PRINCE RUPERT – New Democrat MLA Jennifer Rice spoke to the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications in support of Bill C-48, a federal bill that would regulate oil tankers along the North Coast.

“A large oil spill on the North Coast would be catastrophic to both the environment and the communities who depend upon it to put food on the table,” said Rice. “Expanding the transport of heavy oil is a risk we can’t afford to take.”

In her testimony Rice made the case for protecting sensitive marine environments for today and for the future. She said that people in the North Coast depend on a clean environment and even a small spill, as evidence from the Nathan E Stewart tug incident, can have a devastating impact on the local economy. This is especially true for Coastal First Nations who depend on a healthy marine environment for their health, culture and livelihoods.

MLA Rice and George Heyman, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy both addressed the Standing Senate Committee in Prince Rupert this afternoon.

Enactment of Bill C-48 (the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act) would prohibit tankers from carrying more than 12,500 metric tons of oil along BC’s North Coast, from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the Alaskan border.

John Horgan and the New Democrat government are working hard to protect British Columbia’s coast and the people and economies that rely on it.

Minister Heyman’s statement on federal tanker ban: https://news.gov.bc.ca/19468