Alberta minister 'cautiously optimistic' about tanker ban reversal after northern B.C. visit

OTTAWA — Alberta’s point man on a massive western corridor project says he’s “cautiously optimistic” about getting rid of a major roadblock to the construction of a new West Coast oil and gas pipeline after visiting British Columbia’s northern coast. Devin Dreeshen, the province’s minister of transportation and economic corridors, told the National Post that he was struck by the level of opposition among locals to the federal moratorium on northern B.C. oil tanker traffic , with several pointing out that the ban does nothing to stop tankers coming and going from nearby Alaska. “When you go out there and you look at (the coastline), there’s almost an oil tanker a day going down from Alaska,” said Dreeshen. “So, when you look at American tankers going north and south along the coastline, but us not allowing our Canadian tankers to go straight west, away from the coastline… The hypocrisy (of the situation) was pointed out by a lot of folks,” he noted. “(People are) saying that we should be able to compete the same way the U.S. and other countries do, by being able to ship our oil out to our tankers.” Dreeshen was in the northern port city of Prince Rupert, B.C., last week to strengthen Alberta’s ties to the critical Pacific trade outpost, joined by Alberta Indigenous Relations Minister Rajan Sawhney and members of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association. Alberta already moves nearly $4 billion of merchandise through the Port of Prince Rupert annually — including propane, agricultural products and wood pulp — but both Dreeshen and his boss, Premier Danielle Smith, think that this number could be much bigger. Smith said in a May letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney that Prince Rupert would make the ideal endpoint for a new pipeline carrying Alberta oil to non-U.S. markets. “As (one of) North America’s closest ports to Asia… the Port of Prince Rupert offer(s) year-round deep-water ports and existing terminal infrastructure,” wrote Smith. The letter called for Carney to repeal the tanker ban to enable oil exports from the Port of Prince Rupert. Smith called for a “grand bargain” at this month’s first ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon where some of the revenue from a new northwest coast pipeline would be used to finance the multibillion-dollar Pathways oilsands decarbonization project. Dreeshen said that his work in building out a rail and transit network from central Alberta’s industrial heartland to northern B.C. and the premier’s pipeline advocacy are “two sides of the same coin.” Both B.C. Premier David Eby and Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond say they support the North Coast tanker ban. The moratorium was first called by Justin Trudeau shortly after he became prime minister in late 2015, effectively killing the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, B.C. It was signed into law in 2019 . Chris Sankey, a member of the local Tsimshian community of Lax Kw’Alaams, says the tanker ban was rushed, and put into place without the adequate consultation of those affected. “It didn’t give a platform for the Indigenous communities to get in the room and have a discussion, leadership to leadership … It was a decision that’s now come back to hurt Indigenous people’s ability to have an open and honest discussion about energy, infrastructure, and port development,” said Sankey. “This is an opportunity to amend the ban (in a way) that aligns with Indigenous communities’ interests and concerns that we protect what we have and grow the economy.” Sankey, now an investment advisor, ran unsuccessfully for the B.C. Conservatives in last year’s provincial election. The office of federal Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from the National Post about the possibility of reversing the tanker ban. National Post rmohamed@postmedia.com Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.