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Company should pay for Bella Bella spill damages

Re: “Heiltsuk Nation may get redress for diesel spill,” Oct. 30. The comments by Transport Minister Marc Garneau regarding compensation for the spill near Bella Bella are astonishing.

Re: “Heiltsuk Nation may get redress for diesel spill,” Oct. 30.

The comments by Transport Minister Marc Garneau regarding compensation for the spill near Bella Bella are astonishing.

Compensation and redress to the community affected are definitely required, not only for the damages to date, but also for future monitoring, cleanup and lost revenues from the fisheries and tourism.

The compensation should not in any way be the responsibility of the government of Canada — taxpayers. It must be the sole responsibility of Kirby Offshore Marine, a subsidiary of Kirby Corporation, a major marine transportation company in the United States.

This is a critical time, considering the impending decision by the Canadian government on the Kinder Morgan pipeline, which, if approved, will dramatically increase tanker traffic in our coastal waters. If Canada does not have any laws in place today to deal with compensation for current spills, what lies ahead if we encounter just one major spill in the future?

What protections for these scenarios are written into the Trans Pacific Partnership? If they are not there, do not sign. Too much is at risk.

If the federal Liberals do not follow through with their lofty election promises of banning tanker traffic in our coastal waters, then their “sunny ways” will be doom and gloom for all of the island and inland coastal communities.

Don Snell

Parksville