Oil Unions: Cut Keystone Pipeline
OTTAWA - Alberta's oil industry union bosses want the Keystone XL Pipeline axed. “Our union opposes the XL pipeline for a whole number of reasons, including the impact on the environment, the loss of potential jobs and the harmful effect on the Canadian economy,” Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) union, said.
“You pump it (bitumen) to the United States, they get the jobs and we end up with the environmental mess that's left over.” The labour reps compare the export of raw bitumen to U.S. refineries to the export of raw logs to China, at the expense of millworking jobs in British Columbia. They want the bitumen refined in Canada and then exported to other countries.
“A study shows if the Keystone XL pipeline is constructed, more than 465,000 jobs will be created in the United States by the year 2035,” Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said. “Why on Earth are they (Harper and his ministers) going south of the border to promote the construction of a pipeline that will create tens of thousands of jobs south of the border while creating almost no new jobs here in Canada.”
Some workers in Quebec, meanwhile, want the pipeline built across Canada, so the raw product can be refined by workers in that province instead. “This is stupid, that while we are pumping that stuff to the States, we are depending on importation on the eastern side of the country,” Gaetan Menard, CEP secretary-treasurer, said.
“Right now you have tonnes of workers from Quebec who are working in the tarsands, so they would be more than happy to work in Montreal instead.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, Wednesday that building the pipeline is a “no-brainer.”
“The number of jobs that would be created on both sides of the border is simply enormous. The need for the energy in the United States is enormous,” Harper told Bloomberg TV in New York City. “The alternatives for the United States are not good and, you know, on every level, not just economic, political, social, even environmental, the case is very strong for this.”
The proposed $7 billion, 2,673-kilometre pipeline is set to run from Alberta to Saskatchewan, then south through the American heartland, linking to Texas, where it will be refined into gasoline and other oil products.
Oil Unions: Cut Keystone Pipeline | Canada | News | TORONTO SUN
OTTAWA - Alberta's oil industry union bosses want the Keystone XL Pipeline axed. “Our union opposes the XL pipeline for a whole number of reasons, including the impact on the environment, the loss of potential jobs and the harmful effect on the Canadian economy,” Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) union, said.
“You pump it (bitumen) to the United States, they get the jobs and we end up with the environmental mess that's left over.” The labour reps compare the export of raw bitumen to U.S. refineries to the export of raw logs to China, at the expense of millworking jobs in British Columbia. They want the bitumen refined in Canada and then exported to other countries.
“A study shows if the Keystone XL pipeline is constructed, more than 465,000 jobs will be created in the United States by the year 2035,” Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said. “Why on Earth are they (Harper and his ministers) going south of the border to promote the construction of a pipeline that will create tens of thousands of jobs south of the border while creating almost no new jobs here in Canada.”
Some workers in Quebec, meanwhile, want the pipeline built across Canada, so the raw product can be refined by workers in that province instead. “This is stupid, that while we are pumping that stuff to the States, we are depending on importation on the eastern side of the country,” Gaetan Menard, CEP secretary-treasurer, said.
“Right now you have tonnes of workers from Quebec who are working in the tarsands, so they would be more than happy to work in Montreal instead.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, Wednesday that building the pipeline is a “no-brainer.”
“The number of jobs that would be created on both sides of the border is simply enormous. The need for the energy in the United States is enormous,” Harper told Bloomberg TV in New York City. “The alternatives for the United States are not good and, you know, on every level, not just economic, political, social, even environmental, the case is very strong for this.”
The proposed $7 billion, 2,673-kilometre pipeline is set to run from Alberta to Saskatchewan, then south through the American heartland, linking to Texas, where it will be refined into gasoline and other oil products.
Oil Unions: Cut Keystone Pipeline | Canada | News | TORONTO SUN