In Ottawa, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has tabled a motion forcing a recorded vote in the House of Commons that asks the federal government to reaffirm support for a proposed new pipeline to the West Coast even if that requires lifting the existing northern British Columbia oil-tanker ban.
The motion stems from a memorandum of understanding signed November 27 between the federal government and Alberta, which envisages a bitumen pipeline to a deep-water port on the Pacific. The agreement states that export of Alberta oil to Asia could proceed “if necessary through an appropriate adjustment to the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act.
In his address to Parliament, Poilievre argued the vote would make Liberal MPs publicly state whether they support building a West-Coast pipeline or prefer to maintain the tanker-ban. He said failure to pass the motion would amount to opposition to what he describes as a major economic opportunity for Canada.
The government, however, has vowed to reject the motion. Ministers criticized it as a partisan ploy, accusing Poilievre of playing political games rather than engaging in constructive negotiations. They argued the motion omits key environmental commitments, carbon-capture plans, and the assured protection of Indigenous consultation stipulated in the original deal.
The vote has further inflamed tensions between rival interests: proponents of the pipeline argue Canada must expand its oil-export capacity to stay competitive globally; opponents including northern B.C. provincial authorities and coastal Indigenous nations warn that lifting the tanker ban would threaten fragile coastal ecosystems and Indigenous rights.
With the motion now before Parliament, Canada faces a pivotal decision: whether to embark on a new energy export pathway and in doing so, reverse a 2019 tanker-moratorium that has helped shape national environmental and Indigenous-rights policy for years.