Gary Coons

NORTH COAST- A newly proposed strategic alliance between Canada and China’s state-controlled energy mega-company, the China National Petroleum Corporation, has North Coast MLA Gary Coons concerned about the potential impacts on his constituents. Gordon Campbell’s push for a mega “energy corridor” seems to have inspired the Chinese to act quickly to petition assistance to feed their fossil fuel dependence.

In a speech to the Alberta Economic Forum in Geneva last month the CNPC declared their intention to solicit the support of Canadian political leaders in establishing a major energy corridor designed to feed the growing fossil fuel demand overseas with a direct link to Western Canadian supplies, particularly oil from the tar sands. 

“Obviously Albertans are interested in developing new markets for the tar sands, given signals from Obama that their dirty oil may be targeted by his new energy policies,” said Coons. “But I’m particularly worried that this courtship is one that ignores the wishes of North Coast residents, who are overwhelmingly against any “energy corridor” that involves pipelines and oil tankers running across our land and along our coastlines. We also have seen and heard the devastating results of tar sand expansion on the Athabasca  Chipewyan First Nation who have lived through 40 years of environmental and “cultural genocide” resulting from toxic chemical dumping into their life-sustaining Athabasca River”. We must support the Fort Chipewyan call for a halt on any new tar sands development. “ 

Coons is also concerned the B.C. government doing business with a corporation that is linked to significant human rights violations in Darfur.  While North American and European corporations divested interests in the conflict-torn Sudan when it became clear that the government played a crucial role in the six-year campaign of atrocities, China continued to be the country’s largest foreign investor and most important international supporter. 

“The CNPC operates the majority of Sudan’s oil industry and is estimated to have invested at least $5 billion in the country,” said Coons, pointing out that it is not the first time that the company has shown an interest in the proposed northwest energy corridor. “The CNCP was Enbridge’s original partner for the Gateway pipeline project. They withdrew support because they didn’t like how long it was going to take to go through the consultation process with the more than 30 First Nations groups along the pipeline’s path.” 

With all the hype Premier Gordon Campbell is attempting to generate around the proposed northwest energy corridor, Coons worries that the Liberal government will jump at the prospect of new investors despite the CNPC’s absolute lack of corporate social responsibility. 

“This is a company with a reputation of  blatantly ignoring human rights, just as our so-called leader is blatantly disregarding the voice of all those that stand opposed to pipelines and tankers running through our land and on our coast,” said Coons. “We cannot afford this type of tainted investment, especially when the health and vitality of our land and water is on the line.” 

 Backgrounder: 

In 2008 a coalition of over 80 civil society organizations, including several Canadian MPs wrote to the United Nations Global Compact requesting that PetroChina Co. Ltd., a closely related subsidiary of CNPC, be de-listed from the (UNGC) based on concerns that the company’s continued participation represented a serious detriment to the reputation and integrity of the Global Compact. 

“Our allegations of egregious abuse is based on the intimate, opaque and symbiotic relationship between PetroChina and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), their violation of the UNGC principles and failure to respect human rights, lack of due diligence in avoiding human rights violations, the widespread recognition of PetroChina as a major contributor to the conflict in Darfur, and PetroChina’s continuing refusal to correct the abuses.” – Letter dated December 15, 2008 

A former Sudanese finances minister estimated that 70 per cent of the government’s share of oil profits was spent on the military.

 PGGM, one of the largest public pension funds in Europe decided to divest holdings in PetroChina due to the CNPC’s “connection to human rights violations in Sudan”.

 President of the Washington-based Global Water & Energy Team (GWEST) Paul Michael Wihbey called the suggested alliance “a very serious proposal by the Chinese” in an interview with the Financial Post last week, in which he also suggested that a new partnership could include infrastructural development in an expanded northern corridor stretching from northern Saskatchewan to the Pacific Coast, with Prince Rupert being specifically named as the port of choice for tanker traffic.

 PetroChina signed a deal to cooperate with Enbridge on the Gateway pipeline project in 2005 but the deal fell through, and a CNPC executive later told a Calgary business audience that China was shifting it’s focus away from Canada, largely because of delays encountered with the pipeline and the high cost of labour and extraction in Alberta.

 Premier Gordon Campbell has repeatedly expressed his support for Enbridge’s project, citing economic development as a key concern. Companies promoting the “Energy corridor” projects have donated over $60,000 to the Liberals since 2005. Major oil and gas pipeline companies have also donated over $126,000 to the B.C. Liberals in that time (including nearly $50,000 from Enbridge).