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Thank you for sharing your perspective and insights on the issue, ScizzMoney.
If employement opportunities is all the benefits BC will see as a result of the pipeline, I'd honestly be quite disappointed. The construction itself will obviously create employment opportunities, as will the on-going operations and maintenance. But those are pretty much just the costs for KM to operate the pipeline. To view them as payments for using the BC lands, and more importantly, as payments to offset the environmental risks seem inappropriate and highly inadequate.
IMO, I view the pipeline as the tool that KM needs to deliver their products to their desired market. And then I view the bitumen as the product that Alberta / KM are trying to sell. To make it worth BC's while, I'd really just look at the employment opportunities created in a light no different than another other company that wants to conduct business in the province. Meanwhile, the product itself is also creating huge profits, and that profit needs to be shared with BC in some form.
I'm sure as hell that KM pays AB a handsome coin just to dig that bitumen up. If they are going to run the product through BC properties (ie. land), it make sense for us to get a cut out of that too, probably based on the volume of the product that is going through the pipes.
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