so














Ron Haverkamp
We need to ask ourselves why any private company would support a tax on their products. This carbon scheme wreaks of suspicion. The poorest of our society will suffer even more


David R. Amos    
Reply to @Ron Haverkamp: "The poorest of our society will suffer even more"

Methinks that is how the wicked game is played for the benefit of the wealthy few N'esy Pas?


Johnny Horton
Reply to @David R. Amos:

You sre free to start a company, build it up over decades and reap the benefits as well.


David R. Amos 
Reply to @Johnny Horton: I did back in 1977


Johnny Horton
Reply to @David R. Amos:

Then I guess you failed and don’t have the business and money to have your offices and residences in Bermuda, don’t blame others for succeeding when you fail. 


David R. Amos
Reply to @Johnny Horton: "The car does NO take health cards and drivers licencnes.Methinks the people of this province are tired of your BS."

If you could read and write you would understand that I said the "Powers That Be" took such things not some sort of "car" Furthermore it is you who is shoveling BS with a very dubious name that will never appear on any ballot in New Brunswick N'esy Pas?


Johnny Horton

Reply to @David R. Amos:

CRA. As we were talking about the CRA, it’s a simple typo thst isn’t hard to figure out. Again the cra does not take drovers licences info.













Brian Robertson
Cue all the Irving haters to air all past greivances.
Envy is such a sad trait in people.


Buddy Best
Reply to @Brian Robertson: Envy??? I beg your pardon? Envy greed and exploitation of others who are unable to choose where they can shop? Envy those who live off of the toil of the weakest. Envy those who see no reason why they should contribute to the community in which they live? Try again! 


David R. Amos     
Reply to @Brian Robertson: Methinks many folks have many good reasons to hold the Irving Clan in high contempt N'esy Pas?


Johnny Horton
Reply to @Brian Robertson:

Yep and it didn’t take long,













Daryl Doucette
Some one should ask the Irvings why they don't pay their fair share of property taxes.

Colin Seeley
Reply to @daryl doucette:

You would of course have knowledge of how much tax they do pay.

Please advise.

Please include EI and CPP.


Brian Robertson 
Reply to @Colin Seeley: And they always use the nebulous term of 'fair share'.
What could be more vague or subjective than that.
It's like the gun grabbers alawys clamoring for gun 'control', but never defining the limits of their intentions.
 
 
Donald Mcgregor
Reply to @Brian Robertson:
Nothing to do with gun control.
 
 
Daryl Doucette 
Reply to @Colin Seeley: Irving Refinery Saint John, assessment 98 million ( a joke) 4.2 million property tax. Suncor, Alberta refinery, assessement 1.9 billion ( 2/3 size of Irving) 27 million property tax.....a WEE bit of a difference. I sure as heck would love to only pay 10% of what my tax bill is.
 
 
Lou Bell
Reply to @daryl doucette: Ask your government , , we all put them in , no matter which stripes .


David R. Amos  
Reply to @daryl doucette: "Some one should ask the Irvings why they don't pay their fair share of property taxes."

Methinks that question should asked of Mr Higgs and his minions N'esy Pas? 

 
Johnny HortonReply to @daryl doucette:

Why are you comparing different provinces property tax? I don’t see you comparing other people’s private property tax bills in other provinces,


Buddy Best
Reply to @Brian Robertson: I am sure if YOU asked they would open their books to assessment. LNG rip off? Water Rate special contracts, NB Power buy back power for less then they sold to the Utility. Special considerations to crowd out private woodlot owners. Rape Crown lands at stumpage fees that don't cover the costs of maintenance let alone provide income for the resources. Monopolize the media to silence the critics and sequester the news. You don't have the time for me to continue. Lets go with the killing agent Glyphosate and where that put the critics?
Mislabeling hazardous material to cut shipping costs? Slap on the wrist fines!!!!!
 
 
David R. Amos  
Reply to @Buddy Best: Methinks I should ask you if you truly cared why not to go to Federal Court in Fredericton and pull file T-1557-15 from the docket and start reading N'esy Pas?













