Burnaby’s mayor is defending an agreement between the city and Trans Mountain that would bar city staff from any “negative public communications” about the pipeline company.
Mike Hurley said Thursday that the $20.1 million “community contribution agreement” is not a gag order and that he and city councillors remain free to criticize the company.
“This agreement does not prevent me or any member of council from saying what needs to be said,” Hurley told Global News.
“I am saying it right now. We never wanted this project, we still don’t want this project. But the project is here and we have to deal with the realities of what has taken place.”
Burnaby announced the agreement this week, which it says will “support emergency planning and safety enhancements” related to the Burnaby Mountain tank farm and Westridge Marine Terminal.
Burnaby has long been a staunch opponent of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, and just weeks ago released a report and video simulation of a hypothetical major disaster related to the project.
Under the new agreement, city staff must refrain from negative comments about the company “whether based on fact or opinion or otherwise,” and remove all negative public communications about Trans Mountain from its website.
Hurley said that won’t include the report and video simulation, but added that now that the project is operating the city has no choice but to collaborate with the company to ensure safety.
“We have reached the point now where the facility is up and running fully, the big ships are coming in every day there is one down there getting filled,” he said.
“We have reached a new stage I think in what our relationship has to be, and that’s changed now to public safety and ensuring we are providing our residents with the best safety we possibly can. It’s impossible for us to do that without a collaboration.”
Under the agreement, the two parties must also send any press releases to each other ahead of publication.
Hurley downplayed the significance of that clause, arguing the city would always communicate with a company or group it was publishing a press release about in order to ensure it was accurate.
“We would go to the company and try to see if we can have a joint release, if that’s not possible we would have our own release,” he said.
Eugene Kung, a staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law is not convinced, and said he worries the agreement creates a “chilling effect.”
“If a tank fire or other spill is happening on Burnaby Mountain is the city going to first have to go to Trans Mountain for permission to put out a press release in an emergency? Those are open questions,” he said.
He said the terms of the deal are similar to agreements signed with other municipalities and First Nations, which he characterized as a “culture of secrecy that seems to be endemic at Trans Mountain.”
The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, in whose traditional territory the Burnaby Mountain facilities are located, has also expressed concern about the agreement.
“This has been a threat and a risk that we have been asked to bear … and I just don’t think $20 million over five years? That’s like throwing 10 bucks on a wildfire for the amount of damage this could cause,” said Elected Councillor Charlene Aleck.
“If there was a disaster or a spill or a fire that happened at the tank far, the truth will speak for itself and you can’t silence that, no matter how much money or how much gag they put on it.”
For the second day, Trans Mountain told Global News no one was available for an on-camera or Zoom interview.
— with files from Rumina Daya