The transport minister — the government’s point person on C-48, the oil tanker moratorium act that is currently being dismembered by uncooperative senators — was called upon to defend the bill before the Senate transport and communications committee Tuesday. The committee is made up of Conservatives and Liberal-appointed independent senators, who are proving more non-aligned than the government might wish. Conservative senator David Wells pointed to Placentia Bay in his native Newfoundland and Labrador, “the foggiest place on earth,” as somewhere that has managed the risk to the natural environment with oil tanker traffic. For some, C-48 traps Alberta’s oil; for others, it impinges on First Nation sovereignty. The tanker ban smacks of an idea that was flung at the wall before the last election.

Source: National Post May 14, 2019 20:03 UTC