PRESENTATION TO THE TRANS MOUNTAIN MINISTERIAL REVIEW PANEL AUTHORIZED BY THE OFFICIAL AGENT FOR TERRY BEECH Delivered August 19, 2016
PRESENTATION TO THE TRANS MOUNTAIN MINISTERIAL REVIEW PANEL TERRY BEECH Introductjon Good afuernoon. My name is Terry Beech, and I am the Member of Parliament for the riding of Burnaby North–Seymour. I am also the Parliamentary Secretary for Science. Today, however, I am presentjng this report as the local voice of the more than 100,000 citjzens in Burnaby and North Vancouver, whom I have been elected to represent. This report refmects to the best of my ability the viewpoints of our community. I would also like to acknowledge that our riding includes the unceded territory of the Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam and Squamish peoples. Burnaby North–Seymour is arguably the most impacted riding in the country by this project. The riding straddles both sides of the Burrard Inlet. • It contains the site of the proposed tank storage expansion on Burnaby Mountain. • While the project is described as a “twinning” of existjng pipeline, in our riding it is mostly new pipe going through a new route. • Not only are we the home of the Chevron Refjnery, our riding also includes the existjng Westridge tanker terminal and the proposed expansion. • Tanker traffjc is visible from both sides of the riding and impacts existjng commercial and recreatjonal actjvity. Before I dive into the main content of my report, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Ministerial panel for their work to date, and the work that they stjll have to do. They are working long hours on a short deadline, and I personally would like to thank each of them for their dedicatjon to this important process. I atuended six full days of hearings with the panel and the tone and professionalism under which they conducted these proceedings is to be commended. I note that on multjple occasions, the panel allowed speakers to go over their allotued tjme, resultjng in meetjngs sometjmes going late into the night untjl the last person had spoken. For the sake of context, and so that you fully understand my involvement, commitment and experience on this issue, I would like to share my history with this project to date: I began door-knocking in the community in April of 2014. In the last 28 months, my team and I have knocked on over 56,000 doors and made over 25,000 phone calls. We’ve hosted town halls, 16 cofgee meetjngs, and atuended over 65 events in the community. Rarely do we partjcipate in a community event without talking about the proposed Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. We are a data focused team and have kept a thorough digital record of our conversatjons and interactjons with our constjtuents. 2
PRESENTATION TO THE TRANS MOUNTAIN MINISTERIAL REVIEW PANEL TERRY BEECH This project is the most discussed issue in my riding totaling thousands of touchpoints. This includes more than a thousand emails, hundreds of letuers, and countless one-on-one meetjngs with constjtuents. During the electjon we atuended 18 all-candidates debates for which this project was the most consistent point of discussion. I was the fjrst candidate in Britjsh Columbia to meet with representatjves of Kinder Morgan, as well as the WCMRC. I have toured the Inlet with the Tsleil-Waututh First Natjon, and my wife and I have kayaked along the entjre Westridge facility including a trip from Cates Park to the Chevron refjnery and back. In terms of secondary research I have not only read the NEB report twice, but I’ve read the majority of the initjal applicatjon and the reports that are cited in these documents. In some cases I’ve read reports that are mentjoned in the endnotes of reports cited in the endnotes. All of this is to say I’ve read a lot and I’ve tried my best to understand what I’ve read. In terms of primary research, since I was elected I have discussed this issue with: • Local municipal councillors and Mayors throughout the Lower Mainland • Indigenous peoples, including representatjves of the Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam, and Squamish First Natjons, and other bands along the pipeline route • In additjon to local constjtuents, I have discussed this issue with members of cabinet, caucus, oppositjon members, MLAs, the Premier of Britjsh Columbia and the Prime Minister. I would also like to thank various Members of Parliament from Alberta. They have taken an exceptjonal amount of tjme and energy to speak with me and discuss our mutual concerns when it comes to the issues of: • Gettjng our resources to market; • Growing our economy; • Protectjng