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To: Conservative MPs in Greater Vancouver area

No more spills. Protect Vancouver from oil spills

Black tar-like sludge is washing up on Vancouver’s beaches after a toxic oil spill from a freighter in English Bay. [1]

Because the Harper Conservatives closed the Kitsilano Coast Guard station in 2013, emergency responders had to come from Richmond, and it took over 6 hours for crews to arrive on the scene and deploy absorbent booms. Responders from the Kitsilano base could have been on site with the right equipment in 6 minutes. [2]

Now, the Harper Government wants to turn Vancouver into a major dirty energy shipping port, with hundreds of tankers carrying tarsands oil and LNG passing through the harbour annually. With the Conservatives feeling the heat and an election around the corner, we need to act now to protect the coast.

We call on Conservative MPs in Vancouver to:
-Reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station, and restore funding for Marine Communications Centres in B.C.
-Ban increased tanker traffic through B.C.’s sensitive waterways.

Why is this important?

The Harper government allowed this relatively small spill to become a serious tragedy by closing the Kitsilano Coast Guard station, and they’re inviting even worse tragedies if they allow expanded tanker traffic on the B.C. coast.

Kinder Morgan is proposing a pipeline and tanker that would bring hundreds of huge tarsands oil tankers through Vancouver’s harbour each year -- putting us at risk of a catastrophic oil spill when we weren’t even prepared for a spill that would be considered small by industry standards.

In the wake of the Vancouver oil spill, thousands of people are looking for answers. If we raise our voices together now, we can expose how the Harper Government’s negligence turned this spill into a tragedy. With an election coming up, Conservative MPs in the Lower Mainland will be under tremendous pressure to give us a real plan to protect the B.C. coast.

Sources:
[1] Fuel oil spill from freighter in Vancouver harbour triggers cleanup. http://www.surreyleader.com/news/299210961.html

[2] Now-closed Kisilano Coast Guard Base would have responded to oil spill instantly (Vancity Buzz). http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/04/now-closed-kitsilano-coast-guard-base-responded-oil-spill-instantly/

How it will be delivered

If 15,000 people sign this petition, we’ll hand deliver your messages to Conservative MPs in the Greater Vancouver area, so they can’t ignore their responsibility to act to protect Vancouver from future oil spills.

Updates

2015-04-13 19:22:02 -0400

10,000 signatures reached

2015-04-12 00:40:39 -0400

5,000 signatures reached

2015-04-11 15:30:59 -0400

1,000 signatures reached

2015-04-11 14:58:35 -0400

500 signatures reached

2015-04-11 14:36:34 -0400

100 signatures reached

2015-04-11 14:19:53 -0400

50 signatures reached

2015-04-11 13:31:59 -0400

25 signatures reached

2015-04-11 12:59:31 -0400

10 signatures reached