With the deadline for a federal government decision on the Kinder Morgan pipeline proposal looming in two months, Liberal MP Terry Beech has had his work cut out for him.
Beech’s riding of Burnaby North – Seymour is the eye of the political storm on the pipeline decision.
“It’s one of the very biggest issues we’ll have to deal with, if not for the end of this year, for this mandate,” said Beech. “Obviously there’s a lot of passionate viewpoints.”
Recent federal decisions, such as the one approving the Petronas LNG project on the north coast of B.C., have prompted speculation that Ottawa may be signalling its willingness to approve large energy projects.
But Beech refuses to speculate on whether he thinks the controversial pipeline project will go ahead. “I’ve been asked that question a lot. I refuse to answer it because a decision has not been made,” he said. “. . . The best thing I can be doing for my constituency is to be getting the facts in front of the right people so that an educated decision can be made.”
“It’s my job to make sure the voices of Burnaby North - Seymour and the Lower Mainland are heard in Ottawa.”
Beech said he’s spent the past several months creating custom information packages for members of cabinet and the Liberal caucus which examine the economic, environmental and political factors at play in the pipeline decision. Those are private documents, he said. “They allow me to expand on and more fully explain my position on the project,” he said.
Among the analyses Beech is providing to his Liberal colleagues are examinations of some of the assumptions in various economic reports and a map of political support and opposition to the project along the route of the proposed pipeline expansion.
“To be an effective member of parliament it’s important that I frame these issues in terms of the issues that are important to each individual member of parliament and cabinet. So that’s what I’m doing,” he said.
The local MP’s internal lobbying efforts come after many thousands of pages of reports on the project have been generated and public meetings of a special panel on the pipeline project were held this summer. Beech attended the meetings and made a presentation making it clear his constituents oppose the project. He’s also written a 12-page public report setting out what he sees as the key issues.
“It’s a very complex issue,” he said. “Everybody wants a tweet-size remark about how I feel about the Trans Mountain pipeline project.”
“I’ve really looked into this project. I’ve really done the reading. . . I’ve read the end notes to the end notes.”
“There’s not many MPs that have an issue that’s this big that’s happening this early,” he added.
Beech is well aware of criticisms of the Liberal government – that they have reneged on promises to change the National Energy Board process and that communities would have to grant “social licence” to the project.
“I think there is definitely a robust discussion that is happening around both the definition of social licence and definition of national interest,” he said. “…That’s part of the debate and discussion that I’m sure is going to be happening around the cabinet table before a decision is made.”
Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs for Insights West pollsters said there are likely many political calculations being made in Ottawa ahead of the decision.
“As far as the electoral implications of this there are a lot of things at play,” he said. “I don’t think we have a lot of single issue voters.”
In the case of Burnaby North - Seymour, however, “If that project goes through it’s going to be a tough situation for Mr. Beech,” he said.
“It’s very hard for a party to make decisions that won’t affect any of their constituencies,” he added. “The musings coming out of Ottawa would seem they’re going to say yes to this project.”
If Trudeau and his government approve the pipeline, “It’ll be tougher for him to come back here and do the Grouse Grind again and try to paint himself as an environmental steward,” said Canseco.
That may or may not be a big factor come the next federal election, he added.
“When you’re looking at the supposed broken promises file there are ways to entice the public to look at things differently over time.”