Buddy Best
LOL You don't compete with the Irving Monopoly. They own the governments. I expect with this new tax their profits will only increase. (Tax free)


David R. Amos   
Reply to @Buddy Best: I agree















Jan Lenova
"The owner of New Brunswick's single biggest emitter of carbon dioxide says it supports the idea of carbon pricing"
...because all of these Corporations simply pass the buck of their Carbon Tax onto the backs of Canadian Taxpayers/Consumers, hence why prices have all skyrocketed.


Brian Robertson
Reply to @Jan Lenova: That's what all companies do with their overhead, whatever they are.
That's why it's laughable when the short sighted amongst us keep crying out for more corporate taxation. These fools keep kinging themselves in the backside and wonder why it hurts.


Donald Mcgregor 
Reply to @Jan Lenova:
True but who is to blame the company that passes the tax on to the consumer or the government that levied the tax in the first place. 
 

David R. Amos    
Reply to @Jan Lenova: Methinks this was just another fancy smoke and mirror show in order to support more taxation N'esy Pas?











David Webb
In other words, we can't pass along this tax to our US customers, until and if they ever have a tax to compete, so better pony up an equivalent amount to offset. Canada driving business out of the country.


David R. Amos     
Reply to @David Webb: BINGO












Colin Seeley
Message to Ms. Pohl and the Council of Some Canadians.

Canadians are not going to accept a Carbon Tax.

Confederation has done major damages to NB.

Losing Irving would be existential doom.

My fear is committee failure to see realities .

Perhaps Trudeau will buy a refinery.


Peter Demerchant
Reply to @Colin Seeley: "loosing Irving would be existential doom"........thanks now I have to make a new Saturday morning coffee after spitting most of the first one on the floor in uncontrolled laughter


Buddy Best 
Reply to @Colin Seeley: If the Irvings want to leave I, for one, will help them pack. Good rid-dins!!!


Daryl Doucette 
Reply to @Buddy Best: you got that right.
 
Marc LeBlanc
Reply to @Colin Seeley: Imagine where New Brunswick would be if Irving Oil wasn't using Bermuda as a tax haven and they were paying their fair share of taxes like every other poor business person working 70-80 hours a week just to feed themselves

Colin Seeley
Reply to @Peter demerchant:

Alberta is listening . Can’t wait to see you in being pulled up King Street in a Rickshaw !

NYC prices will apply.

$25 USD.


Peter Demerchant
Reply to @Colin Seeley: Haha, I will need a jacka@% to pull it, so keep your phone on


Daryl Doucette
Reply to @Marc LeBlanc: exactly. GREEEED!
 
Buddy Best 
Reply to @Colin Seeley: Second biggest employer in the province after our inflated government. No diversity. If they were to leave there would be several (not one) new employers in this province with far less of a grip on the throats of governments and the average tax paying consumer. It would be 5 years for the dust to settle and folks returning home to NB.



David R. Amos   
Reply to @: "exactly. GREEEED!"

Methinks we all know the Irving Clan is the greediest of all N'esy Pas?















Colin Seeley
“ Federal data show Irving Oil's Saint John refinery emitted three million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2016, the highest level of any single facility in the province.”

It would be of interest to see a list of the emitters of GHG in NB


Ray Bungay 
Reply to @Colin Seeley: Yes McCains, Gagnon, non Irving Forest operations and of course NBP and Emera
 
Buddy Best 
Reply to @Colin Seeley: Why? Irving sets the bar for corporate neglect of the environment. That is just one element of their massive control over commerce, refining and manufacturing here. This has been going on for decades and in most cases ignored by governments. This to the detriment of all it's residents. Those able, including the new comers, are bailing.


Colin Seeley 
Reply to @Buddy Best:

Alberta and hard working blue collar Canadians are listening to the Bolshevik like drivel such as yours.

Suppressing the Canadian economy will not save the Planet.


Daryl Doucette 
Reply to @Buddy Best: It is not " ignored' by government....they know full well but $$$$keeps them quiet.


