Visions of a gold rush in expanded oil exports fly in the face of a decades-old reality

The potential for a conduit to load oil tankers in the dangerous waters of the northern B.C. coast actually ended more than three decades ago.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith would have been in her late teens when the Exxon Valdez forever changed the public attitude on pipelines on B.C.’s northern coast, so maybe she didn’t pay much attention, writes Les Whittington. Photograph courtesy of Flickr/Jim Brickett

Opinion

BY LES WHITTINGTON

June 11, 2025

OTTAWA–It’s a good thing the federal government is going to build up Canada’s military because the Army will be needed if there is ever a decision to construct an oilsands pipeline from Alberta through northern British Columbia to a tanker terminal in Kitimat.

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