B.C. Liberal MP acknowledges pipeline concerns as critics call for him to quit party

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The Liberal MP for the Lower Mainland riding that will receive diluted bitumen from the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline is acknowledging the "valid concerns" of many in his community about the plan, and is promising to work within his caucus to urge the government keep its promises that certain conditions will be met.

In a 24-minute video released Friday, Terry Beech says there continues to be significant opposition to the project in his Burnaby North-Seymour riding where he recently met about 90 people over eight hours.

The opposition also now extends to Mr. Beech, who although a blunt critic of the proposal, is being pressured to quit the Liberal party.

"Families were worried about how this decision affects our climate-change targets; how we are working to prevent a potential oil spill," Mr. Beech said in his first detailed comments responding to federal approval of the pipeline, which would run between Alberta and B.C.

"There were a number of health and safety concerns around diluted bitumen at the Burnaby Mountain storage tank facility. Of course these are all valid concerns."

But Mr. Beech touts federal Liberal environmental policies, including commitments to green infrastructure, and efforts to negotiate a national price on carbon. "We are currently pursuing a number of environmental and economic policies, many of which would have seemed impossible to accomplish over a year and a half ago," Mr. Beech says on tape.

He said he was offering his "personal commitment" to "hold everyone's feet to the fire" to ensure that 157 conditions the government has imposed on the project are acted on.

"I believe it is my responsibility to ensure that our government delivers on this commitment," said Mr. Beech, adding he welcomed his constituents reaching out to him to discuss the issue.

The challenges facing Mr. Beech echo those facing many of the 17 Liberal MPs in British Columbia. Many have said the expanded pipeline has been controversial among constituents and will be a hard political sell. In announcing the decision to approve the expansion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that Mr. Beech, in particular, was a prominent advocate in caucus against giving the project a green light.

On Friday, critics said Mr. Beech should leave the Liberal party and sit as an independent given that a Liberal government has backed a project that has raised concerns in his riding about a spill linked to increased tanker traffic associated with the expanded pipeline.

Elsie Dean, a member of the anti-pipeline expansion organization Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion, said Mr. Beech should leave the Liberals to show he is on the side of the vast majority of his constituents, who have concerns about the project.

In an interview Friday, after the release of the videotape, she said being an independent has always been an appropriate move for MPs who are opposed to government policy.

"I would like him to become an independent. This is that important," said Ms. Dean, who is concerned about the "fossil-fuel economy" and was among the constituents who met with Mr. Beech at his constituency office last weekend.

Yet, echoing many at last Saturday's open house, she said Mr. Beech is a welcoming, attentive representative of the community. "He's a receptive, very gracious Member of Parliament," she said.

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, said Mr. Beech has betrayed constituents who voted for him because they thought, based on his election comments, that he would effectively fight the expansion of the pipeline.

She said he needs to leave the Liberals. "This is a betrayal, and it's a betrayal of his own election promises. It is a betrayal of the people that voted for him because they believed he would fight Kinder Morgan. It puts him in an impossible situation," she said in an interview from her riding in Sidney, B.C.

Joe Foy of the B.C.-based Wilderness Committee, which opposes the pipeline expansion, says Mr. Beech's words are not enough, and that the "real action" of leaving the Liberals is a necessity now.

"I say that with compassion," Mr. Foy said. "I think he's a good person. But the prime minister has put him in a rough situation with his decision to allow the pipeline."

Burnaby North-Seymour was created in 2013. Mr. Beech won with 36 per cent of the votes. The NDP got 30 per cent, the Conservatives 28 per cent and the Green Party 5 per cent.