Americas News
West Coast Tanker Ban Looms Following Prime Minister-Elect Justin Trudeau's Sweeping Victory in Canada
A ban on tankers in waters along the Canadian British Columbia (B.C.) coast may be on the horizon following Prime Minister-Elect Justin Trudeau's sweeping Liberal majority win into office on Monday night.
In reports earlier this year, Trudeau promised a moratorium on oil tanker traffic along B.C.'s northern coast, which includes the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait, and Queen Charlotte Sound.
The promise is part of the Liberal campaign promise to protect ecologically-sensitive areas, which includes increasing the amount of Canada's marine and coastal areas that are protected from 1.3 percent to 5 percent by 2017, and 10 percent by 2020.
Over the summer, Trudeau commented in separate reports that "it's important we keep our most pristine and important coastal areas protected," while Greenpeace Canada campaigner Mike Hudema said that Trudeau's policies reflect the "overwhelming opposition to tanker traffic in B.C."
This week's Liberal majority win also appears to add heft to Trudeau's ability to push through the proposed tanker ban, which was brought up in the months following a high-profile oil spill in Vancouver which tested the country's spill responses.
Earlier this year the outgoing Harper government received heavy criticism from the region following what critics labelled a "totally inadequate" response to a bunker spill in April that saw roughly 2,700 litres of fuel leak into the Vancouver harbour.
And although the defeated Conservative Party held strong with oil-favouring voters in central Canada, Trudeau's party message appeared to resound strongly in B.C. as the Liberal party took much of the Vancouver area.
The leader of Canada's environmentally-focused Green Party also reportedly told journalists that Trudeau's Liberals espoused Green philosophies during the campaign in her post-election speech.
The Green Party had reportedly also been pushing for a similar ban on supertankers on B.C.'s coast.