Buddy Best 
Reply to @Colin Seeley: That is trade secret. You can bet Irving would make the short list many times. Irving Paper, Irving Pulp and Paper, Irving Owned NBSR and rail-side storage units. JDI, Irving Forest Industries clear cut and spray, Kent's Building........


Buddy Best
Reply to @Colin Seeley: Your debating tactics need a little fine tuning. Attack the messenger when you can justify your cause.


David R. Amos  
Reply to @daryl doucette: "they know full well but $$$$keeps them quiet."

Methinks everybody knows that N'esy Pas?


David R. Amos   
Reply to @Buddy Best: "Attack the messenger when you can justify your cause."

Methinks that is just another one of those things he does that folks fail to appreciate N'esy Pas?













Shawn Hickey
Irving always has a catch.
The special treatment catch.
I don't blame them.


David R. Amos 
Reply to @Shawn Hickey: I do

Shawn Hickey
Reply to @David R. Amos: you would do the same.
 
David R. Amos
Reply to @Shawn Hickey: So you say 


Shawn Hickey
Reply to @David R. Amos: yes. I do say.
You'd have to be foolish not to


David R. Amos 
Reply to @Shawn Hickey: Foolish or Ethical? No doubt you know that people insult me all day long Methinks I would be foolish to take your stab at my integrity seriously N'esy Pas? 







 




Cam Randal
Basically, Irving is in favour of the carbon tax as long as it does not impact the company's bottom line. The NB government will do due diligence to establish a carbon pricing scheme that benefits (saves money, reduces taxes, etc) for Irving.

Meanwhile, the working poor struggle to make ends meet, and pay carbon tax, so that the Irving Corp. remains competitive.


Colin Seeley
Reply to @Cam Randal:

And Irving also provides thousands of jobs.

Similar to the SNC jobs Trudeau tried to save by pressuring Jody.


Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Colin Seeley: big corporations and the money run governments, no matter the party in power. Trudeau is no worse than Harper, nor Higgs for that matter.


David R. Amos 
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: "big corporations and the money run governments, no matter the party in power. Trudeau is no worse than Harper, nor Higgs for that matter."

Methinks you should explain why you make fun of my running as a Independent N'esy Pas? 
 

David R. Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Ray Bungay: "Ms Pohl you do not, could and will not speak for me and millions of Canadians. I do not like this tax and I will complain publicly about until it is removed on ordinary hard working New Brunswick workers and retirees. We do not drive and more hence no car. This tax is going to hit my wife and I very hard because we have zero, nada, no, etc. choice but to heat our rented apartment by electricity. What does the Council of Few Canadians plan to do that would benefit my life and thousands of other on the edge $$$$$ wise seniors. Oh I hear much quiet! That only means you are just has much an embarrassment as Trudeau is."

I Wholeheartedly Agree Sir


Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @David R. Amos: because you would never get elected, thanks for that. If you did, you would be bought just like the rest of them.


Mo Bennett
Reply to @Cam Randal: hey! it's what politicians do best.




Irving Oil makes rare public comment on carbon pricing, offers support with a catch

Irving Oil is the province's single biggest emitter of carbon dioxide



Jacques Poitras · CBC News ·

An Irving Oil storage facility and crude rail cars are photographed at the edge of Courtenay Bay on in Saint John, New Brunswick. (Devaan Ingraham/Reuters)

The owner of New Brunswick's single biggest emitter of carbon dioxide says it supports the idea of carbon pricing — as long as it doesn't harm the company's competitiveness.

But officials with Irving Oil did not offer a precise idea of where that threshold is during rare public comments earlier this week.

"We think that there's a role for us to play," Andy Carson, the company's director of growth and strategy, told a committee of senators during a hearing in Saint John. "There should be a price that we pay in connection with the carbon that we emit as part of our production."



But when pressed for more details, Carson and another Irving executive would only say that too high a carbon tax could shut down the company and its efforts to reduce emissions.

"We wouldn't want to find ourselves in a position where we've taxed our industry out of business," said Jeff Matthews, chief financial officer. He said that would shift more refining to countries with less stringent environmental regulations.

