Weyburn– Vicky O’Dell, a health care worker from Weyburn, is the New Democratic Party candidate for Souris-Moose Mountain, the federal constituency that encompasses the entire southeast Saskatchewan oilpatch. Pipeline News posed these questions to both the NDP and Conservative candidates in the Oct. 19 election. O’Dell responded by email.
Pipeline News: Rail transportation is federally regulated, and thus crude-by-rail falls under federal responsibility. Saskatchewan was in the process of seeing sizeable second-phase crude-by-rail development, with substantial facilities in the works for Kerrobert and Northgate, until the price of oil plummeted. What should be the role of crude-by-rail? Should it be encouraged? Regulated out of existence?
Vicky O’Dell:When it comes to crude oil transport, and with the rapid expansion in production and transportation of crude oil, we need enhanced safety protection. This makes sense no matter what the method of transport. Since 2009, under this Conservative government the transport of crude oil by rail has increased by more than 300 times. Yet Transport Canada has failed to improve inspections, monitoring and oversight of railway companies. In fact we have seen funding for rail safety and oversight cut by millions and staffing levels decline. This isn’t the kind of leadership that Canadians expect. Conservatives have failed to keep Canadian communities safe.
P.N.: Crude-by-rail plays closely into the pipeline debate. If we can’t build pipelines, the industry will turn to rail. What is your take on that?
O’Dell: Public Safety must be a top priority of any government, and Canadians expect both pipeline developments and rail transport to be safe. We must do better than the Conservatives have done on rail safety to ensure that we never allow another Lac-Mégantic to occur, and pipelines need to pass a thorough, credible, environmental assessment process before they can proceed. It is not one or the other – we can do both.
P.N.: Pipelines have been a major issue during the last six years. What is it going to take to get a major pipeline, any pipeline, built in this country?
O’Dell: Canada’s natural resources are a tremendous gift and, managed properly and sustainably, can be important drivers for our economy. By dismantling environmental protections and limiting community consultation, Conservatives thought that they were making it easier to develop pipelines. But when Canadians don’t trust the process, we see that it becomes much more difficult to acquire a social license. Not one major pipeline project has been built under Stephen Harper’s watch. The NDP will work with provinces, industry and with indigenous and other communities to revamp the environmental review process for the approval of major resource infrastructure such as pipelines. We will restore public confidence in the assessment regime while protecting our economy and environment.
P.N.: TransCanada’s Keystone XL has been stymied by President Barrack Obama. What does that mean for the energy sector and Canada-U.S. relations?
O’Dell: There are very serious concerns in the US over the environmental impacts of Keystone XL and what it means in terms of expanded of oil sands production without proper environmental protections in place. No question, contributing to the decision on Keystone by President Obama is the Conservative’s failure to address the environmental impacts of oil sands development here at home. Their inaction on climate change is giving our resources a bad name with key trading partners. Keystone XL will ship away thousands of quality, well-paid jobs to south of the border. The government should be doing more to protect value-added upgrading jobs right here in Canada. We don’t think this is the right project for Canada. We need to find the right balance, something the Conservatives have refused to do.
P.N.: In lieu of American dithering on Keystone XL, the Conservative government came out strongly in favour of the Enbridge Northern Gateway project. Now that enthusiasm seems to have waned. What should happen with regards to Northern Gateway?
O’Dell: Conservatives have mismanaged the Northern Gateway proposal from the start. They failed to properly consult First Nations, they failed to listen to the people of B.C. and failed to properly manage resource development. It has failed to obtain a social licence in B.C. and Conservatives should have said no to the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. Allowing supertankers into the Douglas Channel should be a non-starter and a spill would be catastrophic for the environment and the economy of the entire region. This proposal is wrong for Canada and an NDP Government will set aside the approval of this project.
P.N.: The one pipeline that will have the most impact on the Saskatchewan oilpatch is the proposed TransCanada Energy East. Its planning includes a terminal near Moosomin that would accept Saskatchewan oil (via a lateral from Enbridge’s Cromer terminal) as well as North Dakota oil via the proposed Upland pipeline. What is your take on Energy East?
O’Dell: Moving oil from west to east makes sense, but we need to ensure that a strong environmental review regime is in place to determine if projects like Energy East are safe and sustainable before they can proceed. Unfortunately, the Conservatives have systematically dismantled environmental assessments and limited public input into major project reviews, meaning that a rigorous and credible assessment just isn’t possible under these circumstances. We know that the Conservatives just want to rubber stamp these projects. An NDP government will strengthen the environmental assessment regime to ensure that the economy, public interest and our environment are protected.
P.N.: The federal government contributed $240 million to the Boundary Dam Integrated Carbon Capture Project. This riding is the home of the largest carbon capture project of its type in the world. What path should Canada take on greenhouse gasses? Should carbon capture be a big part of it?
O’Dell: Tom Mulcair has been clear that an NDP Government will rise to meet our international climate change obligations by creating a cap-and-trade system that puts a clear market price on carbon. We’ll use the revenue generated by that cap-and-trade system to reinvest in the future of our energy sector. The NDP will invest in renewable energy projects in the regions where that revenue is generated. Canada can become a leader and create tens of thousands of jobs in the clean technology sector of tomorrow. Carbon capture can be a part of that future, but it is one tool and there is much more that needs to be done.
