THIS MAY be the first Terrace council election where an issue that is beyond the city’s physical boundaries could take prominence over anything else.
And that issue is Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline, a $5.5 billion project to carry oil from Alberta to a marine export terminal at Kitimat.
Already candidates, in online statements, are carving out their turf over Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline, a $5.5 billion project to carry Alberta oil to an marine export terminal at Kitimat.
The level of political rhetoric naturally picks up during an election campaign. That aside, there does seem to be a broad-based assumption on the part of local politicians that nobody wants the darn thing.
But other than the position taken by an opposition that’s as passionate as it is well-organized in laying out reasons to stop Enbridge, there’s never been any accurate or objective measurement of residents’ opinions of the pipeline plan to determine if there is a majority viewpoint one way or the other.
Terrace city council has officially adopted a position of neutrality pending a complete review of the project.
Election campaign periods aren’t the best time in which to craft policy. But before there’s more Enbridge rhetoric, perhaps it’s time for council to outline how, or even if, it will move off its neutral position once the review is complete.