As Enbridge cleans up after an oil pipeline leak in Alberta, B.C.'s opposition party is pledging to do what it can to kill the company's Northern Gateway project.
About 23,000 litres of heavy crude oil has leaked from the Athabasca pipeline near Elk Lake, according to Enbridge estimates. The news alarmed opponents of the proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline, which would transport oil from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C.
University of Victoria business professor Paul Summerville told CTV News that what's happening in Alberta will have a big impact on opinions about B.C.'s pipeline proposal.
"No question that it changes the conversation because the one stick that the anti-pipeline group has is the environmental stick," he said.
"You can't get away from the media. You can't get away from the pictures. And that is ultimately what is going to move public opinion in one direction."
BC NDP leader Adrian Dix says his party has formed a task force to come up with ways to eliminate the Northern Gateway pipeline if elected next year.
"The job of this particular group is to provide me and the caucus and the NDP with advice on what are B.C.'s options should there be a change in government next year," he said.
The BC Liberal government has declined to take an official position on the pipeline proposal.
The Alberta leak is the second major oil spill in that province so far this month, following the release of as much as 475,000 litres of oil from a Plains Midstream Canada pipe into the Red Deer River. Industry figures show at least 3.4 million litres of hydrocarbons have leaked from pipelines in the province every year since 2005.
Environmentalists have called for a review of Alberta's pipeline system, but Premier Alison Redford insists that the risks shouldn't be blown out of proportion.
"These are minimal risks and we see these incidents happen sometimes," Redford said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Ed Watson and files from The Canadian Press
