After seeing what I believe is a very misleading political criticism by Future Prosperity B.C. against the NDP’s John Horgan re: his position on pipelines and exporting petroleum products, I think some facts need to be made clear.
The ads on television claim that Mr. Horgan has changed his opinion on this subject (i.e. ‘flip-flopped’) several times to please various groups of voters.
However, he has stated that what he is opposed to is the shipping of unrefined bitumen, and for good reason.
Bitumen is a rather noxious mixture and, if spilled in the ocean, will sink to the bottom. It is totally unrecoverable. A major spill would obviously be an ecological disaster.
Mr. Horgan has advocated for a refinery in B.C. to produce gasoline and other distilled petroleum fractions which would then be exported on tankers.
These refined products, being lighter than seawater, would float and theoretically could be recovered if spilled in an accident.
Even though I am not in favour of exporting Alberta’s oil in any form, given the uncertainty of imported supplies, I feel that Mr. Horgan’s position is logical and doesn’t deserve the attacks of uninformed pro-Liberal groups.
Judging from past elections, these groups seem to have lots of money for television ads directed against the NDP.
While I suppose it is legitimate to fault a party for its policies, at least the criticisms should be honest and not tell just a partial or slanted version of the truth.
K. Beaumont
Duncan