Federal data show Irving Oil's Saint John refinery emitted three million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2016, the highest level of any single facility in the province.

Jeff Matthews, Irving Oil's chief financial officer, speaks during the senate hearing on Bill C-69 in Saint John on Thursday. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

Irving Oil has not responded to recent requests for comment from CBC News on the ongoing political debate on carbon taxes.

The previous Liberal government of Brian Gallant adopted the federal government's industrial "backstop" for large emitters in the province.
It would require large facilities to reduce emissions to below the average in their sector — known as a "performance standard" — or be forced to purchase credits.

Company says climate change 'important issue'


Carson and Matthews were put on the spot Thursday by Quebec Senator Paul Massicotte, a member of a Senate committee that held hearings in Saint John on federal Bill C-69.

The bill would overhaul how major energy projects are reviewed and regulated. When two members of the Council of Canadians warned of a looming environmental crisis caused by climate change, Massicotte asked the Irving officials to respond.


Andy Carson, Irving Oil's director of growth and strategy, said the company believes climate change is an 'important issue.' (Roger Cosman/CBC)

Carson called climate change "a very, very significant and important issue" and said the company has worked with federal officials developing the current system.

"Our position has never been 'we disagree with this fundamentally.' It's been much more constructive," he said.

But Carson didn't comment specifically on the current federal system. Instead he told the committee that electric-vehicle charging stations are now available at several Irving gas stations throughout New Brunswick.

The charging stations may seem "surprising," he said, but it's part of the company's strategy to "position ourselves to serve the customers of the future."

Massicotte invited the Council of Canadians activists to respond, and one of them, Ann Pohl, said while Carson had uttered "fine words," the existing carbon price isn't going to be enough to reduce emissions.


Ann Pohl of the Council of Canadians speaks during the senate hearing on Bill C-69 in Saint John on Thursday. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

"So can you tell exactly what your position was, or Irving's position was, on carbon pricing?" she asked Carson.

Carson and Matthews both said that whatever price is in place has to allow Canadian companies to compete against their counterparts elsewhere, including in countries where there is no carbon tax.

After Matthews warned that a high tax would shift refining to countries with weaker environmental rules, Massicotte accused him of using "an element of fear" in his comments.

Province crafting own price on carbon


New Brunswick's Progessive Conservative government is drafting its own alternate carbon-pricing system for industry, though it's not clear if Ottawa will accept it.

Environment Minister Jeff Carr has said its weaker standard for measuring emissions "would lead to industry being on a fair playing field with our neighbours and exporters in other jurisdictions around." Carr said large emitters would "still pay a small amount."

Pohl said Friday she was disappointed that Irving Oil didn't offer any specific comments on the current federal carbon tax.

"If he'd been on a witness stand, a lawyer would have gotten up and said, 'the witness is not answering the question,'" she said.

"What I heard was, 'We don't want to appear to be opposed to carbon pricing.' But it sounds like they are."


CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/irving-oil-carbon-pricing-bill-c69-senate-hearing-1.5113736


Muddied review process or much-needed change: New Brunswickers weigh in on Bill C-69

Senate committee hears from bill supporters on both sides


Jacques Poitras · CBC News ·

Jeff Matthews, Irving Oil's chief financial officer, speaks during the senate hearing on Bill C-69 in Saint John on Thursday. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

 The national political battle over energy, climate and pipelines returned to Saint John Thursday as a committee of senators heard from New Brunswickers how to overhaul federal regulatory reviews of major projects.

The Senate committee is holding cross-Canada hearings into Bill C-69, legislation introduced by the Trudeau government that would add new steps and more public input into the reviews.

Hanging over the hearing was the ghost of the Energy East pipeline, which would have carried Alberta oil across the country to Saint John for exporting and refining.



The cancellation of the project in 2017 was blamed on overly strict federal criteria from the National Energy Board. Energy executives say Bill C-69 will only make the burden worse.


The Energy East pipeline would have stretched from Alberta to an export terminal in New Brunswick and could have carried up to 1.1 million barrels of oil per day. (Alex Panetta/The Canadian Press)

The bill "has the potential to … create confusion and unpredictability around how projects might be developed going forward," said Irving Oil's chief financial officer Jeff Matthews.

