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B.C. northern tanker ban to remain in Canada‑Ottawa deal

newsJul 2, 202623208

Prime Minister Mark Carney and British Columbia Premier David Eby announced a multibillion-dollar Canada, B.C. Cooperative Prosperity Agreement that explicitly upholds the federal North Coast oil tanker ban off B.C.'s northern coast. The memorandum says Ottawa will maintain the tanker ban and B.C. must be meaningfully shared in any economic benefits of a new pipeline, with mechanisms under discussion including an annual royalty payment and an environmental response fund. The agreement directs funding for mining, forestry, upgrading the Massey Tunnel and expanding the Port of Vancouver, and it recognizes federal plans to optimize the southern Trans Mountain pipeline to 1.2 million barrels a day from 890,000. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had been promoting a northern route for a new pipeline and faced a July 1 deadline to submit a proposal to the Major Projects Office; Carney and Eby said the tanker ban remains in place but Eby also said B.C. will not sue to block a federally approved pipeline. The Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative, which has long opposed a northern pipeline, had pledged to use legal and other tools to keep tankers out of their waters. It is unclear how the reaffirmation of the tanker ban will affect Alberta's pending pipeline proposal, but the MOU narrows feasible export options to routes that do not require lifting the North Coast tanker ban.

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