Watchdog calls out Burnaby’s ‘dangerous’ $20M deal with TMX

A government watchdog says people in Burnaby should be outraged by the deal the city just signed with the operators of a controversial pipeline.

On Tuesday, the City of Burnaby announced it had struck a deal with Trans Mountain after years of tension over the pipeline expansion.

The city says Trans Mountain will contribute $20.1 million, paid in installments of $5 million annually in 2024, 2025, and 2026. The remaining balance will be paid over the following 17 years. 

Burnaby said, “The agreement highlights a shared commitment to collaborating in emergency response to any event involving Trans Mountain facilities.”

In the details of the contract, the city agreed to several items dictating “communications obligations,” including that both the city and Trans Mountain must collaborate on public communication about emergency responses and a promise that the city will remove all “negative public communications about Trans Mountain.”

Less than a month ago, the city published a risk assessment report detailing the likely disaster scenarios and consequential effects on the public and the environment beyond the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) fence line for emergency response planning purposes.

The report explored potential incidents like tank fires, explosions, and disastrous spills from the marine terminal.

As an introduction to the report, Mayor Mike Hurley wrote, “Regardless of our past opposition, the Trans Mountain expansion is complete and fully operational. With increased oil transport, comes increased risk. We want to fully understand the risks, increase our capacity to respond, and ensure we have the right partners at the table to support a safe, reliable, and timely emergency response.”

Duff Conacher, the co-founder of Democracy Watch, says the city has given up its power to be critical of the project in return for $20 million for emergency response preparedness.

“The city has essentially silenced itself and gagged itself in return for money from the company. And that’s not ethical or democratic to be doing that,” said Conacher. 

“And it raises the concern that if the city, now collaborating with this company, will not be able to make official statements about anything about the company without the company clearing it, that it could lead to a cover-up of some violations or wrongdoing by the company.”

He says though he’s heard of similar “unwritten understandings” between local governments and corporations, a contractual “gag” is unique.

Conacher says companies pay to protect the public from their activities and risks and should do so without conditions. 

“And they shouldn’t get anything in return, because these are dangers that are created by the company’s operations. And certainly shouldn’t be getting silence and being able to gag the city in return for paying this money,” said Conacher.

He says he hopes he never sees a deal like it again.

“It’s just dangerously undemocratic and unethical, and I really hope this does not set a precedent that’s copied elsewhere.”

1130 NewsRadio has reached out to Mayor Mike Hurley for further comment.