"So that lack of clarity around how we create opportunities, how we attract investors, how we execute on projects, will lead to lost opportunities."

Energy East demise


Irving Oil was a partner with TransCanada Corp. in a proposed Energy East export terminal that would have allowed the vast majority of oil in the pipeline to be exported on ships to foreign markets.

While the new federal review criteria were blamed for Energy East's demise, economists and other experts say the more likely reason was the projections of reduced oil sands production that did not require as much pipeline capacity.
The relatively more advanced Keystone XL and Trans Mountain projects also meant there was less need for Energy East.

Even so, Matthews told the senators that a newer, more thorough regulatory process would make it harder for Irving to contemplate such big projects in the future.

"For us as an organization that looks at these opportunities every day … this has the potential to impact that," Matthews said.

Proposed changes


Bill C-69 would undo several changes made by the Harper government in 2012 that streamlined the approval process for pipelines and other major energy projects.

The Conservative changes included limiting interventions to people or groups directly affected by the project — to avoid large numbers of activists dominating hearings and slowing them down.
The Liberal legislation reverses that change and added a new pre-assessment process and three different advisory committees, as well as more formal consultation with Indigenous people.

The federal Liberals argue that projects are more likely to win public support and be built if projects are subject to more rigorous and credible reviews with more public input.

Finding trust in the process


Saint John clean-air activist Gordon Dalzell adopted that argument Thursday in urging senators to pass the legislation.

"Yes, there will be delays, it will be cumbersome, some of these applications, but at the end of the day, after people have their say and the process is completed, I believe there will be better social acceptance and there will be better trust in the process," he said.


Clean-air activist Gordon Dalzell speaks during the senate hearing Thursday. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

"It's more likely that people — even though they may not agree with it — will have to accept that yes, this decision has been made, but we did have a good process, we did have our say."

Others, however, warned of the ambiguity in the bill, which would leave some decisions about the review process up to the federal environment minister or the federal cabinet.
"In a general way, we support the concepts and the ideas that Bill 69 sets out to put in play," said Arlene Dunn of Canada's Building Trades Union.

"However Bill 69 in its current form leaves much of the substance of the bill up to a regulatory framework that currently does not exist. You are essentially asking Canadians to buy something sight unseen."

NB Power voices concern


Brett Plummer, NB Power's vice-president of nuclear energy, warned that the legislation could actually set back the public utility's efforts to further reduce how much electricity it generates from fossil fuels.

The bill would transfer and duplicate some oversight of nuclear power now under the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Plummer said, which "could potentially result in uncertainty and duplication of regulatory oversight at the provincial and federal levels."

Brett Plummer, NB Power's vice-president of nuclear energy, expressed concern over Bill C-69 in Saint John on Thursday. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

He said NB Power is already planning 15 years ahead in looking at new, smaller-scale and emissions-free nuclear reactors, but "this uncertainty could lead to investors going elsewhere to build their projects."

New Brunswick independent Sen. René Cormier, a committee member, said he still hasn't come to a conclusion on how he'll vote on Bill C-69.

"I'm still listening very, very carefully."

He said judging by the volume of email and phone calls his office is getting, Canadians want strong environmental safeguards but in a way that balances them with economic growth.

Running out of time


Alberta independent senator Paula Simons said the existing system passed by the Harper government is "so widely unpopular" that it's clear changes are needed.


Sen. Paula Simons described the Harper government's design as 'widely unpopular.' (Roger Cosman/CBC)

But she said there are problems with the bill and she thinks the newfound independence of the Senate will allow it to improve the clarity and accountability of the legislation.

If the Senate votes to amend the legislation, it will have to go back to the House of Commons for a second vote before it can pass.

With an October election coming, supporters of Bill C-69 worry there won't be time for that.

"It's much better than what we have right now," said Ann Pohl of the Kent County chapter of the Council of Canadians. "Please improve it as much as you can but make sure it gets through this government."


CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices



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