SACKVILLE, N.B. – A major part of the Liberal government’s plan to create 10,000 new jobs by 2018 is raising concerns.
The Liberals made the promise during its election campaign and a major part of their job creation strategy is the development of the Energy East Pipeline.
When the project is approved, it will transport millions of barrels of oil from Alberta to Eastern Canada. From there, it will be shipped to other markets overseas.
The construction project is also expected to create thousands jobs in the province.
But Dr. Brad Walters, a geography and environment professor at Mount Allison University, says most of those jobs would be short-lived.
“That employment would be relatively short term at one to two years for the most part,” he said. “After that a relatively modest number of full-time jobs located in the Saint John area I imagine.”
Walters says the province also needs to accept the environmental risk associated with transporting oil from the Bay of Fundy.
“If there were to be a spill in the lower bay it would be an absolute catastrophe because the very high tides would wash the oil all over the place very quickly before anyone could contain it,” he said.
Despite the risks, people are expecting business to pick-up.
The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association says Moncton could benefit from its central location.
“Every major company from Quebec-east has a foot in Moncton,” he said. “So there’s a benefit here and a lot of traffic passing through Moncton,” said Jean-Marc Picard of the association.
“Bringing in the equipment and the material will probably create that peak where we see a lot more of our companies carrying those goods,” he said.
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