“With the huge appetites of super refineries in India and China, the Canadian Chevron refinery will be out-bid by foreign companies, and will no longer be able to secure feed.  This would inevitably result in closure and a loss of jobs for highly-skilled Canadian workers,” said Green MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands Elizabeth May.

“The NEB has ignored the fact that there is a tanker moratorium on the BC coast. The shipping of oil from Burnaby was grandfathered back in 1972 but expanding tanker traffic fivefold while shipping out Canadian jobs with the crude has got to stop,” added May.

The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline currently transports crude oil and refined products from Edmonton to the Greater Vancouver Area and Puget Sound, with the main line terminating at the Burnaby terminal.  Crude oil is used to feed the existing Chevron refinery in Burnaby or is shipped overseas by tankers via the Westridge marine terminal in Port Metro Vancouver.  The Chevron refinery in Burnaby was opened in 1935, and currently refines crude oil into petroleum products like gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and asphalt, supplying roughly one third of transportation fuel to BC’s Lower Mainland.

“The problem is that Canadian jobs are not taken into account when the National Energy Board evaluates pipelines for the export of crude oil,” said May.  “We should be securing our own domestic supply of oil, not shipping it overseas.”

Russ Day, a spokesman with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), said Chevron recently lost out in a bid 20,000 barrels a day of crude from the Kinder Morgan pipeline, which represents over a third of the refinery’s maximum capacity.  Mr. Day has said the union, which represents about 140 workers at the Chevron refinery, has been told to expect reduced operations in March.

Kinder Morgan Canada is also considering asking the National Energy Board for approval to twin the Trans Mountain Pipeline, more than doubling its capacity from 300,000 barrels a day to 700,000 barrels a day.  If the entire volume is open for international bidding, Chevron, with its maximum capacity of 55,000 barrels a day, will most certainly be outbid. With increased pipeline capacity, less crude refined for local markets at the Burnaby refinery, and more oil being shipped out of the Westridge marine terminal, tanker traffic leaving Port Metro Vancouver can be expected to increase substantially.

“The Green Party of Canada, along with the CEP and countless other stakeholders, has repeatedly expressed our need for a national energy strategy.   Without a comprehensive and collaborative national policy that includes energy security, competitiveness, renewable energy, greenhouse gas management, Canadian jobs will continue to be eliminated, our resources will continue to be exported, and our ecosystems will continue to be in danger,” said May.

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“It’s outrageous that a company with record profits of $4.9 billion dollars would bully its workers into accepting a 50% wage cut, lock them out and then close the plant a month later,” says GPO leader Mike Schreiner who attended last week’s rally to support the locked out workers.

This announcement came as Statistics Canada released new numbers that show the Canadian jobless rate has increased to 7.6 per cent. London already has one of the highest unemployment rates of any city in Canada. 

Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May joined her provincial counterpart in decrying the loss of jobs in an important sector. “The federal government has been undermining collective bargaining rights. We need to stand by our workers and protect jobs.”

GPO Labour Critic and London North Centre candidate Kevin Labonte called on the Liberal government to provide support the EMD workers.  “This is a tough blow to London and especially the families of the EMD workers,” says Labonte.  “We need the provincial and federal governments to commit to doing everything possible to help these families in their time of need.”

“The actions of Caterpillar highlight the importance of supporting local businesses that invest in their communities.” says Schreiner.  “It’s time to end the corporate handouts and provide a hand up for hard working Ontarians.”

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The Harper government has slashed budgets in the public sector, cutting about 10 percent of the workforce.  Cutbacks include the elimination of more than twenty percent of the National Research Council’s budget and severe job cuts at Environment Canada.  The cuts are targeting scientists and scientific support staff.  “Canada will feel the loss of our scientists and researchers. The deep cuts to climate sciences show the ideological basis for this exercise,” said May.  “If our public sector is unable to carry out science and research, our economy will feel the long-term consequences as we will be unable to remain resilient and stable in the face of global changes.”

“The Canadian economy will not be served well by losing all of our highly trained public servants working on key scientific questions,” said May. “Without our scientists, Canada will very quickly fall behind in the global knowledge-based economy.  We need to better prioritize our spending with long term planning in mind.”

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The Green Party finds it unacceptable that the government is downplaying these cuts by saying that some staff may be kept on as indeterminate staff.

“What sense does it make to lay off people whose skill and expertise is so critical if they will be kept on under other conditions? Why would we risk losing highly trained professionals?” asked Green Leader Elizabeth May.

“We are worried that cuts are also impacting other departments. The total impact of this round of layoffs should include parliamentary oversight,” said May.

“At the very least, the Harper government owes the public clear explanations of how the core activity of Environment Canada will not be harmed by these layoffs.   What is the timeline and what areas of the department will be affected?  How will we ensure that critical roles are not left vacant?  There are too many questions and no good answers regarding this slashing of a critical government department,” said May.

The mandate of Environment Canada is to protect and conserve Canada’s natural environment and renewable resources and also includes weather-related research and forecasting.  The department is also tasked with enforcing environmental policies and regulations around water and biodiversity.

The Environment Canada website says, “Our diverse expertise strengthens our ability to deal with increasingly complex and changing environmental issues.”  The Green Party asks how this latest round of job cuts will affect this ability.

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“It makes absolutely no sense to be giving $1.4 billion a year in subsidies to the oil and gas industry while allotting a measly $17 million to CEAA. In what way is that protecting our environment?  The priorities of the Harper government are obviously not in line with those of Canadians,” said May.

The June 3rd Speech from the Throne stated, “Our Government is committed to developing Canada’s extraordinary resource wealth in a way that protects the environment. It will support major new clean energy projects of national or regional significance, such as the planned Lower Churchill hydroelectricity project in Atlantic Canada. It will engage the provinces, territories and industry on ways to improve the regulatory and environmental assessment process for resource projects, while ensuring meaningful consultation with affected communities, including Aboriginal communities.”

CEAA will be reduced to one third of the number of full time staff and two entire programs will be eliminated, one on improving the regulatory framework around major projects and the other on consulting aboriginal groups.

“At a time when we should be extremely careful to not adversely affect our biodiversity, our water, and our air quality, we are instead moving backward and hamstringing the one agency that has the environment as the top priority,” said May.  “These cuts once again highlight the anti-environment ideology of the Harper government.  To add to the insult, CEAA will now be incapable of consulting with aboriginal groups in a meaningful manner.”

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The National Research Council is under the purview of the  Industry Minister and employs more than four thousand people across Canada in  more than 20 institutes with a broad array of programs focused on leading-edge  research and innovation.

“The government must be upfront and transparent about all of  its planned layoffs.  The Canadian economy will not be served well by losing all  of our highly trained public servants working on key scientific questions,” said  May. “Without our scientists, Canada will very quickly fall behind in the global  knowledge-based economy.  We need to better prioritize our spending with long  term planning in mind.”

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