TORONTO -- While Alberta fiercely supports the Trans Mountain Pipeline, those who have to deal with in their backyard worry about its long-term impact.
The pipeline runs through the riding of Burnaby-North Seymour, where dense neighbourhoods are situated right next to it. The pipleine鈥檚 expansion would essentially twin the existing 1,150-kilometre pipe from Strathcona County, Alta. to Burnaby, B.C. The project would nearly triple the pipeline鈥檚 capacity and would increase tanker traffic.
The expansion leaves residents in Burnaby concerned about safety, spills and property values, however.
鈥淚 have three children,鈥 Burnaby resident Tiffani Nixon told CTV News. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see us being safe living here.鈥
Fellow Burnaby resident Tara Shushtarian wants to move away from the pipeline out of fear that the project is unsafe, but has doubts about whether she鈥檒l be able to sell.
鈥淲e can't sell our home and nor could we morally sell our home and not advise somebody about the danger,鈥 she said.
The pipeline is also a concern for the nearby Tsleil-Waututh Nation, who pledge to fight the project with whatever means necessary.
鈥淭he dominant and most important issue is stopping Trans Mountain expansion pipeline,鈥 said Tsleil-Waututh Nation Chief Leah George-Wilson.
The Liberals, Conservatives and People鈥檚 Party of Canada will continue with the pipeline expansion if elected. The Green Party, however, would cancel it, while the NDP are against pipeline expansion, but are keeping their options open with regards to the pipeline as a financial asset.
The pipeline isn鈥檛 just an issue for voters in the Burnaby region, either. Gerald Baier, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia, suggests British Columbia鈥檚 opposition to the project could prove costly to the Liberals, whose government bought it for $4.5 billion last year.
鈥淔our and half billion dollars might buy you a pipeline, but certainly won鈥檛 buy you votes in British Columbia,鈥 he said.
The Liberals won 17 of British Columbia鈥檚 42 seats in the 2015 election, up from just two in 2011, but it remains to be seen how the province intends to vote this time around.
鈥淭here is that magical possibility that the rest of Canada would have to stay up late to see what happens in B.C.,鈥 Baier said.
With files from The Canadian Press
