If the two colonies of Vancouver Island and Vancouver, having just amalgamated into British Columbia, had insisted that the agreed upon conditions of Confederation with Canada were adhered to, then there would be no need to be looking for pipeline routes from Alberta to the west coast now.
The railway line via Bute Inlet from the YellowHead and Yoho Pass would have been connected to Esquimalt as the western terminus.
Esquimalt WAS the designated terminus for CPR. They ran out of money because they put a bid in too low.... and still received 20,000 acres either side of the right-of-way for every mile completed.
Vancouver??? Port Moody?????? not even on the map back then. The pioneers knew the lay of the land.
There's no guarantee that the 30 year, $8 billion, 17 vessel contract will be completed, let alone start, but a North Vancouver marine facility will, and it will be used to build a new corridor, a major highway, a rail route, and pipeline. BC Hydro will divert before Seymour Narrows and strike south towards Gibson and then hook into the Smart Grid for Vancouver.
The Dogwood Initiative has a Post on Texada Island being the recipients of a brand new LNG fired Thermal Plant (electricity) but BC Hydro has said "NO!!!".
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The old Bute Inlet method, the one that Canadian negotiators agreed upon, so too did the Members of Parliament (MP), but were stymied by "Wallin and Duffy"'s SENATOS who turned the deal down, and the CPR ended up in Vancouver. The Senate shenanigans haven't changed to having open minds in over a 150 years!
BBC Post: If Kitimat LNG tanks, will Texada Island LNG take over? and it has
The Washington Group is going down a different path than the embattled Enbridge and Kinder-Enron-Morgan companies whereby they are trying to run roughshod over the public and private land owners. The Coquihalla Highway also houses a Pipeline, soon to be doubled in volume (Kinder Morgan). Enbridge, who have proved how efficient they are in creating crude oil spills and then spend more money on public relations than on the ACTUAL cleanup, have won round one with the NEB, but.... not the public.
What's to stop the Washington Group from using their Rail Right-of-Way for a pipeline, from Port Alberni to Williams Lake or bypass them and head straight up to Prince George to the heart of British Columbia? They already own Esquimalt to Courtenay and tees off at Parksville to Port Alberni's Port, with a clear run out to the Pacific Ocean. No Douglas Channel. No Burrard Inlet either.
Check Mate!
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A Bonus: BC Ferries money losing sailings out of Port Hardy to Prince Rupert will be taken over by Private interests..... like the "interest" that has been proven in the lucrative rail trips between Vancouver to Whistler.... which was formerly run by BC Rail.
Second Bonus: BC Ferries trips to Vancouver Island will shift operations to Delta and then proceed to Island hopping in the Gulf Islands and then bridging to the BIG Island.
Google Search Criteria: Yellowhead Pass to Bute Inlet Canadian Northern Railway 1903
Someone once told me the colony of Vancouver Island never had it's very own armourial devise, nor coat of arms, no banner, badge nor crest other than that of the Hudson's Bay Company. Can this be true?
ReplyDeleteRail companies enthusiastically partnered with Sir John A. and extracted much favour to satisfy his strategic zeal. BC was, however, a mercantile backwater, even with the gold rush, such as it was; it was the number of American sourdough immigrants that disturbed Canada's strategic goal of confederating a piece of Pacific tidewater. As far as the Colonial Office was concerned, BC was nearly as expendable as the Oregon Territory and the Alaskan Panhandle. It was happy to shed the two Pacific colonies. Profiteers have grown accustomed to favour ever since , the second tier scrambling with graft, speculation and insider trading in the taverns and hotels of New Westminster. Neither so favoured nor restrained as first-tier Hudson Bay men and naval officers, these hucksters' speculations drove property prices so high the government of the amalgamated colonies was compelled to award the new capital to Victoria on the Island instead, even though it was strategically inferior to New Westminster.
The now-decrepit E&N railway still has some strategic value, however, in the continuous, if unused, right-of- way between two of Canada's most important Pacific assets: CFB Comox and CFB Esquimalt. And mercantilists still depend on and expect generous grants of rights-of-way, discounted taxes, royalties and fees and the socialization of virtually all risk---the longstanding BC tradition.