the environment; and • Taking actjon on climate change, a defjning issue of our generatjon. Many of the issues of primary concern for my constjtuents have been thoroughly covered in others’ presentatjons to the panel. I wish to ofger my thanks to these presenters, many of whom have made signifjcant sacrifjces to both their professional and family lives in order to advocate on behalf of their community over a period of many years. Given the plethora of topics that have already been discussed and my desire to be an additjve voice to this dialogue, I have limited myself to 10 key points that I would like for the panel to consider. I believe that the quality of a decision is determined by the quality of debate. You can be assured that when parliament returns in the fall that similar discussions will be happening at caucus and in the house. NOTE: While I submitued a drafu of this presentatjon to the panel, I updated it on September 19th, 2016 to refmect the results of the 44,000 surveys that we distributed in the riding, as well as three additjonal public forums we held since the presentatjon to the TMX Panel. On September 7th, I hosted members of the BC caucus for a fjnal public forum at Simon Fraser University. The panel, other elected offjcials, and the general public were highly encouraged to atuend and partjcipate. 3
PRESENTATION TO THE TRANS MOUNTAIN MINISTERIAL REVIEW PANEL TERRY BEECH Ten Issues for Consideratjon 1. The fjrst is the concept of “Social License”. My fjrst job as an elected offjcial was to understand how constjtuents of Burnaby North–Seymour feel about the project. This is important because I promised throughout the electjon campaign that I would be the voice of the community in Otuawa and not Otuawa’s voice in the community. Afuer speaking with tens of thousands of individuals, including local, provincial and indigenous representatjves, I can tell you with confjdence that the people of Burnaby North–Seymour on balance stand opposed to this project, and that the community does not grant its permission for this project to proceed. I would also like to say that the spectrum of support for this project is much broader and more nuanced than a simple yes or no answer. For example, when my constjtuency offjce sent out a householder survey, the fjrst 74 responses included 48 individuals who were opposed, 19 who were in favour, and seven who were undecided. In additjon, almost every response included reasons and conditjons for their support or oppositjon. I doubt this is a surprise to this panel. Levels of support surrounding projects as complex as this are hard to quantjfy. I would also expect that oppositjon to this project has grown more strongly as you move closer to the coast and to the highly urbanized and residentjal neighbourhoods of greater Vancouver. Some will argue of course that the opinion of one riding is not enough to make a decision and that the “natjonal interest” must be considered. While one of the subjects that I wish to discuss in this document is the importance of defjning the term natjonal interest, I would like to share with you my best atuempt to understand the positjon of other jurisdictjons outside of Burnaby North–Seymour. Within the fjrst month of being elected, I commissioned a report on the Trans Mountain Pipeline. I requested a map of all politjcal jurisdictjons from Edmonton to Burnaby, and every other jurisdictjon that a tanker would potentjally pass. All in all, this amounted to 49 provincial ridings, 36 municipal boundaries, and 67 Indigenous communitjes. I asked that each stakeholder’s positjon on Kinder Morgan be recorded on a matrix that included: A) Supportjve; B) Supportjve with Conditjons; C) Raised Concerns; or D) Doesn’t Support. Provincially the 19 Alberta electoral districts were supportjve and the 25 BC electoral districts were not. These areas represented a populatjon of 796,655 supportjve and 1,359,260 opposed – or 36.95% supportjve, based on populatjon. From a municipal perspectjve, we received data from 21 local governments representjng a populatjon of 2,867,838. Of these 1,818,717 had a positjon of supportjve or accept with conditjons. 1,049,081 had a positjon of either “raised concerns” or “non-supportjve”. There were a total of fjve municipalitjes that were outright supportjve, with a total populatjon of 106,535 representjng 3.71% of the total populatjon. Since this report has been commissioned, many additjonal municipalitjes have solidifjed their positjon. I am asking for the report to be updated and will submit a revised copy once it is complete. 4
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