VICTORIA, B.C.: John Rustad, B.C. Conservative Treasury Board Shadow Minister and MLA for Nechako Lakes, exposed how last week’s Carney-Eby MOU proves the NDP is still putting politics ahead of northern and rural British Columbians.

The Canada-British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement commits roughly $8 billion in federal funding toward infrastructure, energy, and pipeline projects. But while billions are being announced, northern B.C. is being iced out in favour of the NDP’s ideological priorities and photo ops.

British Columbia deserves practical and economically sound pipeline development that creates jobs today and lasting prosperity for future generations. But the NDP’s refusal to lift the tanker ban shuts the door on a northern pipeline corridor before the conversation even begins.

Instead, the NDP’s anti-resource approach inflates costs, threatens farmland, neglects northern and rural B.C. and kills project viability in favour of ideology.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the NDP’s refusal to lift the economic blockade on tanker access to B.C. ports, shutting down any prospect of a northern pipeline route.

Mr. Rustad said pipelines should be rapidly built where they make the most sense, arguing a northern route would provide the most efficient access to markets, while benefitting the communities that need it most.

“Keeping the blockade on tankers forces the pipeline onto a southern route, denying northern British Columbia critical jobs and development opportunities. A northern route makes the most sense. It would have supported thousands of construction jobs and countless long-term positions. Despite hundreds of American, Asian and European tankers already moving along this coast every year, the NDP’s blockade remains. This is an ideological choice by the NDP to bend to activist groups rather than listening to the concerns of hardworking rural British Columbians,” said Mr. Rustad.

“A northern route would be closer to Asian markets, more profitable, more economical and includes communities interested in hosting an export terminal.”

Mr. Rustad also noted that a southern pipeline route would risk devastating farmland in the Lower Mainland. “At a time when we need more local food production and need to support British Columbian farmers, the NDP wants to destroy farmland in Delta, Langley and Richmond. Farmers and rural British Columbians keep having to pay the price for this government’s policies.”

The agreement also commits $3.9 billion to phases one and two of the North Coast Transmission Line, a project Mr. Rustad called another example of the NDP’s misplaced priorities. “It’s a complete waste of taxpayers’ money. A boondoggle that prioritizes big transmission projects over cheaper, local power generation options that could create jobs right in the northwest where they’re needed most,” said Mr. Rustad.

British Columbians deserve a government that puts results ahead of ideology, treats taxpayer dollars with respect, and gives northern and rural B.C. the attention it deserves. “This so-called prosperity agreement is anything but,” said Mr. Rustad. “It’s more waste, more ideology, and more neglect of the communities that have already suffered enough under this NDP government.”

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Media Contact:
Nikki Bal
Conservative.Communications@leg.bc.ca
+1 (672) 922-0948